Tax authorities normally don’t put big, happy smiles on people’s faces. Rather the opposite reaction is common. Skatteverket is not exception. Most people (yes, even in Sweden) grumble about taxes. And foreigners positively get a shock when they see their yearly Swedish income statements for the first time and see how much tax was deducted from their salaries.

So, for all those grumbling about taxes, today I want to tell you how wonderful Skatteverket really is and how it’s willing to go not just an extra mile, but a few thousand miles, if needed.

A friend of ours left Sweden earlier this year and returned home to his native South Korea. While in Sweden he had a good job and was making a nice salary. In previous years I had always helped him and his wife check their inkomstdeklarationer and file them with Skatteverket.

This year they got their tax return forms when they were already in Seoul. Since neither one of them speaks any Swedish, they asked me to take care of the yearly filing.

They were due a handsome tax refund, but were not sure how it would work with getting it in Korea. I wasn’t sure either. I remember how the American IRS does it – they just send you a check in US dollars and it’s none of their business if depositing it in the country where you live is a major hassle.

My friends no longer have a Swedish bank account, so they pretty much gave up on ever seeing their tax refund.

In the meantime, they received some correspondence from Skatteverket telling them that their refund is being processed and will be dispatched to them “shortly”. That was a couple of months ago. And because they asked me, I called Skatteverket a couple of times to see how this issue is going to be handled and I was told it would be mailed, as a check. To South Korea.

So imagine our surprise when last week they got their check. In South Korean won (that’s the name of the Korean currency) drawn on a bank in Seoul. The tax refund came from Sweden via Germany (it seems that Deutsche Bank handles foreign tax refunds for Skatteverket) and the amount was neatly converted from SEK to South Korean won, minus the commission. So now they can just leisurely stroll to their local bank and deposit the money into their account without any major hassles. Without any exorbitant bank fees for depositing a foreign check, because for all intents and purposes, their check is not a foreign check.

How’s that for taking care of (former) Swedish taxpayers living abroad? I don’t know about you, but Skatteverket just earned my total respect. Hats off!