In December, the company Epassi sent out an invitation to employees who had not utilized their entire wellness allowance. The employees were offered a new service, Epassi plus, which involved transferring unused wellness funds to the next year, which, however, contravenes tax regulations. Wellness funds may not be transferred from one year to another.
The employers were not able to approve the new service, but have still been invoiced for it. Uppsala Municipality has paid 840,000 kronor according to P4's investigation.
They found ways to earn a little more money, but with our tax financing, we did not want to participate in that, says Olle Bergström, salary manager at Uppsala Municipality.
According to P4, 90 municipalities, five regions, and several universities have paid more than 10 million kronor for Epassi plus. Those responsible for Epassi write in an email to P4 that they failed in their communication and that their understanding was that it was permitted to transfer funds. The company has now withdrawn the Epassi plus service.
