Swedes files their taxes by SMS

Open a new text message, enter your Social Security number and a security code sent to you by mail, and zip it off to the Department of the Treasury. Your income taxes are now filed.

Sound like a dream? It's not, according to News.com

This is how lots of Swedish people will file their income taxes in May, as they have for the last five years. So what's the downside?

What Swedes actually do with their cell phone is sign a tax declaration that has already been prepared by the country's tax authority, officially called Skatteverket. It already knows everything about Swedish taxpayers' income--from a range of sources.

Taxpayers can only sign their forms via text (the number's 71144) if they accept all the Skatteverket's calculations and if--to the great joy of the agency--they renounce all deductions.

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emily | 9:41 AM | New SMS Services |
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