Investment savings account, ISK, was introduced as a form of savings in 2012 by the then Alliance government. The goal was to attract more private individuals to start investing on the stock exchange. Today, 3.5 million Swedes have an account, and the savings form is often described as a popular movement.
The tax on ISK has long been favorable, but at the turn of the year it will be more than twice as expensive – from 0.375 percent in 2022 to 0.882 percent in 2023.
Special tax system
Anyone who sells shares or funds normally needs to pay 30 percent of the profit in tax. With an ISK, you avoid that, because instead you tax a small percentage each year. How high a percentage you have to pay in tax depends on the government loan interest rate, which has long been low – which has been beneficial for the ISK saver. This year, the government loan interest has skyrocketed, which means that next year the ISK tax will do the same.
– The system with the government loan interest creates a strange situation. When the economy is doing well, interest rates go down and the stock market is inflated, then the tax on ISK is very low. When things turn around, the economy goes bad and interest rates rise, then the tax on ISK will be higher, says Kalle Sundin, researcher at the trade union think tank Katalys.
Non-appearance of election promise
In the election campaign, several parties on the right promised reduced taxes on ISK. In the so-called Tidöavtalet, the settlement between the government and the Sweden Democrats, it is stated that the first 300,000 kroner in the ISK account will be tax-free during the term of office. In the government’s first budget, however, the scrapped tax was not included, something that drew criticism.
Katalys is critical of the system where the tax follows the government loan interest. They believe that it makes certain periods, such as next year, more advantageous to use other forms of savings – but that many people do not know this.
– It is a problem from the perspective of small savers because they usually have less resources and capacity to move assets around to different accounts depending on what is most favorable from a tax perspective, says Kalle Sundin.
Hear private economist Arturo Arques explain why he thinks ISK is still a good option in the clip above.