Pensions Advisory Services

Understanding the current state of your pension arrangements is the foundation for effective management and strategic planning. Our pension health check provides a comprehensive assessment of your pension schemes, policies, and practices, identifying risks, opportunities, and areas for improvement.

We review your pension governance frameworks, policy compliance, definition and reporting of pensionable salary, tax treatment, accounting practices, and regulatory adherence. The outcome is a clear picture of where you stand and actionable recommendations to strengthen your pension management, mitigate risks, and enhance efficiency.

Pension arrangements sit at the intersection of reward strategy and tax efficiency and compliance. Our rewards and tax specialists help you navigate the complex Swedish tax landscape to ensure compliance whilst optimizing your position. 

We provide expert guidance on corporate tax deductions for pension costs, special salary tax, yield tax, and benefit-in-kind taxation for employees. We review pension agreements to ensure tax-efficient structuring, advise on pensionable salary definitions to ensure your compliance with both pension undertakings and bonus/incentive arrangements. At the same time, we can support you in managing your employer tax withholding, social security, and reporting obligations. Our integrated approach ensures your pension arrangements support your broader reward strategy whilst minimizing tax leakage and administrative burden.

We assist employers in effectively managing expatriate pension provisions – identifying the income tax, social security, and corporate tax implications in cross-border assignments. This offering includes:

• Supporting employers to understand the tax and regulatory implications of retaining assignees in their ‘home’ country pension plan whilst on assignment, as well as the impact on assignment policies and tax equalization agreements.
• Helping assignees understand how Swedish tax charges might apply on contributions or future withdrawal of pension after they have left Sweden.
• Reviewing foreign pension plan(s) ensuring tax compliance, assessing corporate tax deductibility on pension costs, and confirming tax position on pension contributions and distributions, yield tax, and social security charges.
• Advice on tax withholding and reporting obligations, and how to correct any identified previous tax withholding or reporting failures.
• Support in defining and implementing alternative pension savings strategies where traditional home or host country plans are not suitable.

Savings can be achieved by avoiding, e.g., double taxation and tax surcharges through proper compliance. Our experience shows that addressing these issues proactively is essential. If the employer takes a proactive approach, necessary adjustments can be implemented to avoid common pitfalls, prevent employee dissatisfaction, and ensure compliance.

Sound actuarial analysis underpins effective pension decision-making.Our qualified actuaries provide technical expertise across the role of Pensions Actuary and M&A pensions actuarial advisory.

Our services include valuation of liabilities, including sensitivity analysis to assess the impact of assumption changes, funding status assessments, and support with IAS 19 and other accounting standard requirements, risk assessment, asset ceiling calculations, and audit documentation.

Within M&A, our actuarial advisory includes independent valuation of assets and liabilities, advice on assumptions applied, and asset ceiling assessment.

Corporate transactions introduce significant pension-related risks and opportunities. Our pension due diligence service provides comprehensive analysis to inform transaction decisions and integration planning. 

We conduct legal and employment tax reviews of pension schemes and agreements, identifying risks and ensuring compliance. This includes analysis of main retirement pension schemes, individual arrangements for key employees and management, and special provisions for internationally mobile employees, including participation in foreign pension plans. 

Our actuarial review examines valuation, operational, and audit aspects—including actuarial assumptions, funding status, regulatory compliance, financial statement review, and internal controls assessment. 

We verify how pension commitments are safeguarded and funded, identifying defined benefit obligations, insurance arrangements, and any commitments that may be affected by business transfers or change of control provisions. We also assess compliance of pension agreements and policies, reviewing pensionable salary definitions and verifying that any policy deviations have been properly authorized.

Critical pension decisions – from scheme design and governance frameworks to risk management and pension foundations – require strategic insight that balances financial, legal, and operational considerations. 

Our team supports organizations through scheme transformations, pension risk transfer evaluations, policy development, and strategic alignment with broader business objectives. We provide independent reviews and ongoing advisory to ensure decisions are sustainable, compliant, and aligned with organizational goals whilst maintaining robust governance and fiduciary oversight.