Sweden

Starting a Business in

Sweden

Listed below is a detailed summary of the bureaucratic and legal hurdles an entrepreneur must overcome in order to incorporate and register a new firm, along with their associated time and set-up costs.  It examines the procedures, time and cost involved in launching a commercial or industrial firm with up to 50 employees and start-up capital of 10 times the economy's per-capita gross national income (GNI).

The information appearing on this page was collected as part of the Doing Business project, which measures and compares regulations relevant to the life cycle of a small- to medium-sized domestic business in 183 economies. The most recent round of data collection for the project was completed in June 2011.

  • Standardized Company

  • Legal Form: Aktiebolag Privat; AB privat
  • City: Stockholm

About This Topic

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No. Procedure Time to Complete Associated Costs
1 Obtain a written statement from a Swedish bank certifying that the total cash amount to be paid for shares has been deposited in an account


1 day no charge
2 Submit the application online to the Swedish Companies Registration Office (Bolagsverket) and obtain the registration certificate

To register a company relevant application documents have to be filed with the Swedish Companies Registration Office. The Companies Registration Office and the Swedish Tax Agency also administer a joint web site (www.foretagsregistrering.se) for "one stop shop" registration of businesses. It is possible both to register the company in the Companies Register and to apply for tax registrations (income and VAT), employer registration and to file a preliminary tax return at the joint web site (i. e. all registrations generally required to start up a business). Registration forms are available both at this web site and at the web sites of the Companies Registration Office (www.bolagsverket.se) and the Tax Agency (www.skatteverket.se). Forms can be downloaded, printed out or ordered by telephone, free of charge, to be signed by hand and sent by ordinary mail. Application and registration forms can also be filled in and filed entirely electronically. Elecronic signing however requires an electronic identity verification issued by a authorised entity specified on the web site www.e-legitimation.se

Registration must be applied for within six months from the date of signing the deed of foundation. The application must be signed (by hand or electronically) by a board member or by the managing director and be accompanied by a verified copy of the deed of foundation, a banks's (or accountant's in case of non-cash contributions) certificate concerning the paid-in capital. The uniqueness of the proposed name of the company is checked against the Companies Register.

Uppon approval, the Registration Office assigns the company an organisation identity number and publishes a notice in the Official Gazette (Post- och Inrikes Tidningar). The notice includes the name, mailing address and the identity of the board members, directors and all other authorized signatories.

The registration turnaround time is between 2 - 4 weeks, depending on the time of the year.

14 days for ordinary filings SEK 2200 and ordinary filings and electronic filings SEK 1900
* 3 Register with the Swedish Tax Agency (Skatteverket)

Under the Act on Payment of Tax (1997:483), any employer or a company subject to VAT and intending to do business in Sweden must register with the Swedish Tax Agency. The registration is a prerequisite for a company to deduct VAT and to receive payment for services without deducting preliminary tax (F-tax registration). An employer must withhold social security tax for employee salary and account for such charges in the monthly returns. F-tax registration is a prerequisite to require payment for services rendered without the customer having to withhold preliminary income tax.

Barring any unusual circumstance, companies should register with the Swedish Tax Agency 2 weeks before starting business activities. All application forms can be downloaded (as Adobe Acrobat files) from the Swedish Tax Agency Web site (www.skatteverket.se). They can also be ordered and received by postal mail, free of charge.
1 day, simultaneous with procedure 2 no charge
* Takes place simultaneously with another procedure.
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