Penalty interest runs during inhibition of recovery decisions

Försäkringskassan shall charge penalty interest for the whole period an appealed recovery decision has been inhibited, provided the court ultimately upholds the decisionForsakringskassan. That is the agency's legal position 2026:08, decided on 13 November 2026. When a recovery decision for erroneously paid benefits is appealed, the court sometimes orders under 28 § förvaltningsprocesslagen that the decision shall not apply for the time being. During that inhibition the agency cannot enforce the decision, for example by setting the reclaimed amount off against other benefits — but the interest clock keeps runningForsakringskassan.

The mechanics follow 108 kap. 19 § socialförsäkringsbalken: if a reclaimed amount is not paid on time, penalty interest is charged under the Interest Act (räntelagen 1975:635). Under 4 § of that Act, interest runs from the day falling thirty days after the agency demanded a stated amount with a warning that non-payment triggers interest, and it runs until the debtor pays the full amount. Some judgments and commentary contain statements against interest accruing during inhibition, while the Interest Act with its preparatory works speaks for continued accrual — and the agency sides with the Act. The position cites the Gothenburg administrative court of appeal judgment of 16 September 2026 in case 1434-26 and the Jönköping judgment of 31 May 2024 in case 1600-24, alongside earlier rulings.

The purpose of the interest is twofold: pressure to pay and compensation to the creditor for the involuntary loan an unpaid debt represents. Neither a payment deferral nor a general moratorium stops the accrual, and the same applies to inhibition: it blocks enforcement, not interest. The reasoning reaches beyond social insurance proper, since interest-on-recovery rules for benefits the agency administers also exist outside the Code, for example in 8 kap. 4 § of the ordinance on compensation to participants in labour-market programmes (2017:819).

For recovery and appeals handlers this settles the bookkeeping: interest for the inhibited period is added when the decision is confirmed. For claimant-side counsel the advice point is equally concrete — an inhibition application protects against enforcement while the appeal runs, but it does not freeze the interestForsakringskassan, so the economics of waiting versus paying turn on the expected outcome and the accruing rate.

Legal basis: 108 kap. 19 § socialförsäkringsbalken (2010:110), 4 § räntelagen (1975:635), 28 § förvaltningsprocesslagen (1971:291), Försäkringskassans rättsliga ställningstagande 2026:08.