Salary when you run your own business: how it affects sickness benefit, pension and unemployment benefit

STEP BY STEP

How to check your cover

1. 01

   Find out which income counts

   With a limited company, the Swedish Social Insurance Agency calculates your sickness benefit qualifying income, SGI, on the salary you take out. According to Unionen, dividends are not included, because no social security contributions are charged on dividends. With a sole trader business or a trading partnership, the SGI is based on the business's profit before tax, after the deductions you make in your tax return.

   If you have both a salary from a job and income from a business, the SGI is based on both incomes together. If you registered and started the business within the last three years and it is still being built up, the agency instead uses what an employee doing similar work would have earned.

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2. 02

   Compare your income with the 2026 ceilings

   The highest possible SGI is 592 000 kr in 2026, and if you earn less than 14 200 kr a year you have no SGI. For the public pension, the Swedish Tax Agency puts the ceiling at 7.5 income base amounts of pension-qualifying income, which matches an income of 673 038 kr in 2026 before the deduction for the general pension contribution.

   For unemployment benefit, the highest possible payment is 80 percent of 34 000 kr, according to Sveriges a-kassor: 27 200 kr a month before tax. Unionen points out that the income ceilings change every year, so read them again when you set next year's salary.

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3. 03

   See who pays for the first days of sickness

   If you run your own limited company, the Swedish Social Insurance Agency treats you as an employee of the company. The company pays you sick pay for the first 14 days. After 14 days of sickness you report yourself sick to the agency in your role as employer, and sickness benefit can be paid from the 15th day.

   Unionen points out that a low salary, or no salary at all, can mean that you get no benefit if you fall ill. With a sole trader business you report sickness directly to the agency instead, and the first days are waiting days, according to the number you have chosen.

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4. 04

   Check how evenly your salary is paid

   Unionen says that an irregular salary, for example a low salary most months and a large sum at the end of the year, can harm your right to payments from some insurance schemes. Otherwise you may need to show that the pattern repeats every year.

   According to Sveriges a-kassor, unemployment benefit for business owners is based on the latest assessed income from the business, or on an average of the two previous years if that is more favourable. If you take out a salary that is reported to the Swedish Tax Agency, the benefit can instead be based on the salary just before you became unemployed.

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