The Swedish government plans to lower corporate taxes in two stages from 22% down to 20.6%. The rate is to fall to 21.4 percent from Jan. 1, 2018 and to 20.6 percent in 2021, Finance Minister Magdalena Andersson said on Wednesday.

At the same time, the intention is to take measures against aggressive tax planning and make the tax system more transparent. This will involve new rules on deductible interest payments which have been quite generous so far. The proposal includes restrictions for deductible interest payments in certain cross-border situations (hybrid rules) as well as restrictions for deductible interest in certain internal loans. New rules on financial leasing agreements are also to be expected.

The original plan was to reduce the corporate tax rate to 20% (the prevailing rate in Finland).

Why the Reduction in Corporate Tax?

The proposed tax changes reflect Sweden’s response to regional and global tax dynamics. Key motivations include:

• Regional Competitiveness: With Finland already at 20%, Sweden seeks to remain a leader in attracting investments and fostering economic growth.
• Global Trends: Many OECD countries are lowering corporate tax rates to appeal to multinational corporations. By reducing its rate to 20.6%, Sweden aligns itself with this trend.

Benefits of the Tax Reform for Businesses

The reduced corporate tax rate is expected to offer several benefits:

1. Increased Investment Attractiveness: A lower tax rate will make Sweden a more appealing destination for foreign direct investment (FDI).
2. Encouragement for Startups and SMEs: The reforms provide relief for smaller enterprises, enabling them to reinvest profits into growth.
3. Support for Innovation: Sectors like technology and manufacturing, which are Sweden’s strongholds, stand to benefit significantly.

Understanding the Anti-Tax Avoidance Measures

While reducing the corporate tax rate, Sweden is also tightening its rules to prevent tax avoidance:

• Hybrid Mismatch Rules: These will eliminate loopholes that allow multinational corporations to exploit inconsistencies between tax systems.
• Interest Deductibility Restrictions: Internal loans within corporate groups will face stricter regulations, reducing the potential for tax-driven intra-group financing.
• Financial Leasing Adjustments: New rules will standardize how financial leasing arrangements are taxed, ensuring equitable treatment.

These measures align with OECD’s BEPS (Base Erosion and Profit Shifting) initiative, demonstrating Sweden’s commitment to fair and transparent taxation.

Comparison with Nordic and Global Tax Rates

Sweden’s reduced rate enhances its competitiveness in the Nordic region and globally.

How Businesses Should Prepare

1. Review Tax Strategies:
   • Businesses should evaluate their use of internal loans and cross-border arrangements to ensure compliance with the new rules.
2. Optimize Operations:
   • The lower tax rate presents an opportunity to reinvest savings into growth, particularly for startups and SMEs.
3. Leverage Local Expertise:
   • Consulting tax advisors familiar with Sweden’s evolving regulations can help businesses navigate these changes efficiently.

Historical Context of Sweden’s Corporate Tax

Sweden has progressively reduced its corporate tax rate to maintain economic competitiveness:

• 26.3% to 22% (2013): A significant cut to attract foreign investment.
• 22% to 20.6% (2018-2021): Reflecting ongoing efforts to align with Nordic and EU peers.

Despite its reputation as a high-tax country, these reductions showcase Sweden’s focus on fostering a favorable business environment.

Sweden’s gradual reduction in corporate tax rates to 20.6%, coupled with measures to combat tax avoidance, reflects a balanced approach to maintaining competitiveness and ensuring fiscal transparency. These changes make Sweden a more attractive destination for businesses while safeguarding its economic integrity.

Whether you’re an existing business or considering entering the Swedish market, the upcoming changes offer opportunities to optimize your tax strategy and operations. Proactive preparation and consultation with local experts can ensure a seamless transition to the new tax regime.

Scandicorp congratulates Finland on 100 years of independence! Our Helsinki office will be closed today Wednesday the 6th of December but will reopen again on Thursday.

Despite cultural, economic and business differences the Nordic countries have many positive aspects in common. The choice of where to locate a business in this part of the world will naturally depend on the specific nature of the business in question. Scandicorp will happily discuss with you about the benefits of a specific country for your business. In this article, we will look at 10 good reasons for a foreign business to establish a presence in the Nordic countries (Norway, Sweden and Finland).

1. High international rankings

The Nordic countries rank very high in international benchmarks in the top places of the most secure and best places to live, least corrupt countries and one of the best health systems in the world.

2. Reliability

Everything works. If something doesn’t work, it will usually be addressed as soon as possible. You save a lot of time and nerves when you can rely on the infrastructure, logistics and timekeeping etc.

3. English

Most Nordic people are fluent in English and will be more than happy to practice their English with you. Although a basic understanding of the local language will make everyday life easier for you.

4. Highly skilled workforce

Thanks to a good public schooling system and a high overall level of education, recruiting locals will be relatively easy in most fields of business.

5. Moderate corporate taxes

The Nordic countries have traditionally been perceived as high-tax jurisdictions. However, the corporate tax rates are very moderate in international comparison.

6. Business environment

The Nordic countries have a very strong financial sector, a stable, ethical and predictable business environment. This provides a solid base for a long-term business solution. Good logistics thanks to modern airports, efficient ports and railways.

7. Lively startup scene and pioneering new technology

The governments of the Nordic countries as well as local communities have encouraged and supported research and development, the creation of start-up hubs and events. The atmosphere for start-ups has proved to be very inspiring.

8. Relatively easy to find local partners

It’s good to find local partners who you could collaborate with on common projects as this will help build your credibility.

9. Over 25 million consumers

In a consistent market with a strong purchasing power due to the relatively high GDP per capita.

