Proposed tax on credit institutions in Sweden

The Swedish Government is currently working on a new risk tax, which would affect credit institutions carrying out business in Sweden. If passed, the taxable amount is the sum of the credit institutions total debt. It is proposed that the new law should enter into force January 1, 2022.

If the bill gets passed in its current form, credit institutions whose total debt exceeds a certain limit at the beginning of the fiscal year will be taxable under the new legislation. The mentioned limit would, for fiscal year 2022, be SEK 150 billion and thereafter be indexed yearly. As for foreign credit institutions, only debt assignable to business which the credit institution carries out from a Swedish branch will be considered. If the credit institution is part of a corporate group, the limit is to be applied for all credit institutions within the group.

The taxable amount for a credit institution is the sum of the company’s debt at the beginning of the tax year. However, certain debt, such as intra-group debts, should not be included in the calculation. It is not clear how the assignable part of a debt to a Swedish branch will be defined, and several critics have requested guidance in this part.

For fiscal year 2022, the tax rate will be 0,05 percent, and for the following year it is proposed to be raised to 0,06 percent.

During the past years, the Swedish Government has been trying to implement a new risk tax for credit institutions. The aim of the bill is to tax credit institutions whose risk exposure in the case of a financial crisis might cause extensive costs for the society, for example in the form of rescue programs financed by the state. The proposed law is now subject to a constitutional review and has also been sent to the European Commission for an assessment of its compliance with the EU rules against state aid. Critics have pointed out that there is no similar tax in any other country in the EU (or the world).

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