Rolled-over swap loss of SEK 195.6M not deductible, court holds

A company that closes an interest-rate swap early and rolls the negative value into replacement swaps with the same bank cannot deduct the rolled-over part as a capital loss in the year of the switch.Skatteverket Kammarrätten i Stockholm reached that conclusion in a judgment of 30 January 2026Skatteverket in cases 5577-25 and 5578-25Skatteverket, rejecting the company's appealSkatteverket and upholding Förvaltningsrätten i Stockholm's judgment of 24 July 2025Skatteverket.

The company (Söderport Fastigheter AB in the underlying proceedings) had entered into an interest-rate swap under which it paid a fixed rate to a bank every third month on a nominal amount while receiving a floating rate. On 23 November 2018 the parties agreed to close that swap early, with all rights and obligations ceasing on 27 November 2018, and to enter into three new swaps with the same bank starting that day and running for five, six and seven years. At closing the old swap had a negative value to the company of about 245.6 million kronorSkatteverket. The company paid 50 million kronor of that amount in cashSkatteverket and the remaining roughly 195.6 million kronor was settled by committing to a fixed rate in the new swaps above the market rateSkatteverket.

In its 2018 return the company deducted a capital loss of about 245.6 million kronor from closing the old swapSkatteverket and, on that basis, a loss carry-forward in 2019Skatteverket. Skatteverket allowed the loss only for the cash-settled partSkatteverket and denied the remaining roughly 195.6 million kronorSkatteverket, which also removed the 2019 loss carry-forwardSkatteverket. Högsta förvaltningsdomstolen held in HFD 2024 ref. 16 that the early closure meant the old swap counted as disposed of in its entirety in 2018Domstol and sent the cases back for examination of whether the loss was definitive and realDomstol.

On that remaining question both courts now rule against the companySkatteverket. Because the remaining negative value was transferred into the new swaps and no payment beyond the 50 million kronor settled in cash was made for that partSkatteverket, the old swap is treated as disposed of for zero kronor apart from the cash-settled part, the courts holdSkatteverket. A promise to pay an elevated rate in the replacement swaps does not count as paymentSkatteverket, the company is considered released from the old swap's debt only in the sense that the debt moved into the new agreementsSkatteverket, its actual economic position did not changeSkatteverket, and the final economic outcome of the remaining negative value folded into the new swaps was not knownSkatteverket. No real or definitive capital loss therefore arose on disposal of the old swapSkatteverket, so there is no deductible loss of about 195.6 million kronor for the 2018 tax yearSkatteverket and no loss carry-forward for 2019Skatteverket.

The question of costs was decided separately. The Administrative Court had awarded the company 49,725 kronor for costs before Skatteverket and 26,775 kronor for costs before that court, and Kammarrätten lets those assessments stand. For the proceedings before Kammarrätten the court grants 37,350 kronor, corresponding to nine hours of work at 4,150 kronor per hour, holding that the issue is significant for the application of the law even though the appeal fails on the tax question. The judgment in cases 5577-25 and 5578-25 may be appealed.Skatteverket

Legal basis: 25 kap. 3 §, 44 kap. 13, 14, 23 and 26 §§ inkomstskattelagen (1999:1229), as applied in HFD 2024 ref. 16 and the 30 January 2026 judgment of Kammarrätten i Stockholm in cases 5577-25 and 5578-25.