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Doing your crypto taxes can be difficult. You may even miss out on tax refunds you are eligible for. In this article, we're going to teach you how to do your crypto taxes and how Divly can be used to automate it. In this guide weâll be covering the following helpful topics:
- When should you declare your crypto?
- How cryptocurrencies are taxed
- Tax treatment of different cryptocurrency transaction types
- How to submit your tax report to Skatteverket
- Other helpful information
This guide is updated and maintained on a regular basis to account for changes made by the local tax authority (Skatteverket) and for new types of transactions. In the event that you find any errors or outdated information, it is greatly appreciated if you let us know by sending an email to [email protected].
When should you declare your crypto?
- 19 March 2024 - Online tax portal opens and you can start declaring your taxes.
- 2 May 2024 - Last day to submit your taxes
If you need more time to declare your crypto taxes, you can apply for a tax extension that is expected to last until 16 May 2024. You can apply for an extension in Skatteverket's online portal.
How is crypto taxed in Sweden?
In Sweden, you have to pay a 30% capital gains tax on cryptocurrency trading profits. You can deduct 70% of losses from your gains. Furthermore, youâll have to pay 30% interest income tax over your staking rewards and pay your regular income tax rate over cryptocurrency mining rewards.
Therefore your cryptocurrency activity may be subject to three different types of taxes:
- Capital Gains Tax
- Income tax
- Interest Income Tax
We will explain how they work and when they are relevant to you.
Capital Gains Tax
Cryptocurrencies are treated in accordance with the provisions on âOther Assetsâ in Chapter 52 of the Income Tax Act (Inkomstskattelagan). This means that any form of sale of Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies must be reported as a capital gain. We will walk through a long list of detailed scenarios that involve capital gains tax, but in essence, expect to declare and pay capital gains taxes on your cryptocurrencies if you have:
- sold cryptocurrency
- exchanged a cryptocurrency for another cryptocurrency
- exchanged a cryptocurrency for a fiat currency
- Paid with cryptocurrency when buying a product or service
- Lended out cryptocurrency
Calculating capital gains tax: Capital gains tax on crypto is calculated using the Average Cost Basis method (In Swedish: Genomsnittsmetoden). To correctly calculate gains, you need to figure out your cost basis (In Swedish: Omkostnadsbelopp). Price you sold for - cost basis = profit or loss. You pay 30% taxes on the profits you make. If you made a loss, then 70% of the loss can be deducted.
Calculating cost basis (Omkostnadsbelopp): Typically the average price you purchased the crypto in local currency (SEK) will be your cost basis. If you have mined crypto or received crypto as income, the cost basis will be the value of the coins on the day you receive them in local currency (SEK). It is very important to calculate this right, so if in doubt it is better to use an automation tool like Divly.
Examples: Skatteverket provides several examples of different cases on their website.
Submitting capital gains tax: You submit capital gains tax using the K4 form in section D. You can read more about how to submit capital gains taxes at the end of this guide.
Income Tax
If you have earned crypto for some form of work or effort then you need to pay typical Income Taxes, just as you would have if you were paid in your local currency.
If you decide to keep the cryptocurrency that you received, then you will need to pay capital gains taxes on any profits or losses that are incurred when you sell them. The cost basis in this case would be equivalent to the amount you declared in your income tax return.
For example, if you work and earn 0.1 ETH which was worth 10 000 SEK, then this is what you declare as income tax. If you then sell the 0.1 ETH a month later for 15 000 SEK, your will have made a profit of 15 000 - 10 000 = 5000 SEK. The profit is taxed as capital gains.
Calculating income tax: Simply sum up the income from the different transaction types that contribute to income tax.
Submitting income tax: How to submit income taxes depends on the type of income tax. If its a salary, then you will declare it under Inkomst av TjÀnst. If it refers to mining, you need to fill out a T2 form.
Interest Income Tax
If you have received crypto in the form of loan interest or staking rewards, then you will be subject to interest income tax (In Swedish: RĂ€nteinkomst). Similar to capital gains tax, it is taxed at a rate of 30%. The difference is that losses from interest payments you have made are fully deductible.
