Swedish VAT for ecommerce
VAT is collected from the customer on behalf of the state; it is not business revenue or profit. The normal Swedish rate for phones, electronics, accessories, and most services is 25 percent.
For an ordinary domestic sale at that rate:
price excluding VAT = consumer price / 1.25
output VAT = consumer price - price excluding VAT
VAT payable = output VAT - deductible input VAT
Vinstmarginalbeskattning is a separate route for qualifying second-hand inventory. It taxes the positive resale margin and provides no separately deductible VAT on the purchase invoice.
Registration threshold
A Swedish-established business can under current rules be exempt from VAT when annual turnover in Sweden is no more than SEK 120,000 excluding VAT and the threshold conditions for the current and two preceding years are met. A small business can also apply for voluntary VAT registration.
For a product reseller, exemption is not automatically cheaper. The business normally loses the right to deduct input VAT while still bearing VAT in supplier prices and other costs. The choice should be modelled from expected sales, input VAT, customers, and administrative cost.
Purchases and sales within the EU
For an ordinary business purchase of goods from another EU country, the supplier normally omits its local VAT when the Swedish VAT number and cross-border transport conditions are met. The Swedish buyer reports acquisition VAT in Sweden and normally deducts the same amount when fully entitled to deduction.
That ordinary acquisition route must not be confused with buying used goods under a supplier’s genuine margin scheme. The invoice and inventory record determine the later resale treatment.
For cross-border sales to EU consumers, Swedish VAT normally applies while the business remains below the combined EU distance-sales threshold of EUR 10,000, shown by Skatteverket as SEK 99,680. At or above the threshold, the seller normally charges VAT at the customer’s destination rate and reports it through the One Stop Shop or local registrations.
Sales exported to customers outside the EU normally carry no Swedish VAT, but import tax and local obligations may apply at destination.
Imports from outside the EU
An importing business normally needs an EORI number. Import VAT is calculated from a base that includes customs value, duty and certain state charges, plus transport and insurance to the EU destination. A VAT-registered importer normally reports import VAT to Skatteverket; a non-registered importer pays it to Tullverket.
Import VAT can often be deductible under ordinary rules, but it still affects cash flow and documentation. Ordinary imported used goods generally do not become VMB inventory.
Minimum controls for a webshop
- Record gross sales before payment-provider fees, not only the provider’s net payout.
- Store supplier invoice, VAT route, country of dispatch, and customer destination for each transaction.
- Separate ordinary-VAT, VMB, export, and destination-VAT sales in the bookkeeping.
- Reconcile refunds, returns, chargebacks, and marketplace fees to the original sale.
- Track the distance-sales threshold before expansion makes OSS registration urgent.
See Swedish ecommerce compliance guidance for the surrounding consumer, product-safety, privacy, and producer-responsibility obligations.