Oäkta Bostadsrättsförening: The Tax That Changes the Maths

The flat is cheaper than the one next door. The tax bill is not.

A Swedish housing association counts as genuine, äkta, only when at least 60 percent of its activity is providing housing to its members, according to the Swedish Tax Agency, Skatteverket. Everything else is an oäkta bostadsföretag. For a member that means 25 percent tax on the gain instead of 22, no deferral in the normal case, and possibly an annual tax on the fee itself.

What makes a förening oäkta?

The share of the business that is housing. Skatteverket defines a privatbostadsföretag, the genuine kind, as an economic association or company where at least 60 percent of the activity consists of providing housing to the members or owners. An association that fails the test is oäkta, and Skatteverket names the usual reason: a large share of commercial space, such as shops and offices, in the building.

The status is decided per tax year, and it can change. Skatteverket says the way to find out is to ask the association or its administrator, or to read the latest annual report, where it must be stated whether the association was äkta or oäkta.

How much more tax on the sale?

Three percentage points of the gain. On a sale of a genuine bostadsrätt, Skatteverket taxes 22/30 of the gain at the 30 percent capital rate, an effective 22 percent. Its worked example is a gain of 150,000 kronor: 110,000 kronor is taxable and the tax is 33,000 kronor.

On a sale of a share in an oäkta association, Skatteverket taxes 5/6 of the gain at 30 percent, which it states as an effective 25 percent. Its example is a gain of 100,000 kronor: 83,333 kronor is taxable and the tax is 25,000 kronor. Put on the same 150,000 kronor gain, the oäkta tax works out to 37,500 kronor, 4,500 kronor more. That comparison is our arithmetic on Skatteverket's two rates.

Tax on the gain from selling a bostadsrätt, äkta versus oäkta

Case	Tax ( kr)
Gain 150,000 kr, äkta		33,000 kr
Gain 150,000 kr, oäkta		37,500 kr
Gain 1,000,000 kr, äkta		220,000 kr
Gain 1,000,000 kr, oäkta		250,000 kr

Does uppskov apply?

Not in the normal case. Uppskov is the deferral that lets a seller postpone the tax on the gain when buying a new home. Skatteverket's conditions require the sold home to be a privatbostad, and the page spells out the oäkta case: if you sold a bostadsrätt in an association that was oäkta on 1 January, the association must have become äkta by the day you and the buyer signed the contract for a deferral to be possible.

The rule cuts the other way too. Skatteverket states that an oäkta bostadsrätt cannot be an ersättningsbostad, the replacement home that carries a deferral forward. A buyer moving a deferred gain into an oäkta flat loses the deferral. The same page sets the minimum deferral at 50,000 kronor.

Can the fee itself be taxed every year?

Yes, when it is below market rent. Skatteverket's rule on annual taxation is that a member of an oäkta association who pays an annual fee lower than the market rent for a comparable rental flat has a bostadsförmån, a housing benefit, equal to the difference. Market rent means what it would cost to rent a flat of the same standard in the same place. A member who carries the main responsibility for repairs values the rent at 90 percent, or 95 percent if the building was valued within the last ten years.

The benefit is taxed like a dividend: 30 percent on 5/6 of the amount. Skatteverket's example is a 70 square metre flat with an annual fee of 76,050 kronor against a market rent of 94,500 kronor. After the 10 percent maintenance reduction the benefit is 9,000 kronor, and the tax on it is 2,250 kronor a year, declared on form K9.

Where do you check?

The annual report, first. Skatteverket says the status must appear there. The shares of floor space let to members and let commercially are in the same document, and the fee level against local rents is what decides the annual benefit.

We do not give buying advice. What Skatteverket's published rules support is this: an oäkta status raises the tax on your eventual gain from 22 to 25 percent, normally removes the deferral, and can add a yearly tax when the fee is low. AiMYNDi reads the association's annual report and flags the status and the numbers behind it, alongside the interest-sensitivity figure the same report must carry. An example of what a report looks like shows the layout.