10. Good places to test new ideas and products

Nordic consumers and businesses are among the first to adapt to technologically, new products and concepts. Testing your new products and technologies in the Nordics first before going global may be a smart move.

The Swedish government will propose a corporate tax cut to 20%, down from present 22% according to Finance Minister Magdalena Andersson and Deputy Finance Minister Per Bolund. The corporate tax rate of neighboring Finland has been 20% for some years now.

The proposed changes also include limitations to the deductibility of interest payments for companies. The aim of the proposal is to make equity financing more attractive compared to loans. The ministers stated that aggressive tax planning will become more difficult due to reductions in the deductibility of interest.

“With the proposals we want to strengthen competitiveness and create a more dynamic business climate,” they said on business daily Dagens Industri’s website.

The Finance Ministry will today circulate a Memorandum to interested parties.

The proposed changes would be implemented on July 1st, 2018.

Sweden is the best country in the world for women, at least according to a large american survey done by US News & World Report together with University of Pennsylvania and the brand consultants BAV Consulting. The survey ranks 80 countries around the world based on how closely people associate them with certain attributes such as human rights, gender equality, income equality, safety and overall progressive attitude. More than 21,000 respondents were interviewed and most of the respondents classified themselves as belonging to an ”informed elite” or being decision makers in business. The other Scandinavian countries also did well: Sweden was followed by Denmark and Norway. Finland came 6th.

According to New York Times this may come as a surprise to American conservatives, some of whom — like the Fox News host Bill O’Reilly have argued in recent weeks that criminal hordes of Muslim immigrants have forced frightened Swedish women to barricade themselves at home.

On the other hand some other studies suggest that Sweden may not be perfect paradise for women. Earlier this week, an organization promoting diversity in the workplace investigated a number of Sweden’s biggest private equity firms and found only 3 out of 92 top positions were held by women. Around 32 percent of board members of listed companies are women, and this figure appears to be growing.

Source: Read the US News story

We are all waiting for 5G smartphones with super speed internet which will also pave the way for new 5G-related services like self-driving cars, large scale Internet of Things as well as new augmented and virtual reality applications, Finnish Nokia recently announced introducing its 4.9G technology. 5G technology networks are expected to arrive in 2018.

Large leap towards commercial realization of 5G!

In the new tech, the antenna which will be used sends network signals directly to the smartphones instead of broadcasting it in different directions. This is possible because of 3D beamforming technology, which will also be present in the 5G devices when they launch. Nokia made a press release, and according to it, the technology will lead to an improvement in uplink by 8 times, and downlink by at least 5 times on any network.

The 4.9/5G connection marks yet another Finnish contribution to the evolution of communications: the first GSM call was made in Finland more than 20 years ago using a network built by Nokia. This tradition continued with the world’s first 3G voice call, on a commercial 3GPP system in Finland in 2001, and then with the world’s first LTE call via commercial software in Germany in 2009.

If your company is involved in this type of technology, you might want to consider establishing a corporate presence in Finland for example in Research and Development or simply being closer to the big players. Feel free to contact Scandicorp for more information.

Nokia’s press release

Bloomberg Markets recently published a survey ”The Battle of Ideas” ranking the most innovative countries in the World. South Korea topped the list. The silver medal was won by Sweden which climbed up one place from last year passing Germany.

The Nordic countries are still highly ranked on the list: Finland as number five, Denmark as eight and Norway as fourteen. Bloomberg ranks countries on the basis of parameters such as patent activity, number of high-tech companies, education and research.

Bloombergs survey correlates well with another recent report, the Global Talent Competitiveness Index 2017 (GTCI) published by Adecco and INSEAD. According to this report the Nordic countries rank among the top in the World. GTCI focuses on how technology affects talent competitiveness and the nature of work. Finland is ranked best in formal education, vocational enrolment, social mobility, environmental performance, employability, ease of finding employees and availability of scientists and engineers.

Do you want to set up your business in one of the most innovative regions of the world? Feel free to contact Scandicorp who will happily provide you with any help and information.

Read more from Bloomberg

Download the full GTCI report

The Nordic countries ranked as top five overall in this year’s Global Sustainable Competitiveness Index. Sweden as first, followed by Norway, Finland, Denmark and Iceland.

Altogether, the index evaluated 180 countries across their natural capital, resource intensity, intellectual capital, social cohesion and governance. The Global Sustainable Competitiveness Index utilizes recognized data sources (the World Bank, various UN databases) and 109 quantitative performance indicators to measure performance.

The index was compiled by Swiss-Korean sustainability think-tank and advisory SolAbility.

The Nordic countries will no doubt be a good choice to establish a Cleantech startup. Likewise this market would be well suited for established Cleantech companies to test their products and services. Scandicorp will gladly provide you with guidance and corporate services.

Read the full report

Sorry, this entry is only available in Swedish and Finnish.

The world’s oldest central bank, Sweden’s Riksbank, was the first to issue paper banknotes in the 1660s. Now it is launching a project to examine what a central bank-backed digital currency would look like and what challenges it would pose. It hopes to take a decision on whether to start issuing what it calls an “e-krona” within two years.

Sweden has seen a dramatic drop in the use of cash – down 40% since 2009.

Cecilia Skingsley, deputy governor at the Riksbank: “This is as revolutionary as the paper note 300 years ago. What does it mean for monetary policy and financial stability? How do we design this: a rechargeable card, an app or another way?” Cecilia Skingsley gave a speech today at a Fin-Tech conference in Stockholm. She pointed out that the “e-krona” will not replace cash and other means of payment but would function as a complement.

Other central banks such the Bank of England and the Bank of Canada have started looking at the potential benefits and challenges of digital currencies such as bitcoin.

Source: Read the Finacial Times story
Images: Sveriges Riksbank