(edit title) Advice for someone moving here from the UK From the UK with a Swedish wife! Options

[Taxalien]

The fact that You have not had a problem with the Swedish Tax authorities, does not mean it is a valid construct, many national tax authorities would view it as a vehicle for ... (show full quote)

The fact that You have not had a problem with the Swedish Tax authorities, does not mean it is a valid construct, many national tax authorities would view it as a vehicle for tax evasion. @Taxilian, have You actually given details of the construct You used to the tax authorities in Sweden? ... (hide full quote)

Honestly, against my better judgement I will perservere to try to answer your question positively. For the benefit of the OP.

Of course they know. They have to know. How else can I trade in Sweden? Who would deal with my company if I could not show a F-skattesedel? Anyone? No. Not a single bloody soul, unless they were dumb fcks who knew nothing about taxation in Sweden.

This then is roughly all you have to do, to carry on trading with a branch in Sweden created by your parent Limited company:

• Obtain a certificate of good standing from Companies House
• Register a branch (bolagsverket)
• Request a F-skattesedel (Skatteverket)
• Request to become VAT registered (skatteverket)
• Request to be registered as an employer (Skatteverket)
• Try to find a bank that will give you a bank account

Now, if you wanted to set up your Swedish limited company, in addition to the above you would have to deposit 50000 kr into a bank account that would for all intents and purposes be locked in there until you wound up the company.

Other than that there are no differences.

So let's look at what it really means:

1)

Assuming you already have a company or you have registered a new one, you will need to obtain a certificate of good standing from Companies House. You just call them up on their hotline, give your company number, hand over your VISA card number and give them the address where they should send it to.

2)

You can read up on this at http://www.bolagsverket.se/en/bus/business/branch

The form to fill in is here and is in English: http://www.bolagsverket.se/en/fee/forms/branches

The parent company must authorise someone (ie. the OP in this case) to act as a director for the branch.

The form to use is also given by bolagsverket: http://www.bolagsverket.se/polopoly_fs/1.3...ng_director.doc

If you don't have a deputy you just strike that out.

Cost to register: 2000 kr.

It takes about a week to get it done, you can monitor times at http://www.bolagsverket.se/en/us/about/processing-1.3502

Outcome: you get a branch with it's own identity number. You get registered as its Director.

3-5)

General background in English: http://www.skatteverket.se/otherlanguages/...27632.html#Ftax

The form to fill in is http://www.skatteverket.se/download/18.710...541/4632B02.pdf

and should be sent to:

Skatteverket
Utlandsskattekontoret
SE-205 31 Malmö
Sverige

On the form you can request F-skatt, registration as an employer and VAT.

That's all. From start to finish it could take about 3-4 weeks. You are however allowed to trade as soon as you have registered the branch, but you might find it prudent to wait for the VAT registration first.

To find a bank that will accept you will be a wholly different matter.

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To your other question. Is the Limited company subject to Swedish taxation laws because you have a permanent establishment here in Sweden? Yes, but only in the sense when it comes to dividends and capital gains taxation (if you sell your shares for example) while you are living in Sweden. Otherwise it is wholly a UK HMRC concern.

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Does the Swedish tax authorities not look upon you as some tax dodger:

There are two Utlandsskattekontor in Sweden. One is in Stockholm and one is in Malmö. When you register you will come in contact with both of them. In the Stockholm office they have a special unit that deals with tax evasion.

None of the operatives that I spoke to even came close to asking why I am doing this that or whatever.

They follow the rule of law. As long as you things by the letter, there is nothing to worry about.

[RedYeti]

Taxalien - as I've said before - thank you! What a fantastically helpful reply. I'm sure there will be many, many more people helped by that breakdown than just me.

I have some thinking to do regarding how to set up the details of this but you've given me a great starting point!

[Taxalien]

One thing you might find a bit odd on the forms and later is that you have to state your expected year and profit in advance.

This is used to setup a monthly payment plan so that the end corporation tax that you will have to pay is spread out over 12 months in advance.

However, you are not legally required to state any such profit. You can happily write a zero. The tax man will tell you so if you query it.

For year 2 they will however look at how you did in year 1 and assume you will do the same again and now you will be required to pay tax in advance.

However, if you can state good reasons you can again give them any other forecast.

But, if you then end up making a way more in profit I think they will not be very happy with you.

As far as the paper work circus, the schedule you have to follow is:

• quarterly VAT returns
• monthly employer returns
• monthly inter-EU trading returns (if you sell anything to companies somewhere in the EU, ex-Sweden)
• advance corporation tax payments

All of this can be done electronically with a electronic ID card. You get one of those from your bank via their Internet banking facility.

You use form SKV 4801 to authorise someone (yourself) to do electronic tax returns.

http://www.skatteverket.se/privat/blankett...f380001637.html

However you can only use that form if there is only one signatory for the company. If there is more, then it is not possible.

[Yorkshireman]

The EU was created to afford you flexibility in terms of where and how you incorporate.It's up to the individual EU citizen whether you excercise this right or not, any na ... (show full quote)

The EU was created to afford you flexibility in terms of where and how you incorporate.

It's up to the individual EU citizen whether you excercise this right or not, any national tax authority cannot override this right. ... (hide full quote)

They follow the rule of law. As long as you things by the letter, there is nothing to worry about.

Whilst both yourself and the Swedish Tax authorities follow the rules with regards creating a Ltd in the UK, and a branch in Sweden, which indeed is possible under the EU Rules, what you are missing is ...

Under the EU rules a member state cannot prevent the creation of a Branch in any other member state, You may or may not be aware, that within the same legal framework it is agreed that a Member State has the Right to decide what legally constitutes a Company.

What does this mean in this instance, well, whilst You have followed the rules for Ltd in UK (Parent), and Branch in Sweden, and followed the Tax requirements in Sweden for the Branch. Sweden has the Right within EU Law at anytime to re-define Your Branch as being the Parent Company. And therefore You risk exposing all income from both the Branch and Parent falling under Swedish Tax Rules.

Just because it has not done so, and readily accepts the structure now, kind of indicates that it is not a large enough issue, nor profitable to focus resources there, now. Tax records can be opened 7 years backwards. If the Swedish Tax Authorities decide to start targeting Parent-Branch structures for investigation, You will have opened the door to a potential back-taxes.

[Taxalien]

Just because it has not done so, and readily accepts the structure now, kind of indicates that it is not a large enough issue, nor profitable to focus resources there, now. Ta ... (show full quote)

Just because it has not done so, and readily accepts the structure now, kind of indicates that it is not a large enough issue, nor profitable to focus resources there, now. Tax records can be opened 7 years backwards. If the Swedish Tax Authorities decide to start targeting Parent-Branch structures for investigation, You will have opened the door to a potential back-taxes. ... (hide full quote)

What taxes and profits would that then be? In my case and many others 30% of 0 is still 0.

[james5]

I think its no problem to moving you and your wife to uk.