Reveals: The tangle is growing with ten names – millions were not reported to the Swedish Tax Agency The tax scandal among Sweden’s elite judges is growing. The football channel can reveal that another ten referees have been in a hurry to correct old declarations. Among the names are Bojan Pandzic, EC judge Stefan Hallberg – and Tess Olofsson. – I have no comment, says Stefan Hallberg to Fotbollskanalen. Last week, Fotbollskanalen was able to reveal that three of Sweden’s biggest referee names; referee base Stefan Johannesson, Mohammed Al-Hakim and Martin Strömbergsson, not paid tax on money earned from Uefa regarding international referee assignments.

Just a few months ago, the trio chose to correct old declarations themselves and then report millions for the Swedish Tax Agency, which had not previously been taken up for taxation. – I have no good explanation, said Johannesson, when Fotbollskanalen confronted him with the information. In addition, EC referee Andreas Ekberg also confirmed to Fotbollskanalen that he has also begun the process of correcting his declarations. However, he did not want to answer whether it was on his own initiative or if it was the Swedish Tax Agency that had begun to look at his earned money. Information to Fotbollskanalen claims that it was the Swedish Tax Agency that contacted.

Now Fotbollskanalen can reveal that the whole thing is even more widespread – and that another ten top referees on their own initiative sent in self-corrections for several years and for large sums, to the Swedish Tax Agency (see details in the fact box below). The snowball effect started when it appeared in an article by Aftonbladet that a judge, who had been convicted of gross fraud, avoided taking up the Uefa income for the Swedish Tax Agency. Since then, many judges have been in a hurry to correct their numbers afterwards.

These include EC judge Stefan Hallberg (assistant judge) who will judge in the championship together with Ekberg, the all-Swedish profiles Glenn Nyberg and Bojan Pandzic – and Tess Olofsson who recently advanced to judge at the highest level on the men’s side. Victor Wolf’s income has also been written up, but in his case it is a small amount. Glenn Nyberg has won the award as “Referee of the Year” at the Football Gala two years in a row. Olofsson has won the same prize on the women’s side four times. Tess Olofsson says, when Fotbollskanalen calls, that she is on her way to training and that she does not have time to talk for a few minutes all day.

As for the European Championship judge Hallberg, the Swedish Tax Agency has written up his income during the years 2015-2019 by almost half a million kronor. – I have no comment. I have my employer in the Swedish Football Association and I cooperate with the Swedish Tax Agency in this matter so I have no comments to you, says Hallberg to Fotbollskanalen. You do not want to answer the question why you did not estimate the money from the beginning? – No, I do not feel that I need to leave that information to you. In addition to the names already mentioned, Fotbollskanalen has also taken part in reconsideration decisions concerning Markus Strömbergsson (brother of Martin Strömbergsson and who is now not active), assistant referees Daniel Gustavsson and Mahbod Beigi, and the main referees Pernilla Larsson and Sandra Österberg. Two more judges have requested self-correction, but in the specific cases it is not specified from the administrator in question whether it is income from Uefa – but even in these cases it is about income from employment and the persons in question have also deducted business trips and allowances, which all judges did. – In my case, it was unclear what I would do with the money. I honestly did not know what to do, how to estimate. When I got it clear to me, I did the right thing for myself, says Pernilla Larsson.

– Depending on where you make your money, it was not entirely clear to me (how she would estimate, editor’s note). You should have understood that this was not so clear to any of us. In Markus Strömbergsson’s case, he states to the Swedish Tax Agency that he has previously declared for parts of the Uefa income, but not for everything. In total, his income during the years 2015-2017 is written up by SEK 273,000 by the Swedish Tax Agency. – I have raised international income in the years I have refereed football abroad. When I became aware that I had misinterpreted the tax rules, I contacted the Swedish Tax Agency myself, who helped me correct my declarations so that everything would be right and proper “, Strömbergsson writes in a text message to Fotbollskanalen. In a fact box below, you can read more about how the affected judges comment on their self-corrections to the Swedish Tax Agency. All reconsideration decisions have been made during the first months of 2021. The total sum regarding the ten names that the Swedish Tax Agency has now written up? SEK 3,146,060. If you include the income that the tax authority wrote up regarding the three referees that Fotbollskanalen wrote about last week, the total is now up to just under SEK 4.5 million. According to information to Fotbollskanalen, an investigation is also underway at the Swedish Tax Agency regarding a number of elite referees who themselves have not sent in corrections to their declarations. In those cases, you as a private person may be forced to pay tax surcharges and there may also be talk of a criminal report.

