Tax in Sweden

Mannheimer Swartling

Mannheimer Swartling is an adviser of choice for the full gamut of large, cross-border tax mandates, both advisory and contentious. The firm is noted both for its ability to deliver expert assistance across ‘a palette of different specialist areas‘, and its particular proficiency in transactional, structured finance and real estate matters. Practice head Anders Erasmie is described by one client as being ‘in a league of his own‘. Joachim Agrell is the key contact for work relating to indirect tax. Other recommended team members include Martin Nilsson and Niklas Hagbard.

Practice head(s):

Anders Erasmie

Other key lawyers:

Martin Nilsson; Niklas Hagbard; Joachim Agrell

Testimonials

‘Anders Erasmie is one of my favourite lawyers. Not only very strong knowledge in tax matters but also very good business acumen in general terms. Very accessible and proven high level of creativity.’

‘Anders Erasmie’s combination of tax law skill and pragmatic business-minded approach is the best in Sweden.’

‘Strong team with technical skills, pro-active, makes you as a client feel you are in good hands.’

‘Mannheimer Swartling’s tax practice stands out as the strongest tax practice among the Swedish law firms. Mannheimer offers a full range of tax services with focus on transactions and tax controversy. I’ve worked with Mannheimer mainly on issues concerning indirect tax controversy and setting up of investment funds. Mannheimer has proved that they have a excellent knowledge on the specific tax issues but also deep industry knowledge as well as good capability to work across the legal disciplines. If I have a tax matter of more ‘legal’ type, I would turn to Mannheimer.’

‘Anders Erasmie is a highly skilled lawyer who delivers to the point advice.’

‘Good team with a palette of different specialist areas. The team is available on short notice when needed, so very customer focused team.’

‘Anders Erasmie is in a league of his own in Sweden.’

‘Joachim Agrell is totally customer focused, good at listening and always good at following discussions and advising.’

Key clients

Nordic Capital

Accent

Cevian

Infranode

Work highlights

  • Advised Accent Equity on the restructuring of Accent Equity 2017 LP, a Jersey domiciled alternative investment fund.
  • Advising Northvolt on a $1.6bn debt project financing provided by a consortium of commercial banks, pension funds and public financial institutions, increasing the total amount of capital raised to date for Northvolt’s development of factories and R&D investments to over $3bn.
  • Advising Infranode on the fundraising for its second infrastructure fund – Infranode II.

Advokatfirman Vinge

Matters at the intersection of tax and private equity are an area of particular expertise for the large team at Advokatfirman Vinge; the group is instructed by many notable domestic private equity funds, and advises such clients on a wide range of issues, ranging from IPO exits and reconstructions to project financings. Tax litigation is the firm’s other core specialism, with counsel Ulrika Bengtsson standing out for this type of work. Transactional expert Mattias Schömer heads up the practice. The firm also fields a roster of lauded practitioners at associate level, including Victor Ericsson, Karolin Ekström and Henrik Wastenson.

Practice head(s):

Mattias Schömer

Other key lawyers:

Karolin Ekström; Victor Ericsson; Maria Schultzberg; Ulrika Bengtsson; Henrik Wastenson

Testimonials

‘Ulrika Bengtsson is exceptionally client-oriented, and brings deep government experience to her practice that helps her offer practical advice and effective advocacy. Any time I have a tax issue in Sweden in the future, I will be reaching out to Ulrika.’

‘We have great trust in Mattias Schömer. His detailed knowledge combined with his understanding of our business is very valuable.’

‘Vinge has extensive experience with private equity owned companies in the Nordics.’

‘I was particularly impressed by the work of Victor Ericsson and Henrik Wastenson. They drove the full process as associates, and were able to draw insights from various sectors and company structures, which made a tangible difference to our final output.’

Key clients

Nordic Capital

Segulah Medical Acceleration

KFI Kapital

Adelis Equity Partners Fund I AB

Sleep Cycle AB

Vostok New Ventures Ltd

PEAB AB

Nordic Capital

Segulah Medical Acceleration

Elenima Ltd

Work highlights

  • Representing investment professionals connected to Nordic Capital in the Supreme Administrative Court relating to the income tax treatment of distribution of profits from Channel Islands funds to Sweden.
  • Advising Vostok Emerging Finances on its re-domestication by way of a change of domicile of the group parent company from Bermuda to Sweden.
  • Assisting Peab with its Lex Asea IPO of the real property spin-off of its structure.

Bird & Bird

At Bird & Bird, the group’s excellent reputation for transactional and tax planning work – particularly in the real estate and private equity sectors – is firmly rooted in practice head Carl-Magnus Uggla‘s extensive experience. The team is able to leverage its close connections with its pan-Nordic network of offices to provide seamless advice across the region. For high-net-worth individuals seeking tax advice, senior counsel Staffan Anderson is the name to note. May 2021 saw the team further strengthened by the promotion of Victor Stålblad to senior counsel, and the arrival of associate Andreas Lundqvist from Linklaters.

