As part of the on-going work to minimize the use of untaxed and unreported labor on the Swedish market, the Swedish government introduced the use of compulsory personnel ledgers for restaurant workers and hairdressers on the 1st of January 2007. The practice has, in combination with unannounced inspections and fines for the non-compliant, come to be regarded as highly efficient. Plans have been made to extend the rules to other fields with a history of high personnel turnover and unreported labor.  In 2013 the rules were applied to laundry businesses, and during the autumn of 2015 the Swedish Tax Authority announced that the use of personnel ledgers will be mandatory on all Swedish construction sites from the 1st of January 2016.

 

In most of the aforementioned industries the personnel ledgers generally take the form of an inbound logbook with numbered pages, or an approved computer program, where all personnel who work at the worksite register their name, person number (or coordination number), the time they arrive and the time they leave. If discrepancies are found in the personnel ledger of a work site the responsible company is generally fined and subjected to further investigations.  All individuals who work on a site must be registered in the ledger, including unpaid trainees and personnel from external labor hire firms. The only exceptions are external service personnel on a temporary visit, for example service technicians hired for specific tasks.

 

One difference between the new rules for the construction sector, and the personnel ledger regulations in other industries, is that all personnel ledgers for construction sites are to be kept electronically. This can pose a problem, since few construction companies presently possess the type of technical infrastructure needed to fulfill the new requirements. The Swedish Tax Authority has announced that they are aware of this problem, and that the technical difficulties with implementing the reporting systems will be taken into consideration in their enforcement of the rules during the first half of 2016.

 

Due to the mandatory personnel ledgers success in limiting the use of unreported labor, the Swedish Tax Authority has recommended that the practice be extended to grocery stores, garages and beauty parlors. These proposals are currently being discussed in the Swedish parliament.