Reduced expansion fund set against a deficit must be added back

Partners in a handelsbolag who allocate to an expansionsfond are taxed at 20.6 per cent on the allocated amount instead of paying full income tax and social security charges today. The deduction for the allocation reduces the surplus from business activity, and a special expansionsfondsskatt is charged at 20.6 per cent of the deducted amount. When the fund is reversed, the amount is taken up as business income subject to income tax and egenavgifter or särskild löneskatt på förvärvsinkomster, and the previously paid expansionsfondsskatt is credited back, so that the partner in practice pays the difference. The allocation is made in the tax return on form N3A (SKV 2153), not in the accounts, and the same mechanism evens out results by allocating in profit years and reversing in loss years.

Anyone wanting to allocate must compute a kapitalunderlag, and the computation has to be done every year while a previous allocation remains, so that any mandatory reversal is caught. The starting point is the justerade anskaffningsutgift at the end of the tax year at point 79 (punkt 79) of form N3A. The övergångspost is added to it. From the total are deducted contributions made during the tax year for purposes other than a lasting increase of the business capital, as well as loans from the company during the tax year to the partner or related persons, unless the interest on the loan is at a market rate. There is now an additional add-backSkatteverket: anyone who has reduced the expansionsfond and set the reduction against a deficit at point 55 (punkt 55), where the deficit is deemed utilised at point 76 (punkt 76) of the N3A form, must add that amount back. The sum of these items is the kapitalunderlag for the expansionsfondSkatteverket.

If the kapitalunderlag is positive, a deduction may be made of at most the positive amount. The deduction may not create a deficit from business activity after the allocation, so it is also capped at the surplus at point 20 (Inkomst före avsättning till expansionsfond) of form N3A, even if the kapitalunderlag would be higher. For example, a 300,000-kronor profit with a 100,000-kronor allocation leaves business income of 200,000 kronor and expansionsfondsskatt of 20,600 kronor.

The fund must be reversed in several situations, including a negative kapitalunderlag, the handelsbolag ceasing its business, the disposal or other transfer of the holding to a new owner, or a decision to put the company into liquidation. If the kapitalunderlag is negative, all or part of the fund must be reversed, by the negative amount divided by 0.794, but never more than has been allocated. A negative base of 7,800 kronor therefore requires a reversal of 9,823 kronor. Reversal also works as loss relief: of a previous 150,000-kronor allocation, 100,000 kronor can be reversed against a 100,000-kronor deficit, bringing income to zero, with 20,600 kronor credited back and 50,000 kronor remaining.

In certain cases the fund can be transferred instead of reversed: on dissolution with the partners dividing the assets, to the partner's enskild näringsverksamhet; on conversion into an aktiebolag, into taxed equity in the company; and on transfer by gift or will, to the recipient, who can in certain cases take it over.

The legal basis is the provisions on expansionsfond and the capital base in chapter 34, sections 12–13 and on the adjusted acquisition cost of a holding in a handelsbolag in chapter 50, sections 3 and 5 of the inkomstskattelag (1999:1229).