Practice head(s):

Carl-Magnus Uggla

Other key lawyers:

Victor Stålblad; Staffan Anderson; Andreas Lundqvist

Key clients

10 Chambers AB

AC Datacenter AB

Adaptic AG

Accountor AB

AIG

AF Gruppen AS

AG Mining

AREIM AB

Bain Inc / Bain AB

Besqab

BRABO AB

Brockwell Capital Ltd

Cambri Oy

Citi Group

Collegio AB

Compassion International

Convergence

Credit Suisse

Combient

Cytovac AS

Deutsche Bank

Eduhouse Oy

eEquity AB

Ferronordic AB

GreenCargo AB

Guard Therapeurics AB

Hiscox Ltd

Holiday Club AB

HSB Projektpartner AB

ICAP Ltd, (TP ICAP Group)

Läkarleasing AB

Majority AB

Mattssons Fastighetsutveckling AB

Nyköpingshem AB

Norama Alternative Investments AB

NorthStream AB

Oivor AB

Opfutrade AB

Unloc AS

Reihmut & Co Investment Management AG

RebTel AB

Samsaj Group AB

Sinch AB

Tempur Sealy AB

Trip Advisor AB

TV4 Media AB

Zimpler AB

Ålandsbanken

Work highlights

  • Advised growth investor Vitruvian Partners on the acquisition of Scrive, one of Europe’s leading providers of electronic signature and identity solutions, with more than 3,000 customers across 30 countries.
  • Advised 10 Chambers and its owners on the sale of a major stake in the company to Chinese technology giant Tencent.
  • Assisted Reichmut & Co with tax structuring matters relating to the acquisition of a wind park development.

Advokatfirma DLA Piper Sweden KB

A notable roster of domestic, Nordic and global clients instruct the highly regarded team at Advokatfirma DLA Piper Sweden KB to assist with the full gamut of direct and indirect tax mandates. The firm is particularly noted for its standout expertise in the real estate, life sciences, private equity and venture capital spheres. Practice head Erik Björkeson – who has extensive expertise advising on cross-border corporate tax structures and issues relating to inbound investments – is ably supported by senior associates Magnus Hagevi and Adam Tideman.

Practice head(s):

Erik Björkeson

Other key lawyers:

Magnus Hagevi; Adam Tideman

Key clients

Svenska S Holding 2 (CVC)

Setterwalls

Under the joint leadership of Niclas Hermansson, Sören Brekell and Christian Sjöqvist, Setterwalls advises on the full gamut of international taxation and VAT matters; corporate taxation and restructurings, incentive programmes, IPOs, customs duties and tax matters related to capital markets issues are all areas of expertise. The firm’s successful track record of representing clients in the Supreme Administrative Court also serves to illustrate the team’s contentious proficiency. The firm has recently been growing significantly at the junior level, with the arrival of a number of practitioners – including experienced associate Omar Khalil, formerly of Deloitte AB.

Other key lawyers:

Andreas Ödman; Carl-Johan Lundgren; Omar Khalil

Testimonials

‘Firm and hands on advice.’

Key clients

Ford Motor Company Inc.

Fristads Kansas Group

Wästbygg Gruppen AB

Thunderful Group AB

Commerz Real AG

Work highlights

  • Advised Ford Motor Company on the sale of its Swedish subsidiary to Hedin Group.
  • Assisted Commerz Real with its acquisition of the onshore wind farm projects known as Boarp, Dållebo and Rosenskog from Eolus.
  • Advised Thunderful Group, a well-known gaming company in Sweden and globally, on tax and structuring issues in connection with its listing on the Nasdaq First North Premier Growth Market.

Wistrand

Wistrand‘s large team and ‘substantial practical knowledge‘ allows the firm to function as a ‘one-stop shop for direct and indirect tax issues‘. On the advisory side, the group assists with financings, real estate deals, cross-border transactions and restructurings. Litigation is also a strength of the offering, with practitioners regularly representing clients in administrative appeals against tax decisions, and handling government investigations. The firm is particularly noted for its deep partner bench; in Stockholm, Peter Sandberg, Johan Linder Säverman, Victor Palm and Conny Otteland are recommended, while Peter Brandt and Rickard Jonsson are the key contacts in Gothenburg.

Other key lawyers:

Conny Otteland; Tomas Hecht; Christian Luthman

Testimonials

‘Substantial practical knowledge, being able to bring down complex situations to concrete actions.’

‘Christian Luthman: very experienced and provides hands-on solutions.’

‘Extremely deep knowledge within the tax area; a one-stop shop for direct and indirect tax issues.’

‘Very pragmatic method of work and ready for experiments; good mixture of the team.’

‘Peter Brandt has a perfect insight into the Swedish tax world.’