The majority of the reconsideration decisions that Fotbollskanalen has been informed of have been handled by the unit in Malmö. However, unit manager Johan Lindström does not want to comment on whether a major investigation is underway into elite judges. – Unfortunately, there are no questions I can answer. When it comes to inspections and ongoing cases, it is confidentiality on our part. It is only when the review decisions have been made that they become public, Lindström says to Fotbollskanalen. What does the Swedish Football Association say? After the Football Channel’s revelation about Johannesson, Al-Hakim and Strömbergsson, the association’s chairman Karl-Erik Nilsson said that he did not see any problems with the referees’ actions. – I am convinced that they will come right in this issue as well. There is probably no malicious intent. Sometimes you can make mistakes, Nilsson said. Göran Engsoo, head of SvFF’s referee department, told Fotbollskanalen last week that he does not understand how the referees did not know that the compensation from Uefa should be included in the declaration. – I am extremely surprised that it turns out that referees did not estimate their Uefa money. I’m incredibly surprised by that. I can say that. It is their personal responsibility to ensure that it is taxed. It must be so, he said and continued: – Based on what happened this week, the question will come up next week (this week, editor’s note). We need to question ourselves about how we inform about these things. Especially when it comes to all the new referees who come up and become Fifa referees. Is it the case that we need general information for Fifa referees in the future?

Because this must not happen in the future. We should not have this. Absolutely not. This is how the judges comment on the Swedish Tax Agency’s reconsideration decision

STEFAN HALLBERG – I have no comments on this. I have my employer in the Swedish Football Association and I cooperate with the Swedish Tax Agency in this matter. So I have no comments to make to you. So you do not want to answer why you did not estimate this money in the first place? – No, I do not feel that I need to leave that information to you. I can stop there. It’s quite a lot of money you earned that you did not estimate for before. I think people are interested in your answer to that. – I certainly do not think they are. I like to stop there. So I thank you for my time.

MARKUS STRÖMBERGSSON “I have raised international income in the years I have refereed football abroad. When I became aware that I had misinterpreted the tax rules, I contacted the Swedish Tax Agency myself, who helped me correct my tax returns so that everything would be right and correct ”.

PERNILLA LARSSON – In my case, it was unclear what I would do with the money. I honestly did not know what to do, how to estimate. When I got it ready for me, I did the right thing for myself. – Depending on where you make your money, it was not entirely clear to me. You should have understood that this was not so clear to any of us. Did you think that the money from Uefa was a net amount that you got paid? – No. But I have also saved all that money to be able to pay back, as for example in a situation like now when it became clear. Now it became clear to me that it would be taxed in Sweden and then I paid back the money. You saved that amount on the basis that you thought you would tax the money? – I’m at least done right by myself now. Right? I have been unsure and did a tax investigation after the World Cup 2015, and now I have paid all the tax. The tax investigation was done in Canada because that was where I made my money. So yes. Now it became clear. – I am responsible for this myself, and have not found out what I should have done. I should have done that from the start. There has been no culture of not doing the right thing and seeing an opportunity not to tax money? – No, not a given culture. But there has also been no template to follow, no path to follow. There has been no clarity, among my predecessors and so on. I did not know: “This is exactly how to do it”. This has not been so clear. I have never had any purpose to withhold any money. When Uefa has not been an employer listed on your declaration, have you not reflected on it? – No, I actually do not have that. Honestly, I have not thought about it. These are not gigantic sums… and I really mean that I do not intend to withhold any tax. But I honestly did not know what to do. But now I know how to do it and then I did the right thing.

DANIEL GUSTAVSSON – I’m a little tight. I’ll get back to you. When can you return? – I do not know. I’m working right now. I may return. Gustavsson will return later on Tuesday, via text message. He writes: “After contact with experts, at the end of last year, on my own initiative, I submitted a request for self-correction to the Swedish Tax Agency. Following a decision from the Swedish Tax Agency, I have paid in the decided amount and thus feel confident that I have done the right thing for myself. Apart from this, I have no further comments ”.

TESS OLOFSSON – I’m on my way and will cycle to the training so you are very welcome to call back a little later. – I have a meeting tonight, so in that case it will be tomorrow. You do not have five minutes in the whole day? – No, I’m very sorry. There is training now and then there is a meeting all evening. But what is your general comment on this? – Unfortunately I have to cycle now. I’m sorry. Thanks.

SANDRA ÖSTERBERG – I wanted to do the right thing for myself. It came to my knowledge that I had not done the right thing for myself before. Then I chose to do a self-correction. How come you did not do the right thing in the first place? – It is difficult to know how to do and what is right and I had too little knowledge in the past. I got to a point where I needed to find out and made a self-correction out of it. What is it that is so difficult to understand when making money? – It is not difficult to understand that you should tax on earned money, but this is money earned abroad and I had not had it before and had not found out exactly what applied and when it came to my knowledge that I should have done this earlier so I chose pretty quickly to do a self-correction on it. In 2018, did you earn more than SEK 50,000 from Uefa, did you not reflect that Uefa was not among your employers on the declaration or that so much money was missing? – As I said, I have made a self-correction and have sent in all my income from Uefa back in the years because I care that I want it to be right. Is there anything in the communication from Uefa that you feel was unclear or did you think it was a net salary that was paid out? – I have not thought anything about this but as I said; I have chosen to make a correction about this afterwards as I understand that I have not done the right thing for myself before.

