If you are not able to pay
If you are unable to pay an invoice or a debt in time, you should always contact the party you owe the debt to. Remember that there are often ways to prevent a black mark on your credit rating by setting up an instalment plan or getting extra time to pay the debt from the party that wants to be paid.
Payment order
If your company has an unpaid debt, the party owed money by your company can apply to the Swedish Enforcement Authority for a payment order. The Swedish Enforcement Authority then sends out the claim, a payment order, to you.
The Swedish Enforcement Authority
Dispute invalid claims
If the claim in the payment order is invalid, you have 10 days after having received it to dispute the claim. If you do not do this, the Swedish Enforcement Authority can make a decision that the claim is valid by issuing a ruling.
Once the debt is established as valid and registered with the Swedish Enforcement Authority for recovery, an investigation is carried out to see if you and/or your company has assets that can pay your debt.
Avoid records of non-payment
If you or your company does not pay your/its debts in time, this can lead to a record of non-payment by a credit information agency. This information is used by anyone who requests a credit check on a potential customer and usually means that you will have limited or no credit options at all.
Records of non-payment/default that apply to a natural person, a private individual (a person) as opposed to a legal person, must be removed from the credit information register no later than three years after the registered event. For companies, the normal rule applied is five years.
Note that even if you pay the debt after the Swedish Enforcement Authority has issued its ruling, a record of non-payment/default/black mark will still be registered against you or your company.
Records of non-payment at the Swedish Data Protection Authority (in Swedish)
Get help from the Swedish Tax Agency
If you are finding it difficult to pay your taxes and social security contributions, you should contact the Swedish Tax Agency as soon as possible. The Swedish Tax Agency has a special creditor function to help entrepreneurs with liquidity problems.
Creditor function at the Swedish Tax Agency (in Swedish)