Swedish medical staff to pay tax on 'free lunches': Media

Stockholm, May 6 (AP) Swedish media say that the Scandinavian country's tax authorities have, under the current laws, ordered medical staff to pay taxes for the free lunches they have been getting. Or donors to report their gifts to the taxman.

The southern Sweden daily Sydsvenskan says three restaurants in Lund, one of the region's largest cities, have offered free lunches.

"It feels saddening," Asa Loven, co-owner of the Stamstallet eatery in Lund, told the daily.

In Sweden, if an employer receives lunches for the employees, it should be reported as a taxable benefit, the Swedish Tax Agency told Sydsvenska.

In Goteborg, Sweden's second largest city, a restaurant donated food to healthcare professionals directly to health staff.

However, the state agency said the giving part should report it, as it is taxable, the local newspaper Goteborgs-Posten wrote.

Yngve Gripple, a spokesman at the Swedish Tax Agency, told Goteborgs-Posten that the legislature needed to be changed if free lunches should not be taxed. (AP) INDIND