My story with managing taxes as an expat in Sweden who also has income via capital gains in my origin country India.

Initially, as a young engineer who moved to Sweden for a job, I thought any income generated in India (it can be Brazil, USA, or EU also) was taxable ONLY in India or that specific country, and I need to file taxes in India or that specific country only.

As I had a passion for personal finance and always wanted to be true and honest about my income sources, I talked to Skatteverket, and to my surprise, they told me I need to declare all WORLDWIDE income to Sweden and pay taxes on it!

Then I talked to my friends, people knowledgeable in finance, and Skatteverket case officers, and unfortunately, each person said something totally different, which led to more confusion on what the correct way to declare income and pay taxes to Sweden was!

Then I thought to myself: There needs to be a tax law, and these people will only say their interpretation of tax law. So, I decided, why not look into the tax law myself and understand the topic of interest, which is relevant for me and for expats.

If you are an Expat, you need to understand 3 TAX LAWS, yes, you read it right, 3!!

1. Swedish Local Tax Law
2. Your home country tax law if you have assets there
3. Because you have assets in other countries, you need to read the TAX TREATY between these 2 countries to understand who has the right to tax the income.

The most common income for people will be capital gains from another country. The rule says it’s taxed at 30% here in Sweden as per the local Swedish tax law. I have decided not to sell any mutual funds or stocks in India so that it will not lead to complex tax reporting in India and Sweden.

Understand Taxes and keep it simple.

Below is the image where I have tried to explain different income headers and how it’s taxed in Sweden: