What is a personalliggare (staff register) in Sweden?

Which industries need a staff register?

The requirement applies in industries where the Tax Agency sees a particular risk of undeclared work:

• Construction
• Restaurants
• Body and beauty care
• Laundries
• Vehicle service
• Food and tobacco wholesale

Construction partly has its own rules, described further down.

One exception: a sole trader or closely held company where only the owner, their spouse and children under 16 work doesn't need a register. The exception doesn't apply in construction.

What goes in the register?

• The company's name and personal or corporate identity number.
• For each working day: the name and personal identity number, or coordination number, of everyone working.
• When each shift starts and ends.

Time must be recorded right when the shift starts and ends, not afterwards. Unpaid staff, such as interns or family members, and agency staff must also be recorded.

Staff registers on construction sites

On a construction site the responsibility is shared between the client and the companies working there:

• The client notifies the Tax Agency of the site before construction starts.
• The client provides equipment for an electronic register.
• Each company doing construction work on site keeps a register for its own staff.

The rules don't apply if the total labour and material cost on the site is expected to be at most four price base amounts (prisbasbelopp, a figure the government sets each year), SEK 236,800 excluding VAT for 2026. Nor do they apply when the client is a private person not building as a business. The exception for sole traders and closely held companies doesn't apply on construction sites.

What happens if the register is missing?

The Tax Agency makes unannounced visits and can charge control fees (kontrollavgift, fixed penalties):

• SEK 25,000 if the client hasn't notified the site.
• SEK 12,500 if the client hasn't provided equipment.
• SEK 12,500 if no register is kept, plus SEK 2,500 for each person not recorded.

In the Swedish Tax Agency's largest check so far, on 6–7 May 2025, 1,772 construction companies were checked. A quarter of the checks found shortcomings.

What changes in 2027?

In June 2026 the government proposed stricter rules for staff registers (Government Bill 2025/26:282). If the Riksdag approves them, they take effect on 1 January 2027:

• Data in an electronic register must be possible to transfer electronically to the Tax Agency, at an inspection or when the agency asks for it.
• For anyone with a different employer, such as agency staff, the employer must also be recorded.
• At an inspection, the Tax Agency may also look into whether the company's tax returns need a closer check.
• Electronic registers do not become mandatory in every industry.

If you use an electronic register today, ask your provider whether it can handle the transfer.

Making it easy in practice

• Let everyone check in and out on their phone as they arrive and leave.
• Connect the register to timesheets, so the same entry is used for payroll.
• Make sure subcontractors and agency staff are registered too.
• Have the register available straight away when the Tax Agency visits.

Naexit builds digital tools such as staff registers and time tracking, shaped around how you work. Read more about systems for construction companies, systems for restaurants and time tracking on the phone.