Wellness subsidies at Uppsala University
To promote health and well-being, the University encourages physical or passive activities to counter any work-related stress afflictions.
Wellness hour
Employees are able to spend one work hour each week on wellness activities, a so-called wellness hour [friskvårdstimme]. The hour cannot be saved for later, nor be used as a basis for flextime. The wellness hour may only be utilized when work permits, and its scheduling must be approved by your unit manager. It may be used in connection with the working day’s beginning or end, but within the normal workday of 8 hours.
Part-time employees have wellness time in relation to level of employment. E.g. if you work 50% of full time, your wellness time amounts to 30 minutes/week.
Wellness subsidy
The wellness subsidy is a tax-free benefit aiming to encourage activities. This activity should be of a simple type; hence, there are limits as to what type of exercise or other wellness activities that the subsidy will cover.
The wellness subsidy is offered to employees at Uppsala University on active duty. The offer is not valid if you are on leave fulltime, unless you are on sick leave or parental leave.
You may receive up to SEK 2000 per calendar year. If you are employed part of the year, you will be reimbursed with 1/12 per month of employment. Wellness subsidy received during the current year, can be seen in Primula Web at My page, 15. Personal information. If you have not received any wellness subsidy, no information is available on the page.
What activities are accepted for the wellness subsidy?
Both exercise and other types of wellness activities can be accepted. Common for both is that the value of the benefits should be on the lower scale.
Costs for activities that contain exercise may be reimbursed by a non-taxable wellness subsidy. These may also include different types of courses, provided these contain elements of exercise.
Additionally, the non-taxable subsidy may apply to certain other wellness activities that does not contain elements of exercise. These include different kinds of treatments that may be de-stressing, or that aim to prevent soreness (e.g. massage, acupuncture and herbal baths), as well as techniques and therapies involving physical posture and movement patterns (e.g. balance training). Approved activities also include treatments that support weight loss or becoming smoke-free, as well as prophylaxis courses for parents-to-be. For activities without elements of exercise, such as massage, the activity may not cost more than 1000 SEK for each occasion in order to be on the lower scale of value and non-taxable.
The wellness subsidy cannot be used for the following:
- Renting or buying equipment.
- Membership costs, theoretical courses, diplomas, healthcare, medical care or beauty treatments.
Examples of wellness activities
If you are uncertain whether your chosen activity is approved for wellness subsidy, please contact the Payroll unit via email: lon@uu.se
Accounting for wellness expenses
Accounting is done by the employee using Primula Web. Accounting of wellness expenses may be done throughout the year. Your case must be sent digitally in Primula Web to the Payroll Unit by December 5 at the latest. Requests received after this date will be settled using the following year’s wellness subsidy. The receipt/s cannot be older than 12 months.
What documents do I need when payment has been made via direct debit from my account?
If you pay for wellness costs via a direct debit from your account, you can either attach a proof of payment [betalningsintyg] from your wellness provider to the reimbursement case in Primula. You can also attach a scanned statement of accounts from your bank together with a copy of the gym contract; please note that the direct debit agreement with your bank is not valid for reimbursement.
If you pay via an invoice, attach the invoice as well as either a scanned statement of accounts from your bank, or a proof of payment from your wellness provider.
The proof of payment/statement of accounts must state your name, the type of wellness it concerns, costs paid, date of payment and a specification of the VAT [moms]. You can only be reimbursed for payments made, not for future payments.
Here you can log in to Primula webb
Instructions