Calculating interest income tax: Simply sum up the income from the different transaction types that contribute to interest income tax.
Submitting interest income tax: This is done by filling in the value in section 7.2 of your declaration.
Tax treatment of different cryptocurrency transaction types
Certain transactions trigger the three different types of taxation listed above. Below is a master list for your reference, we will go through each in detail in this guide. Each transaction has an associated tax event and the corresponding label in Divly for those using our service to automate their tax reporting.
| Transaction Type | Tax Event | Divly Label |
|---|---|---|
| Buy Crypto | None | Buy |
| Sell Crypto | Capital Gains Tax | Sell |
| Trade Crypto For Crypto | Capital Gains Tax | Traded crypto |
| Initial Coin Offering (ICO) | Capital Gains Tax | Traded Crypto |
| Purchase Goods & Services | Capital Gains Tax | Goods/Services |
| Pay Trading Fee with Crypto | Capital Gains Tax | *Fee Included in Trade |
| Pay Transfer Fee with Crypto | Capital Gains Tax | *Fee Included in Transfer |
| Transfer Crypto Between Your Wallets | None | Transfer |
| Lost or Stolen Crypto | None | Lost/Stolen |
| Give Crypto as a Gift | None | Gifted Away |
| Receive Crypto as a Gift | None | Received Gift |
| Donate Crypto | None | Donation |
| Airdrop | None | Airdrop |
| Fork | None | Fork |
| Mining | Income Tax | Mining |
| Reward (e.g. referral) | Income Tax | Reward |
| Cashback | None | Cashback |
| Income (e.g. freelancing, salary) | Income Tax | Income |
| Lending Crypto | Capital Gains Tax | Traded Crypto (Fordran) |
| Interest Received | Interest Income Tax | Interest Received |
| Interest Paid | Interest Income Tax (deductible) | Interest Paid |
| Staking Reward | Interest Income Tax | Staking Reward |
| Margin Trading | Capital Gains Tax | Realized Profit / Realized Loss |
| Futures / Derivatives Trading | Capital Gains Tax | Realized Profit / Realized Loss |
| Trade NFT | Capital Gains Tax | Imported as NFT-Identifier |
| Create & Sell NFT | Income Tax | Imported as NFT-Identifier |
| Liquidity Pools | Capital Gains Tax | Not yet available |
*Take note that certain transaction types are complex and may have multiple forms of tax events depending on the specifics of the transaction. The above table summarizes our opinion of what is the most common type of Tax Event for each type of transaction.
Buy Crypto / Buy Crypto with Fiat
There are no taxes involved when buying crypto. However, you need to ensure that you keep track of the price you paid for it to be added to your average cost basis (in Swedish this is called âomkostnadsbeloppâ). If you purchased the crypto in a foreign currency (e.g. USD or EUR) make sure to convert it to the value in local currency on that day.
When buying crypto you can add the trading fee to the cost basis (44 kap. 14 § IL). This will help reduce your taxes. For example, you purchase 1 ETH for 10 000 SEK and pay a trading fee of 100 SEK. Your cost basis for 1 ETH is 10 000 + 100 = 10 100 SEK.
Sell Crypto / Sell Crypto for Fiat
Selling cryptocurrency will always require you to declare capital gains tax whether it's at a profit or loss. Once again, it's important to calculate the selling price in local currency at the time of sale.
When selling crypto you can subtract the trading fee from the sale price (44 kap. 13 § IL). This will help reduce your taxes again. Let's continue with the previous example from above where we now sell 1 ETH for 20 000 SEK and pay a trading fee of 300 SEK. The profit for 1 ETH is 20 000 - 10 100 - 300 = 9 600 SEK. If you are using Divly, all the fees are automated in the calculations.
