Salary exchange

Content on this page:

• Who can obtain a salary exchange?
• What is salary exchange?
• Who can obtain a salary exchange at Lund University?
• Changing the salary exchange amount
• Termination or cessation of the salary exchange agreement
• Advice and further information

Who can obtain a salary exchange at Lund University?

In accordance with the central collective agreements between the Swedish Agency for Government Employees and Saco-S and OFR/S (PA 16), public authority employees have the option to exchange their salary (salary exchange) for a payment by the employer of an agreed amount into an occupational pension.

At present, this is an option for employees who are members of Saco-S and OFR/S as well as unaffiliated employees.

What is salary exchange?

Salary exchange means that you exchange a proportion of your gross salary, i.e. salary before tax, for a benefit – in this case an occupational pension. You do not pay tax on the salary exchange amount, but pay income tax when the money is paid out as a pension.

Salary exchange can be financially advantageous for employees with a gross salary exceeding 7.5 times the income base amount (2025: 54 204 SEK per month compared to 51 245 SEK per month in 2024)*. Employees whose gross salary after salary exchange falls below the amount above lose, among other things, old-age pension in the state pension system. Parental allowance, sickness benefit and unemployment benefit may also be affected, depending on the size of the salary after salary exchange. In general, salary deductions and salary supplements that are the result of central collective agreements are also affected.

Salary exchange at Lund University

At Lund University you can, according to agreement with the employee, allocate at least SEK 500 per month and, in total, a maximum of 35 per cent of your gross salary per month (including other pension premiums in accordance with central agreements). The upper limit is in view of the Income Tax Act (Chapter 59, Section 5), which permits a right to deduction up to a maximum of 35 per cent for the employer.

As Lund University is a public authority and is required to be economical with state funding, no compensation is paid in a salary exchange regarding the difference between the special employer’s contribution for pension contributions and the employer’s contributions for salary.

In salary reviews, a salary is considered without taking the salary exchange into account.

Your request for a salary exchange is to be registered on Primula Web. On the employer’s behalf, the agreement is signed by the person who has been delegated to enter such an agreement.

How to obtain a salary exchange

The process is as follows:

1. You register your their request for a salary exchange on SSC Primula under “My page”.
2. As the employer has an obligation to inform affected employee organisations about the salary exchange in accordance with PA16, you need to state the organisation to which you are affiliated in the request for a salary exchange. This is done in the field “Message” with a note of either “Saco”, “OFR” or “Unaffiliated”.

The salary exchange comes into effect at the earliest in the month after the agreement has been made. Lund University thereafter pays the agreed amount each month into the occupational pension. The money is placed with the insurance provider selected by employee. If the employee has not made an active choice, the money is placed with Kåpan Pensioner.

How long you can participate in salary exchange, referred to as the deadline for salary exchange, depends on what year you were born and your trade union affiliation. You always need to state the deadline for salary exchange and trade union affiliation (or absence thereof) when you submit an application for salary exchange through Primula’s salary exchange form. 

• The deadline is to be entered into the box “Date to”
• Trade union affiliation (or absence thereof) is entered by clicking “Note/Attl”  and the field marked “Note”  

If details of the deadline and/or trade union affiliation are missing from your application, your case will be returned to you to be completed, which means a delay before your case can be approved.