Facts

The figures: The Swedish Tax Agency’s decision on the judges’ income

TESS OLOFSSON Reconsideration decision: 2 February 2021 2019: The Swedish Tax Agency’s reconsideration decision – amount to take up current income from employment: SEK 97,070 2018: The Swedish Tax Agency’s reconsideration decision – amount to take up current income from employment: SEK 149,109 2017: The Swedish Tax Agency’s reconsideration decision – amount to take up current income from employment: SEK 10,941 2016: The Swedish Tax Agency’s reconsideration decision – amount to take up current income from employment: SEK 101,449 2015: The Swedish Tax Agency’s reconsideration decision – amount to take up current income from employment: SEK 31,092 TOTAL: SEK 389,661 STEFAN HALLBERG Reconsideration decision: 5 May 2021 2019: The Swedish Tax Agency’s reconsideration decision – amount to take up current income from employment: SEK 108,283 2018: The Swedish Tax Agency’s reconsideration decision – amount to take up current income from employment: SEK 106,951 2017: The Swedish Tax Agency’s reconsideration decision – amount to take up current income from employment: SEK 92,059 2016: The Swedish Tax Agency’s reconsideration decision – amount to take up current income from employment: SEK 90,041 2015: The Swedish Tax Agency’s reconsideration decision – amount to take up current income from employment: SEK 88,625 TOTAL: SEK 485,959 SANDRA ÖSTERBERG Reconsideration decision: 26 February 2021 2019: The Swedish Tax Agency’s reconsideration decision – amount to take up current income from employment: SEK 10,372 2018: The Swedish Tax Agency’s reconsideration decision – amount to take up current income from employment: SEK 56,067 2017: The Swedish Tax Agency’s reconsideration decision – amount to take up current income from employment: SEK 22,838 2016: The Swedish Tax Agency’s reconsideration decision – amount to take up current income from employment: SEK 14,864 TOTAL: SEK 104,141 VICTOR WOLF Reconsideration decision: 15 March 2021 2019: The Swedish Tax Agency’s reconsideration decision – amount to take up current income from employment: SEK 13,579 2018: The Swedish Tax Agency’s reconsideration decision – amount to take up current income from employment: SEK 4,945 TOTAL: SEK 18,524 The Swedish Tax Agency’s reconsideration decision – amount to take up current income from employment: SEK 116,729 TOTAL: SEK 330,467 GLENN NYBERG Reconsideration decision: 6 April 2021 2019: The Swedish Tax Agency’s reconsideration decision – amount to take up current income from employment: SEK 111,493 2018: The Swedish Tax Agency’s reconsideration decision – amount to take up current income from employment: SEK 117,527 2017: The Swedish Tax Agency’s reconsideration decision – amount to take up current income from employment: SEK 101,943 2016: The Swedish Tax Agency’s reconsideration decision – amount to take up current income from employment: SEK 110,487 2015: The Swedish Tax Agency’s reconsideration decision – amount to take up current income from employment: SEK 15,700 TOTAL: SEK 457,150 DANIEL GUSTAVSSON Reconsideration decision: 21 April 2021 2019: The Swedish Tax Agency’s reconsideration decision – amount to take up current income from employment: SEK 65,691 2018: The Swedish Tax Agency’s reconsideration decision – amount to take up current income from employment: SEK 81,832 2017: The Swedish Tax Agency’s reconsideration decision – amount to take up current income from employment: SEK 46,530 2016: The Swedish Tax Agency’s reconsideration decision – amount to take up current income from employment: SEK 158,012 2015: The Swedish Tax Agency’s reconsideration decision – amount to take up current income from employment: SEK 274,078 2014: The Swedish Tax Agency’s reconsideration decision – amount to take up current income from employment: SEK 142,216 TOTAL: SEK 768,359 PERNILLA LARSSON Reconsideration decision: 15 March 2021 2019: The Swedish Tax Agency’s reconsideration decision – amount to take up current income from employment: SEK 1,351 2018: The Swedish Tax Agency’s reconsideration decision – amount to take up current income from employment: SEK 93,118 2017: The Swedish Tax Agency’s reconsideration decision – amount to take up current income from employment: SEK 32,793 2016: The Swedish Tax Agency’s reconsideration decision – amount to take up current income from employment: SEK 47,353 TOTAL: SEK 174,615 MAHBOD BEIGI Reconsideration decision: 22 April 2021 2019: The Swedish Tax Agency’s reconsideration decision – amount to take up current income from employment: SEK 86,036 2018: The Swedish Tax Agency’s reconsideration decision – amount to take up current income from employment: SEK 52,143 2017: The Swedish Tax Agency’s reconsideration decision – amount to take up current income from employment: SEK 5,937 TOTAL: SEK 144,116 More about the Football Channel’s revelation about the referees Reveals: Swedish top judges withheld millions for the Swedish Tax Agency The SvFF base sees no problems with the judges’ actions: “No malicious intent” The answer: “I have no explanation…” In a world without transparency, a culture is easily created where you can skip taxes SvFF chief’s statement to the judges: “We can not do black money” Reveals: Swedish EC referee did not report Uefa income either: “Sent everything in a while ago” Reveals: The tangle is growing with ten names – millions were not reported to the Swedish Tax Agency