VAT on shared premises clarified: continuous letting replaces old tests

Voluntary VAT on property letting (frivillig beskattning) now has a rewritten permanence testSkatteverket. To meet the stadigvarande användning (continuous-use) requirement, the tenant must use the rented premises on a continuing basis in a VAT-taxable businessSkatteverket, the letting itself must be continuous (ske kontinuerligt)Skatteverket, and the lease must run until further notice (tillsvidare) or for at least one yearSkatteverket. Gone from the checklist are the old alternativesSkatteverket: the tenant's uninterrupted right of disposalSkatteverket, the full-time-letting rule with its two-hours-three-days-a-week example, and the automatic-renewal route where a shorter lease that rolled over counted as a year.

At the same time the guidance newly confirms that voluntary taxation works for shared space. It applies even where several tenants use the same premises simultaneously with no one holding exclusive rights to a specific areaSkatteverket, and where several tenants use the premises alternatelySkatteverket. In both cases every tenant must carry on a business whose transactions confer deduction rightsSkatteverket. The position behind this — Skatteverket ställningstagande 8-2671490 (13 December 2023) — also draws the boundary: voluntary taxation is not available where the landlord itself shares the let premises with the tenants without anyone holding exclusive rights to a specific area, even if every party runs a deduction-entitling businessSkatteverket. And where a tenant runs a mixed business (blandad verksamhet), the tenant must use the premises on a continuing basis in at least the part of the business that confers at least partial deduction rightsSkatteverket; taxation is determined premises by premises (lokal för lokal).

Short leases are not automatically excluded: even with a term below one year, other circumstances can show the intention to let for continuous use in a VAT-taxable businessSkatteverket. Landlords relying on that route carry the evidential burdenSkatteverket, since the ställningstagande requires the landlord to show the letting will run continuously over a longer period — normally through a lease of at least one year or, for shorter leases, other objective circumstancesSkatteverket.

Legal basis: Skatteverket ställningstagande 8-2671490 on stadigvarande användning vid frivillig beskattning; Skatteverket guidance Uthyrning av fastighet och frivillig beskattning.