The Swedish Tax Agency now stops more people than before. This applies to people who are employed by the government agency and people who are looking for a job there. It is no longer enough to just take responsibility for your own actions if you are interested in getting a job at the authority.
For Sveriges Radio, the Tax Agency’s security manager points out Johan Tell that the reason why more people are stopped is not because the threats have increased, but because more factors are now taken into account when hiring a new employee.
– We have become better at identifying different forms of vulnerabilities, he tells the channel.
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The Swedish Tax Agency’s headquarters in Sundbyberg. Photo: Janerik Henriksson / TT. The Tax Agency warns of unscrupulous employers
The Tax Agency has previously warned employees about unscrupulous employers.
In a campaign, the authority invested in reaching out to employees with information about what a manager may and may not do, including that as an employee you have the right to be paid and that an employer may not commit rule violations.
Criminal companies that attract workers are considered unserious and may undeservedly take part in tax money to which they are not entitled, the Tax Agency said at the time.
READ MORE: The Swedish Tax Agency warns: They risk being exposed to criminals
Photo: Adam Wrafter/SvD/TT. Then you can be stopped by the Tax Agency: “Citizens of another country…”
Now the roles are reversed. The employer, the Tax Agency, has made the eye of the needle even smaller when it comes to the employment process at the agency.
At the Tax Agency, you are well informed about which people are involved in criminal contexts and who are in the police register, for security reasons. Now it is enough to know one of these people or have some kind of connection with them to be denied employment at the Tax Agency or even to be fired.
And it doesn’t end there. After Säpo pointed out intelligence activities from Iran, Russia and China, you cannot work at the Swedish Tax Agency if you have connections to any of these countries.
– If you are a citizen of another country, in a totalitarian state, have relatives in that country, travel frequently in that country, then the risks increase because you can actually be affected, Tell told the radio.
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Photo: Anders Wiklund / TT. Security-classified services are particularly difficult to obtain
Tell på Skatteverket does not want to reveal how many people have actually been denied employment due to the above-mentioned criteria. According to him, the Swedish Tax Agency is not too harsh in its security assessments.
The reason for the new criteria is that the authority sees a greater risk of being exploited. The safety assessments were tightened about two years ago and since then fewer pass the tests.
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According to Tell, it is above all security-classified services that have become more difficult to obtain and retain. The Tax Agency fears that outsiders will collect secret information from the authority.
– It may involve collecting information. Which you then leave of course. But also that you act in other ways that may be considered inappropriate, tell us about our methods, for example, says Johan Tell Swedish Radio.