Starting a Business in Sweden as a Foreigner

You have an idea, maybe a first client, and a Swedish address — but the bureaucracy looks like a wall: Bolagsverket, Skatteverket, verksamt.se, F-skatt, moms, and (if you are from outside the EU) a residence permit on top of it all. This guide walks you through the actual decisions and the order to make them in, so you can register a legal business and invoice your first client without guessing.

It is written for someone who has just arrived or is about to: a freelancer, a consultant, or a founder. By the end you will know which company form to pick, how to get F-tax approval, when VAT applies, and what the self-employment permit route requires.

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Step 1: Pick your company form

Two forms cover almost everyone starting out.

Enskild näringsverksamhet (sole trader, commonly called enskild firma) is you and your personal identity number running a business. There is no share capital, registration is free or near-free, and the admin is light. The catch: there is no legal line between you and the business — you are personally liable for its debts.

Aktiebolag (AB — limited company) is a separate legal entity. Your liability is limited to what you invest, which is why clients and banks take it more seriously. The trade-off is a minimum share capital of SEK 25,000 for a private aktiebolag (this floor has applied since 1 January 2020), stricter accounting, and an annual report. A public aktiebolag needs SEK 500,000, but you will not need that to start.

	Enskild firma	Aktiebolag (AB)
Share capital	None	SEK 25,000 (private)
Personal liability	Full	Limited to investment
Admin burden	Low	Higher (annual report, audit thresholds)
Registered with	Skatteverket (Bolagsverket optional)	Bolagsverket (mandatory)
Good for	Solo freelancers, testing an idea	Higher revenue, partners, liability risk

If you are unsure, most solo consultants begin as enskild firma and convert to an AB once revenue and risk justify it. For a deeper look at the solo path, see our guide to freelancing in Sweden.

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Step 2: Register on verksamt.se

verksamt.se is the joint portal for Skatteverket, Bolagsverket, and the Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth. It is where you register the business and apply for tax approvals in one flow. There is an English section at verksamt.se/web/international.

The online route works like this:

1. Get the prerequisites: a personnummer (personal identity number) or a samordningsnummer (coordination number), a Swedish address, and a Swedish e-identification such as BankID.
2. Log in to Mina sidor (My pages) on verksamt.se.
3. Choose Registrera företag (register a company or association) and select your company form.
4. For an aktiebolag, you register the company with Bolagsverket — the online registration fee is around SEK 1,900. The share capital must sit in a bank account before registration. An enskild firma does not need a Bolagsverket registration to operate, though you can register the business name to protect it.
5. In the same flow, apply to Skatteverket for F-tax, and for VAT and employer registration if relevant.

If you do not have a personnummer or coordination number and BankID, you cannot use the online service. You then file on paper through Skatteverket's International Office, which is slower but is the standard route for many foreign founders.

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Step 3: Get F-skatt (F-tax) approval

F-skatt (F-tax) is the approval that tells clients you handle your own income tax and social security contributions. Without it, a client who pays you may be obliged to deduct tax and pay employer contributions on your behalf — which makes you much harder to hire as a contractor. In practice, F-tax approval is what turns "person with an idea" into "business you can invoice from."

You apply for F-tax in the same verksamt.se registration flow, or directly via Skatteverket. To be approved, Skatteverket needs to see that you genuinely intend to run a business — multiple clients, your own pricing, your own tools and risk — rather than disguised employment for a single employer.

Approval typically takes about two to six weeks, depending on Skatteverket's workload and whether your application is complete. Apply before you start invoicing so the approval is in place when the first payment lands. How F-tax fits into the broader picture of brackets and contributions is covered in our Swedish tax system explained.

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Step 4: VAT (moms) — when you must register

Moms is Swedish value-added tax. Whether you register depends on turnover:

• If your business is based in Sweden and your annual turnover stays below SEK 120,000 in a calendar year, you generally do not have to register for VAT. (This threshold was raised from SEK 80,000.)
• Once turnover passes SEK 120,000, you must register with Skatteverket.
• Many businesses register voluntarily from day one — being VAT-registered lets you reclaim the moms you pay on equipment, software, and other purchases, which often outweighs the extra paperwork.

The standard VAT rate is 25%, with reduced rates for some goods and services. You can add VAT registration in the verksamt.se flow at the same time as F-tax. Check the current threshold and rates on Skatteverket's site before relying on a figure, as thresholds are adjusted periodically.

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Step 5: The residence permit route for non-EU founders

EU/EEA citizens can start and run a business in Sweden without a permit. If you are a non-EU/EEA citizen and not already on another qualifying permit, you generally need Migrationsverket's residence permit for self-employed people before you can run your own business here.

The core requirements:

• Relevant experience and a viable plan — you must show you can run this specific business and that it can support you.
• Money to support yourself — savings of roughly SEK 200,000 to cover two years (the equivalent of about SEK 100,000 for an accompanying spouse and SEK 50,000 per accompanying child). The account can be abroad, as long as the money is transferable to Sweden.
• Fee: SEK 2,000. Processing: commonly several months — plan for 4–6 — so apply early.

Approval rates for this permit are not high; a thin business plan or unclear funding is the usual reason for rejection. Note also that new work-permit rules begin to apply from 1 June 2026, so confirm the current self-employment requirements directly on Migrationsverket's page before you build your plan around any figure here.

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Common problems and fixes

• No personnummer yet, so verksamt.se won't let you in. The online service needs a personnummer or coordination number plus BankID. Until you have them, file your F-tax and registration on paper through Skatteverket's International Office.
• F-tax application stalls or gets questioned. Skatteverket suspects "disguised employment" when you have one client who looks like an employer. Show evidence of several clients, your own pricing, and that you carry the business risk.
• You invoiced before the moms decision was clear. If you are not VAT-registered, do not charge moms; if you are, you must. Fix incorrect invoices and register before the next one rather than guessing.
• Share capital is stuck abroad. For an aktiebolag, the SEK 25,000 must reach a bank account before Bolagsverket can register the company. Opening a Swedish business account as a newcomer can take time — start it early.
• Permit and company timing clash. Non-EU founders sometimes register a company before the residence permit is decided. Sequence it with Migrationsverket's guidance so the business activity matches what your permit allows.

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Do this first: line up your money and your numbers

Before touching any registration form, get your banking in order — the SEK 25,000 share capital (for an AB) or the ~SEK 200,000 savings proof (for the self-employment permit) both have to be in an accessible account. If you are moving funds into Sweden from another country, a multi-currency account like Wise lets you hold and transfer money at the real exchange rate and gives you account details you can show, which is useful while a Swedish business account is still being opened.

Then open verksamt.se/web/international, confirm you have a personnummer (or coordination number) and BankID, and start the registration. Decide your company form, apply for F-tax, and check whether you cross the SEK 120,000 moms threshold. That sequence — money first, form second, F-tax and moms third — is the cleanest path from arrival to legally invoicing your first client.