Key clients

NIAM

Slättö Förvaltning AB

Preston Haskell

Albatris Investment Advisory AB

Baker McKenzie

Headed up by Linnea Back, Baker McKenzie‘s tax department has a strong transactional offering, particularly in regards to capital markets work. Recent work saw the team advising on IPOs and SPAC listings for clients in the life sciences and gaming sectors. On the contentious side, the team fields expertise in transfer pricing and VAT litigation, with ongoing mandates in the telecoms sector.

Practice head(s):

Linnea Back

Other key lawyers:

Alice Kuzmina

Key clients

A.P. Moller – Maersk

Aligro Planet Acquisition Company AB (APAC)

Cibus Nordic Real Estate AB

Gatusmak AB

Jon Heimer Invest AB

Mercury Engineering

Ovzon AB

tbd30

The Humble Co. AB

The Livekindly Company, Inc.

Work highlights

  • Advised the selling shareholders on the divestment of The Humble Co. to Bayn Group for an initial purchase price of SEK809m and certain additional earnout payments.
  • Assisting Cibus Nordic Real Estate with the tax aspects of its IPO, including tax due diligence, following Nasdaq Stockholm’s listing committee approval to admit the company’s shares to trading on Nasdaq Stockholm Main Market.
  • Advising the Swedish SPAC Aligro Planet Acquisition Company on a private placement of SEK1bn and subsequent listing on Nasdaq Stockholm.

Advokatfirman Lindahl KB

Advokatfirman Lindahl KB is known for advising a wide range of corporations and their owners on all taxation matters arising in commercial operations, as well as assisting domestic and, increasingly, global clients with the planning and establishment of businesses both in Sweden and overseas. Practice head Anna Romell Stenmark‘s areas of particular expertise are international issues, restructurings and incentive schemes.

Practice head(s):

Anna Romell Stenmark

Testimonials

‘They know our business well, therefore it’s always a speedy handling of the issues we have (these mainly relate to cross-border royalty payments).’

‘Always service-minded, with the focus on us as a client, and a business-minded approach to the tax issues we are facing.’

‘Efficient, practical and collaborative.’

‘The team knows our business very well, and we have confidence in their knowledge, ability and engagement.’

‘They have been our lawyers for several years, and they are well versed in what we are working with. We feel secure they have our best interest in mind.’

Key clients

Pharmacolog i Uppsala AB

Q-linea AB

Sparinstitutens Pensionskassa, försäkringsförening

Oracle Svenska AB

Fortum Waste Solutions AB

Swedish Logistics Property and Brinova Fastighets AB

Tierps kommunfastigheter AB

LobSor Holding AB

Flowfactory HB

Pharmetheus AB

Dirac Research AB

Växjö Energi AB

Work highlights

  • Representing Oracle Svenska in complex transfer pricing litigation in the Administrative Court of Appeal.
  • Advised SLP and Brinova on their acquisition of 49 properties at a total property value of more than SEK2bn.
  • Advised LobSor Holding on the sale of LobSor Pharmaceuticals to STADA Arzneimittel.

Magnusson Sweden

Under the leadership of Eric Cederström, Magnusson Advokatbyrå has steadily been growing its presence across the Nordics and Baltic area, allowing the firm to offer an ever greater scope of cross-border tax services in this region. The firm is noted for its proficiency in the full gamut of advisory issues, including transactional structures, restructurings, planning work and fund formations. Tax disputes are also regularly handled by the group.

Practice head(s):

Eric Cederström

Testimonials

‘The team has an ability to continuously update the knowledge of the customer. Has a forward-looking view and also works with issues that link into each other, eg tax issues leading to group structure issues, leading to new TPA rules etc. The team tries to cover the total picture for the customer.’

‘They are interested in our company, what we do and how we think. When we discuss, for example, taxes or group structure, or risk management, they translate in an understandable way for us. We appreciate the way they care for the company.’

‘The tax practice is excellent. I have been dealing with Eric Cederström. He is technically great, very responsive and able to focus on the key issues in the most complex financial structures.’

Key clients

Mercer

Söderberg & Partners

Pareto Securities

Nineyards Equity, NED Holding

Intersolia

Nordic Credit Partners

Pollux Capital

Indealsia, Pontarius

Riksidrottsförbundet

Svenska Bostadsfonden

Project A Ventures

Nordiska Galleriet

Work highlights

  • Advising Svenska Bostadsfonden – Sweden’s largest provider of funds investing in residential rental apartment buildings – on the structure and setup of its most recent fund, and assisting with a transaction to merge two institutional real estate funds.
  • Advising Nordic Credit Partners on the merging of two Swedish alternative investment funds into a Luxemburg fund structure.
  • Advising Nineyards Equity on all corporate and tax matters in relation to its investment company structure and investments in Minna Technologies, Hedvig, Instabox and Einride.