Trade Crypto for Crypto
In Sweden trading crypto for crypto is a capital gains tax event. You must pay capital gains on the cryptocurrency you sold. The value is based on the cryptocurrency that you sold it for, in your local currency. For example, if you sold 1 Bitcoin for 10 Ethereum, then the selling price is the value of 10 ETH in Swedish crowns.
Finally, you need to account for the cost basis of your Ethereum that you purchased. This is the same as the value above, 10 ETH in Swedish crowns on the day of the trade.
Initial Coin Offering (ICO)
An ICO is when you invest your crypto (usually Ethereum) in a new project that in turn provides you a token that represents that project. In a taxation point of view, it functions the same as a crypto to crypto trade. Essentially, you send cryptocurrency in exchange for a token from a new project. You follow the same principle where you sell your crypto for the value of the ICO token in local currency. Capital gains tax is applied to the crypto you sent, and a cost basis is added to the new token at the same price.
Purchase Goods & Services with Crypto
When you purchase a good (e.g. new computer, amazon gift card) or pay for a service online (e.g. VPN service), then you must pay capital gains tax on the crypto you spent. This works the same as selling crypto for fiat, the selling price is what the same good or service costs in your local currency.
Pay Trading Fees in Crypto
On some exchanges, typically when you trade crypto for crypto, the trading fee will be paid in crypto. In these cases you need to convert the crypto you used to pay for the trading fee into your local currency and then pay capital gains on it. This can become quite tedious if you have many trades.
Pay Transfer Fees in Crypto
If you transfer crypto between two wallets you own, then the transfer fee is seen as paying for a service. In this case, the cryptocurrency used to pay the transfer fee is taxed as capital gains. Similarly, if you transfer crypto as a gift then the transfer fee is seen as a service and should be taxed. Take note that we are only referring to the transfer fee! Not the actual coins transferred.
If you transfer crypto to a wallet you do not own (in exchange for something else), then you can use the transfer fee to offset the sale price. This is similar to how a trading fee works and can reduce your tax payable.
The same logic as above applies if you send crypto from an exchange and the exchange charges you a withdrawal fee.
Transfer Crypto Between Your Own Wallets
Transfering crypto between your own wallets is not a taxable event (this includes sending crypto to your account on an exchange). Only the transfer fee is taxed as described in the section above. It is important that you track these transfers properly so you don't pay unnecessary taxes!
Lost or Stolen Crypto
You do not need to pay taxes on lost or stolen crypto. However, take note that you canât offset lost or stolen crypto against your profits. You simply remove the relevant cost basis from your calculations.
Give Crypto as a Gift / Receive Crypto as a Gift
Gifting or inheriting in Sweden is tax free. You are free to give away crypto without needing to pay any taxes. Similar to lost or stolen crypto, you can't deduct gifted crypto from your profits.
If you received crypto as a gift you donât need to pay taxes on it until you sell it. If possible, ask for the purchase receipt from the one who gifted you the crypto. You can inherit the price they paid as your cost basis, this means you pay less taxes when you finally sell it.
Donate Crypto
Donating crypto is the same as giving a gift and is tax free in Sweden. In some countries donating crypto is tax deductible, in Sweden it is not.To be tax deductible in Sweden the gift must be given in the form of a currency to an accepted charity. Skatteverket does not consider crypto to be a currency.
Airdrop
An airdrop is typically considered as a gift from the token holder or blockchain. You only pay taxes when you sell it. The cost basis in this case should be set to zero.
If the airdrop was obtained as compensation for performing a service (e.g. referring people) then it can be classified as Income Tax. In this case you should label the transaction as a Reward in Divly.
Hard Fork
A hard fork is typically considered as a gift from the new blockchain fork. You only pay taxes when you sell it. The cost basis in this case should be set to zero.
Skatteverket has not provided a generalized statement regarding forks. However, when Bitcoin Cash was forked from Bitcoin in 2017 Skatteverket made the call that the 'dividend' Bitcoin Cash would not create a capital gains event. The cost basis should therefore be 0 SEK.
