Fiscal year for your company

A fiscal year should contain 12 months. When starting up your business the first fiscal year is allowed to be shorter than 12 months or extended up to 18 months. When the company terminates its business, the fiscal year may be shortened but not extended.

Ett räkenskapsår ska omfatta 12 månader. När företaget startar eller räkenskapsåret läggs om kan räkenskapsåret bli kortare än 12 månader eller längre, dock som längst 18 månader. När företaget slutar med sin verksamhet får räkenskapsåret förkortas men inte förlängas.

The fiscal years that do not follow the calendar year, i.e. January 1 to December 31, are called broken fiscal years.

Calendar year

The fiscal year must be a calendar year (1 Jan-31 Dec) for the following companies:

• Sole traders.
• Trading company where a natural person must be taxed for all or part of the company's income.
• Community management legal entities.

Broken fiscal year

Other companies and associations than those enumerated above, for example limited liability companies, non-profit and economic associations, and trading companies with only legal partners, may have broken financial years. A broken fiscal year must begin on the first day of a calendar month, include 12 full months, and end on the last day of a calendar month, for example, October 1 to September 30.

In the case of newly formed limited companies, economic associations and trading companies with legal persons as partners, broken accounting years are approved without the permission of the Swedish Tax Agency.

If, on the other hand, you want to change from a calendar year to a broken fiscal year, permission from the Swedish Tax Agency is required in most cases.

How to change fiscal year for limited companies at the Swedish Companies Registration Office (in Swedish)
How to change fiscal year for economic associations at the Swedish Companies Registration Office (in Swedish)