As a sole trader you are personally responsible for all of the company's obligations, such as liabilities and agreements. It is you as a private individual, and not the company, that rents premises or is a party in a legal case. This also means that you must pay all the company's debts yourself if there is not enough money in the business.

Taxes and charges

As a sole trader, you pay tax on the profit from your business. The Swedish Tax Agency (Skatteverket) makes decisions concerning preliminary tax. Preliminary tax is paid monthly in advance and is checked against your final tax when you submit the income return.

The profit in your business is your income minus your expenditure. You are also entitled to deduct a standard allowance of up to 25 % for deductible social security contributions. Social security contributions are state taxes which you as a business owner pay to the social insurance system.

After paying social security contributions, municipal tax (and national income tax if you exceed a fixed income level), you can make your own withdrawals from the business profits. These withdrawals represent your salary as a sole trader.

Company registration

Your business will be identified by your personal identity number. It is normally not necessary to register your sole proprietorship with the Swedish Companies Registration Office (Bolagsverket). However you must register your business with the Swedish Tax Agency. You need to apply for F-tax and VAT registration and register as an employer if you are going to have employees.

Registration with the Swedish Tax Agency if you have a Swedish personal identity number

If you have a Swedish personal identity number, you can use e-identification to log into our e-services and register your company (in Swedish).

• Apply for F-tax or FA-tax (in Swedish)
• VAT registration (in Swedish)
• Employer registration (in Swedish)

Registration with the Swedish Tax Agency if you do not have a Swedish personal identity number

You can register your business via our e-service Registration of foreign companies in Sweden (you do not need a Swedish e-identification to use this service). Alternatively, you can fill in the printed form ”SKV 4632” and post it to the Swedish Tax Agency.

Register a non-Swedish business with the Swedish Tax Agency