For a year, SVT Nyheter Blekinge has followed Jonathan Ravelin. In November 2023, he was registered as deceased with the Tax Agency, even though he is alive. Since then, it has been a long struggle to regain their identity and access to their bank accounts.
When a person dies, the Swedish Tax Agency automatically sends the information to authorities. But if it’s gone wrong and the person is in fact alive, they don’t send out a correction.
– It took six weeks before I got everything fixed and was able to get my bank ID back, he says.
Suits the state
In Jonathan Ravelin’s case, there is an open preliminary investigation into document falsification. But because of the damage he suffered, he has now decided to sue the state. Something he does together with the non-profit organization Center for Justice.
Jonathan Ravelin requests SEK 20,000 in damages because his rights according to the EU’s data protection regulation, GDPR, and the European Convention have been violated.
– The GDPR says that the data that the authorities process must be correct, and then we mean that it cannot be correct that he is dead because he is alive, says Alexandra Loyd, administrative director at the organization.
The summons application will be submitted to the Stockholm district court on Thursday.
Affects several annually
This year alone, 27 people have been wrongly registered as deceased at the Tax Agency, last year that number was 16.
That a person is wrongly declared dead can be due to several things, partly the human factor and partly that someone, as in Jonathan Ravelin’s case, sends in a falsified death certificate.
Meeting with responsible authorities
After SVT’s earlier reporting, the chairman of the finance committee, Edward Reidl (M), called the responsible authorities the Swedish Tax Agency and the National Board of Health and Welfare to see if they could change the way they work.
– There is constant development when it comes to death registration, but I dare not say whether anything was done exactly after the meeting, says Vjera Catovic, business developer at the Swedish Tax Agency.
But you can still use this form?
– The form remains so that doctors can also send in a death certificate on a form.
Below, SVT’s reporter explains how it is possible to declare a living person dead.