Staff register (personalliggare) for restaurants
If you run a restaurant, café or catering business, you must record who works on the premises and when, every day. Here are the Swedish Tax Agency (Skatteverket) rules and a checklist to put up on the wall.
The staff register shows the Tax Agency who is working on your premises and when. The rules are easy to follow once the routine is in place, but a single missed entry during an unannounced inspection visit can cost you money.
Checklist: the staff register in eight steps
- Check whether the rules apply to youRestaurants, cafés, street food outlets, staff canteens, catering, central kitchens, pizzerias and similar places where food can be collected.
- Choose a registerA bound book with pre-numbered pages, or an electronic system that logs who changed what and when.
- Write down the company detailsCompany name and organisation number, or personal identity number if you are a sole trader (enskild firma).
- Record every shiftFirst name and surname, personal identity number and when the shift starts and ends, at the time it happens.
- Include everyone who is workingEmployees, extra staff, interns, agency staff and relatives who help out, even without pay.
- Correct mistakes openlyCross out with a single line so that the incorrect entry can still be read, and write when the correction was made and by whom.
- Keep the register on the premisesIt must be on site during an inspection visit, and someone who is there must be able to show it.
- Keep it for two yearsUntil two years after the end of the calendar year in which the tax year ended.
Which restaurants must keep a staff register?
The requirement applies to restaurants and, according to the Tax Agency, also to street food outlets, cafés, staff canteens, catering businesses, central kitchens, and pizza shops and similar places where food can be collected.
You do not need to keep a staff register if you are a sole trader and only you, your spouse and children under 16 work in the business. The same exemption applies to close companies (fåmansföretag) and close trading partnerships (fåmanshandelsbolag) where only the person running the company, their spouse and children under 16 are working.
If you run a mixed business, for example a hotel with a restaurant, you do not need a register if at least 75 per cent of the business is something other than restaurant activity. The Tax Agency normally bases this on how turnover is divided.
Who must be recorded?
Everyone who is working on the premises must be included:
- employees, including extra staff and hourly staff
- unpaid workers, for example interns or relatives who help out for free
- agency staff from staffing companies
- students from upper secondary school and higher education (but not work experience pupils (prao) from compulsory school)
- security guards who are part of your business
You do not need to record a service technician from another company who is temporarily working at your premises, performers with F-tax (F-skatt) who invoice the restaurant, or cloakroom staff in a cloakroom run independently by another company with F-tax.
Do only you and your family normally work in the business, but someone else steps in? Then the register must be kept from that person's first working day. You and your family must then also record yourselves for the rest of the calendar month. If you have people working for you every month, you and your family must always record yourselves.
What must the staff register contain?
The register must contain the company name and organisation number, or personal identity number if you are a sole trader. For each day of business you record:
- the name and personal identity number of each person working (if there is no personal identity number: a coordination number (samordningsnummer) or an equivalent foreign number)
- when each shift starts and ends
The times must be recorded at the time the shift starts and ends. You may not fill in the details in advance. If someone does not have a personal identity number, use a coordination number or a foreign number equivalent to a personal identity number, never a made-up number.
You can let someone else, for example a shift manager, keep the register for you. The responsibility is still always yours.
Where can I get a staff register?
The Tax Agency has a ready-made manual staff register, SKV 605, which is a bound book with pre-numbered pages. You order it through the Tax Agency's e-service for ordering forms (Beställ blanketter, choose the area Personalliggare) and it is sent by post. If you would rather keep the register digitally, there are electronic systems, often linked to scheduling or the till, and then the requirements further down apply.
How to fill in the register
At the top you write the company name and organisation number. Then each shift gets its own line with the following details:
| Column | What you write |
|---|---|
| Date | The day the shift is worked |
| Name | First name and surname |
| Personal identity number | Or coordination number or equivalent foreign number |
| Shift starts | The time the person starts, written straight away |
| Shift ends | The time the person finishes, written straight away |
A shift is a continuous period without breaks longer than normal pauses and meal breaks. If someone goes home in the middle of the day and comes back in the evening, that counts as two shifts and two lines.
Manual or electronic staff register?
A manual register must be bound with pre-numbered pages. Loose sheets or a spiral notebook are therefore not acceptable. Write with a pen that cannot be erased.
An electronic register must contain the same information. The system must log all events, so that it shows who made a change and when, and the Tax Agency must be able to review the information going back in time. You are allowed to keep a manual and an electronic register at the same time.
If you make a mistake, cross it out with a single line so that the incorrect entry can still be read, and note when the correction was made and who made it. An entry must never be erased or made illegible.
Inspection visits and the inspection fee
The Tax Agency may make unannounced visits to your premises and check the identity of the people working there. The register must be available, and if you are not on site yourself, someone else must be able to show it.
If you have not kept the register, or it has not been kept correctly or is not available during the visit, the Tax Agency can charge an inspection fee (kontrollavgift). The fee is SEK 12 500 plus SEK 2 500 for each person who is not in the register but is judged to be working. If you have already been charged an inspection fee and it happens again within one year of that decision, the basic amount is SEK 25 000 instead of SEK 12 500. You can request a reconsideration or appeal the decision if you think the assessment is wrong.
Catering: the register goes with you
Business premises are not just the restaurant. Vehicles and other spaces you use also count. If staff deliver food, the register must be in the vehicle, and if you are serving at a party, the party venue counts as business premises for that time.
Keep the register for two years
The staff register must be kept for two years after the end of the calendar year in which the tax year ended, and stored so that it is available on the business premises. If you have a non-calendar financial year, this can mean that you keep it for more than three years after the entries were made.
How we help restaurants
We help restaurants with routines for the staff register and cash register, and handle bookkeeping, VAT and payroll at a fixed price. Read more about accounting for restaurants or request a quote below.
Sources
- Swedish Tax Agency: Staff registers in restaurants
- Swedish Tax Agency: How staff registers work on business premises
- Swedish Tax Agency: Answers to common questions about staff registers
- Swedish Tax Agency: Mixed businesses
- Swedish Tax Agency: Staff register SKV 605
- Tax Procedure Act (skatteförfarandelagen), Chapter 50, Sections 3–4 (inspection fee)
Frequently asked questions
Can I fill in the staff register in advance?
No. The details must be recorded immediately when the shift starts and ends, not in advance according to the schedule.
As the owner, do I have to sign staff in and out myself?
No, someone else may keep the register, for example a shift manager. But you, as the business owner, are always responsible for making sure it is kept correctly.
Do my children need to be recorded if they help out?
That depends on whether they are working, not on their age. A child who occasionally clears tables is usually not considered to be working. A child who regularly does work that would otherwise have had to be done by someone else must be recorded.
Can I have both a paper register and an electronic one?
Yes, you are allowed to keep a manual and an electronic staff register at the same time.
What does it cost if the register is missing during an inspection visit?
The inspection fee is SEK 12 500 plus SEK 2 500 for each person who is not in the register but is judged to be working. Within one year of a previous inspection fee, the basic amount is SEK 25 000. The decision can be reconsidered or appealed.
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