Mining
If you are mining as an individual then the proceeds are classified as income from a hobby (In Swedish: Inkomst av Tjanst (hobby)). Hence, you are required to declare and pay Income Tax on mining proceeds. This is calculated as the value of the proceeds in local currency on the day you mined them. The cost basis of the newly minted coins are equal to the amount you declared in income. Once you sell the crypto in the future, you need to pay regular capital gains taxes.
A more in depth guide regarding mining and declaring can be found in our mining tax guide.
Lending Crypto and Loan Interest
Lending cryptocurrency in Sweden is considered to enact a capital gains tax event. These tax rules make lending of cryptocurrency quite complex to account for in Sweden. Every time you lend your crypto you can think of it as selling your crypto. In return you get a claim (fordran) which has the cost basis of the value of the crypto lent out. Once you are repaid the principal amount, you effectively sell the claim and repurchase the crypto. If the claim has appreciated in value, then you need to pay capital gains taxes on it just like a regular crypto. Skatteverket has an in-depth description of different scenarios.
If you have deposited crypto to centralized interest bearing platforms such as BlockFi, Celsius or Nexo then this could potentially be seen as lending out crypto. After having spoken to Skatteverket and tax lawyers we have reason to believe that this is probably the case. It will likely depend on the Terms & Conditions of each platform. Since you can trade on these platforms, calculating what your claim is worth (e.g. FordranBlockFi) can be very time consuming and tricky. You will need to calculate your total holdings in SEK on the respective platform whenever you make a withdrawal.
We will soon write a guide on how to handle different lending scenarios in Divly including centralized platforms. In short, you should create a trade every time you lend out your crypto and get it back. Use a different currency for each loan or platform you use, for example: FordranA, FordranB, FordranBlockFi, FordranCelsius, FordranETH. Divly will then calculate the capital gains on these different claims and include them in your tax report.
When receiving loan interest payments, they are subject to Interest Income Taxes. If the interest is paid in cryptocurrency, ensure to record the cost basis to avoid paying excessive capital gains tax in the future.
If you have taken a crypto loan and paid interest, this can be deducted by 100% from the interest profits you have made.
How is staking taxed in Sweden?
Skatteverket has made a statement regarding staking on Ethereum 2.0. The act of locking up your coins to stake them should not incur a taxable event in most scenarios. This means you would only need to pay taxes on the staking rewards.
However, this can depend on the specifics of the protocol you are staking on. As we have understood it, it is not seen as a disposal or taxable event assuming you have not transferred the rights for someone else to use your crypto in the process of staking. Take note that if you have transferred your voting rights to another party, then this may be seen as a disposal. In that case you should follow the same tax logic as when lending out crypto.
Staking rewards are subject to Interest Income Taxes. Staking rewards are typically paid in the cryptocurrency associated with the blockchain you are staking towards. The cryptocurrency you receive will have a cost basis equal to the amount in local currency on the day you obtain access to the staking rewards. If you keep the crypto and sell it at a later date, normal capital gains taxes apply.
You must declare the value of your staking rewards in section 7.2 of the declaration.
Rewards (e.g. referral)
Airdrops and other rewards are not subject to Income Tax unless you have performed some form of work to receive the benefits. If in any case you have received a reward from referring a friend, sharing a post, or any other required action such as receiving crypto from Coinbase Earn, then you need to declare the reward as Income Tax. The cost basis of the cryptocurrency is the same amount as you declared in your Income Tax.
Cashback
When earning crypto as cashback you only pay taxes on it when you sell it. The cost basis should be set to zero.
Income From Other Activities (e.g. freelancing, salary)
If you have been paid in cryptocurrency for your work or a favor you completed, then that needs to be declared as Income Tax. The cost basis of the crypto you received is the same value you declared as income.
The employer should report the crypto payment in what is called 'arbetsgivaredeklarationen'. Skatteverket sees compensation in crypto from the employer to the employee as a benefit (similar to how a security is seen as a benefit). For more information regarding this topic feel free to read the Swedish version of this guide.
