Sweden VAT rate

What this value means

Standard rate 25%, unchanged since 1 July 1990. THE CURRENT STATUTE IS NEW BUT THE RATE IS NOT: mervärdesskattelagen (2023:200) entered into force 1 July 2023 and replaced the old mervärdesskattelagen (1994:200); the rate provision moved to 9 kap. 2 §, which is the correct citation from that date onward. A file still citing 7 kap. 1 § ML is citing the repealed 1994 Act. THE BIG 2026 CHANGE IS IN THE REDUCED RATES, NOT THE STANDARD RATE. Sweden has two reduced rates, 12% and 6%, and neither is blended into the value served here. From 1 APRIL 2026 TO 31 DECEMBER 2027 the rate on foodstuffs (livsmedel) is TEMPORARILY CUT FROM 12% TO 6% — enacted on prop. 2025/26:55 'Tillfälligt sänkt mervärdesskatt på livsmedel', reported by bet. 2025/26:SkU9 and adopted by rskr. 2025/26:158, amending 9 kap. of mervärdesskattelagen (2023:200) and renumbering the exception range in 9 kap. 2 § to '4-19 §§'. The corresponding SFS amendment number was NOT confirmed in this pass and is deliberately not asserted here; re-verify it before citing one. Boundaries that a consumer will get wrong: TAKEAWAY food is a supply of goods and takes the 6% food rate, while EATING IN at a restaurant or café is a restaurant/catering service and stays at 12% — the same establishment therefore charges two different rates on the same dish depending on whether the customer leaves. Spirits, wine and strong beer are excluded from the food rate and are taxed at the STANDARD 25%. Water supplied from a waterworks is likewise carved out of the food rate. Those carve-outs were taken from Skatteverket's guidance and the proposition, not read verbatim from the amended statutory text, and should be re-read against 9 kap. before being relied on commercially. Other 6% items (books, newspapers, passenger transport, cultural and sporting admissions) and other 12% items (hotel accommodation, restaurant and catering services, repairs of bicycles/shoes/clothing) are unaffected by the food measure. A 0% rate exists only as qualified exemptions (undantag) for exports and intra-EU supplies, not as a rate band. HISTORY IS DELIBERATELY EMPTY. The immediately preceding standard rate was 23.46% (equivalent to 19% of the tax-inclusive price). SOU 2005:57 'Enhetlig eller differentierad mervärdesskatt?' records that VAT was raised 'tillfälligt från 19 procent till 20 procent av priset inklusive skatt (det motsvarar en höjning från 23,46 procent till 25 procent räknat som pålägg på varans pris exkl. skatt) mellan den 1 juli 1990 och den 31 december 1991' — that is, the 25% was legislated as a TEMPORARY increase due to expire on 1 January 1992, and the reversion never happened; the 1990-91 tax reform then fixed 25% as the general rate. The START DATE of the 23.46% rate was not confirmed at a primary source in this pass, so no history row is served rather than serving a guessed date. ACCESS QUIRKS: Skatteverket's Rättslig vägledning host (www4.skatteverket.se), which carries the authoritative commentary page 'Normalskattesats 25 procent och skattesatsernas struktur', returns 'Request Rejected' to automated fetches — it is behind a WAF and cannot be used as a machine-readable citation. The riksdagen.se consolidated text of SFS 2023:200 is very long and automated fetches truncate before 9 kap.; the verbatim 9 kap. 2 § wording quoted above was obtained from the full text of prop. 2025/26:55 on riksdagen.se, which reproduces the provision as amended.

Get it programmatically

curl https://euroref.dev/v1/se/vat
# $0.001 per call — x402 on Base (USDC). No key, no signup.
# History:    curl https://euroref.dev/v1/se/vat/history?from=2020-01-01
# Provenance: curl https://euroref.dev/provenance/se/vat

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