Conditional pay cut bars expert-tax relief, HFD holds

An employment contract that lets pay fall below the expert-tax threshold if a future event occurs does not satisfy the amount rule, even when pay starts above the threshold.Domstol Högsta förvaltningsdomstolen dismissed the employer's appealDomstol in mål 1405-26 on 20 October 2026Domstol and refused expert-tax relief (expertskatt) for the football player concernedDomstol.

HBK Elitfotboll AB had hired the player on a three-year contractDomstol whose monthly pay exceeded the thresholdDomstol. One clause cut pay to a level below the threshold if the club were relegated from Allsvenskan to SuperettanDomstol. Forskarskattenämnden granted relief, reasoning that the contract merely allowed a future reduction without showing at the start of work that pay would fall below the threshold. Skatteverket appealed, Förvaltningsrätten i Stockholm set the grant aside, Kammarrätten i Stockholm dismissed the club's further appeal, and Högsta förvaltningsdomstolen has now dismissed the final appeal.

Under 11 kap. 22 § tredje stycket inkomstskattelagen, the competence requirement is deemed met where monthly salary and other remuneration for work in Sweden exceed one and a half times the prisbasbelopp for the calendar year in which the work begins.Domstol Where the conditions are met, 25 percent of salary and similar remuneration is exempt from tax as employment income under 11 kap. 23 §Domstol. Forskarskattenämnden examines whether the conditions are met, based on the contract and other documents governing the employment.

The court anchored its reading in the purpose of the amount rule: an objective, easily applied test that employee, employer and Forskarskattenämnden can assess from the contract documents when terms are negotiated and the application is made. Against that background, and given the structure and wording of the provision, there is in principle no room for contract terms under which pay can fall so that it no longer exceeds the threshold at some point during the employmentDomstol. The agreed remuneration must exceed the threshold every month of the whole employment period.Domstol A temporary dip caused by illness, parental leave or similar does not affect relief.Domstol The court invoked its earlier holdings that relief fails where pay exceeds the threshold for only part of the employment period and that the assessment is made from the documents underlying the application.

The club also claimed reimbursement of its litigation costs in Högsta förvaltningsdomstolen. The court dismissed that claim: the cost-reimbursement rules in 43 kap. skatteförfarandelagen apply in matters handled under another statute only where that statute so providesDomstol, and lagen (1999:1305) om Forskarskattenämnden contains no such referenceDomstol. Litigation costs are therefore not recoverable in Forskarskattenämnden matters.Domstol

Advisers and employers engaging foreign experts, researchers and key personnel should keep conditional pay-reduction clauses out of contracts intended to support expertskatt, or set any reduced pay floor above one and a half times the prisbasbelopp for the year work begins. Relief is sought from Forskarskattenämnden on the contract documents, and a clause that makes meeting the threshold depend on sporting, commercial or other future outcomes defeats the application for the whole employmentDomstol.

Legal basis: 11 kap. 22-23 §§ inkomstskattelagen (1999:1229); lagen (1999:1305) om Forskarskattenämnden; HFD 20 October 2026, mål 1405-26.