Margin Trading
Margin trading involves borrowing to take leveraged positions on crypto. Often the outcome of the trades are provided as realized profit or loss after margin fees are accounted for. In these cases the realized profit or loss is applied as capital gains tax once the position is closed. If you realized a profit, the cost basis of the profit is applied after you have paid the capital gains taxes. If you realized a loss, it works the same as if you sold the coins for 0 SEK, the loss is equal to the average cost basis of the coins.
In Divly, any funding fees (positive or negative) will be labeled either Realized Profit or Realized Loss. This is true for example for Futures trading on Binance.
NFT
How NFTâs are taxed depends on the scenario. If you have purely bought and sold a NFT, then it is handled in the same way as any other cryptocurrency. This means you pay capital gains tax and declare each one in the K4 form. For information on how to import NFTs into Divly please read this article.
If you have minted (created) a NFT, then this is likely also seen as a trade. For example, if you spend some ETH to mint a NFT, then this would be seen as a sale of ETH and a purchase of the NFT.
If you are creating NFTâs for the purpose of selling them to make an income, then you may be liable to pay income tax. In that case you should figure out whether it would be considered as a hobby or as a business. The classification will dictate how you need to report your NFT taxes. It is best to either call Skatteverket or consult a tax lawyer (skattejurist) if you are unsure what category you fall in.
Regardless if you have traded, created, or sold NFTâs its good practice to submit a statement in Ăvriga Upplysningar explaining how you handled the NFT taxes. In Swedish this is called Ăppet Yrkande. This can help minimize the risk of having to pay a tax surcharge if you submit it incorrectly.
How are liquidity pools taxed?
Skatteverket has provided information in that depositing crypto into a Liquidity Pool should be seen as a sale. In return you receive the LP token which has its own cost basis. Once you exchange the LP token for your share of the crypto in the liquidity pool, you pay capital gains taxes on the profit you made of the LP token.
The crypto you received will inherit the same cost basis as the sale price. If you want more information and specific examples, then feel free to read what has been published by Skatteverket.
How to submit your tax report to Skatteverket
Once all the tax calculations are done and Skatteverkets tax portal is open, its time to declare your taxes before the deadline in May. You can submit your taxes online or by mail. We will primarily focus on the online portal in this guide.
Submitting Capital Gains Tax
To declare your capital gains taxes, you need to fill in section D of the K4 form. There are three ways you can do this:
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Manually fill in the K4 form on Skatteverkets online portal.
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Upload SRU files to the online portal to fill in the K4 form automatically.
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Fill in the K4 PDF version, print it out and mail it to Skatteverket.
If you have used Divly to calculate your taxes, you will be able to download a PDF file with all the information needed to submit your crypto taxes. This PDF file contains the information needed to fill in the online K4 form. Divly even provides a text file with information you can add to övriga upplysningar. These are the steps you need to take on the online portal if you are using the first method:
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Log in to Skatteverkets online portal with BankID.
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Navigate to Bilagor > Skapa en bilaga FörsĂ€ljning av vĂ€rdepapper > FörsĂ€ljning av vĂ€rdepapper m.m. (K4) > Ăvriga vĂ€rdepapper, andra tillgĂ„ngar (kaptialplaceringar t.ex, rĂ„varor, kryptovalutor) m.m.
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Fill in the values for each currency (if you used Divly it will be provided in the downloadable CSV). You can only use whole numbers when filling in Antal/Belopp i utlÀndsk valuta. Make sure to report profits and losses on seperate lines for the same crypto since losses are only 70% deductible.
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Click Spara at the bottom once done.
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Finally you need to provide the exact amount of crypto sold in decimals. To do this, navigate to Ăndra in the top menu. On the page in the dropdown choose 18. Ăvriga upplysningar. Provide the exact amount of each crypto you sold in the text box.
You are done! Skatteverket will calculate the taxes based on the information you provided.
Submitting Income Tax
How to submit your income tax depends on the type of income you received (salary, mining etc).
