Registering an aktiebolag now costs about 2 400 kronor

Registering an aktiebolag with Bolagsverket to obtain an organisationsnummer and a company name costs about 2 400 kronorSkatteverket, up from about 2 000 kronorSkatteverket. Registration happens through Verksamt.se, where the authorities gather information and services for new businesses. Once the company is registered it can apply for F-skatt and file for VAT registration and employer registration with Skatteverket; all of that is free of chargeSkatteverket.

Forming the company itself still requires at least 25 000 kronor in total from the founders, who buy into the company in exchange for shares. The company is its own legal person: it pays income tax, signs supplier contracts, owns assets and pays its debts. If it lacks F-skatt approval, customers must withhold tax on remuneration for work. A representative of an aktiebolag can become personally liable for unpaid taxes and charges on the tax account through företrädaransvar, but only after negligence.

Registering an ekonomisk förening costs about 1 900 kronorSkatteverket, up from about 1 500 kronorSkatteverket. The members first hold a constituent meeting to appoint a board and adopt statutes, and must then register the association with Bolagsverket within six months; registration makes it a legal person. Members are normally not liable for the association's debts but can lose their stake, while a representative faces the same negligence-based personal liability for unpaid taxes and charges. The association must keep accounts, and its representatives answer for correct bookkeeping even when someone else handles it.

Registering a handelsbolag costs about 1 800 kronorSkatteverket, up from about 1 200 kronorSkatteverket, and likewise produces an organisationsnummer and a company name. The same free-of-charge Skatteverket steps follow: approval for F-skatt, VAT registration and employer registrationSkatteverket. A handelsbolag approved for F-skatt pays its own taxes and charges; without it, clients must withhold tax on work remuneration, though no employer contributions are ever due on payments to the firm as a legal person. A handelsbolag has two or more partners who are each personally answerable for the firm's debts, jointly and severally. A partner cannot be employed by their own firm and is taxed on their share of the surplus in their private return, and the firm must keep accounts.

By contrast, an enskild näringsverksamhet uses the owner's personnummer as its identity on invoices and receipts, and the owner is personally liable if the firm's money falls short. The owner can hold FA-skatt when also employed elsewhere, and neither a spouse, partner, cohabitant nor children under 16 can be employed and paid a salary in the business. In the kommanditbolag variant at least one komplementär carries unlimited liability while the other partners' liability is capped at their stake, and those limited partners normally have no say in management.

Legal basis: Skatteverket, För dig som vill starta företag.