Mining: (Divly label: mining) If you have received a surplus income from mining, then you need to fill out a T2 form. You can find this form in the online portal by navigating to Bilagor > Inkomst av hobby, internetinkomster m.m. (T2). Make sure you only declare mining if you made a profit after the expenses of your mining hardware etc have been deducted! The expenses can be used to deduct mining income for several years.
For a more complete guide on how to submit the T2 form please read our mining tax guide.
Salary and other benefits: (Divly label: Income) If you have received an income as a salary, then this should already be declared by your employer. If your employer has failed to report your salary, then navigate to Ăndra and choose the appropriate field in the dropdown (typically 1.1). Update the value in the chosen section so it includes the income you received in crypto. This amount needs to be converted to SEK. You will then need to go to Ăvriga Upplysningar and provide information regarding the amount you have received in crypto and from whom.
Rewards: (Divly label: Reward) If you have received an income from rewards like Coinbase Earn, then you need to fill out a T2 form. You can find this form in the online portal by navigating to Bilagor > Inkomst av hobby, internetinkomster m.m. (T2). This is assuming that the Rewards are not categorized as a form of employment or done as a business. If you are unsure about how your specific engagement with a reward system should be treated, please contact Skatteverket and ask them.
Submitting Interest Income Tax (RĂ€nteinkomst)
To declare your interest income, you need to add the total sum to section 7.2. You will need to do this if you have received crypto from loan interest or staking rewards (Divly label: Loan Interest).
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Navigate to Ăndra and in the dropdown select 7.2 RĂ€nteinkomster, utdelningar m.m.
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Fill in the new total sum of interest to include the crypto interest income.
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Click on Spara.
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Go back to the previous page Ăndra.
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This time choose 17. Ăvriga upplysningar and describe the nature of the interest (staking reward, loan interest etc).
To declare your interest expenses then follow the same steps above but in step 1 navigate to 8.1 RĂ€nteutgifter m.m.
What to do if you are uncertain about your taxes
If you are worried about having declared specific transactions incorrectly then you can always submit an explanation in the form of an Ăppet Yrkande. This reduces the chance that you would need to pay a tax surcharge if you made a mistake. To do this navigate to 17. Ăvriga Upplysningar and write an explanation of the methods you used to calculate your taxes.
Other helpful information
What if I lost my crypto transaction history?
Some people have been unfortunate to have traded on an exchange that has shut down. Others may have lost their login details or forgot to store old crypto addresses. It is never a pleasant experience calculating your crypto taxes with missing holes in your transaction history.
In Divly we try to solve this problem by applying a cost basis of 0 to any crypto being sold or withdrawn where there is no purchase record. We also provide a warning called Missing Crypto Purchase History to notify the user when this happens. This means that the capital gains taxes may be higher than what it could have been.
If you canât prove to Skatteverket the true price you paid for the crypto, then itâs best to be safe and assume you purchased it for nothing.
How do you avoid crypto taxes in Sweden?
You can't legally avoid paying crypto taxes in Sweden but you can reduce them. 70% of your losses can be used to offset your gains. You can use this rule to lower your crypto taxes at the end of the year.
For example, assume you have already realized a profit of 700 SEK in the current tax year. You have one altcoin that has done poorly and if you were to sell it you would make a loss of 1000 SEK. If you sell it before the end of the year you can realize that loss which means your capital gains would be 700 - (1000 * 70%) = 0 SEK.
Divly has built a tool called the Divly Optimizer that can be used to test different tax saving scenarios with your crypto portfolio.
Many people who calculate taxes manually also forget that you can use trading fees to reduce the taxes you pay. If you use a tax automation software like Divly then this will be handled automatically. For more information on how you can reduce your crypto taxes, feel free to read this guide.
Any tax-related information provided by us is not tax advice, financial advice, accounting advice or legal advice and cannot be used by you or any other party for the purpose of avoiding tax penalties. You should seek the advice of a tax professional regarding your particular circumstances. We make no claims, promises, or warranties about the accuracy of the information provided herein. Everything included herein is our opinion and not a statement of fact.
