10 miljoner kr om året – ett medelstort svenskt företag eller en hobbyverksamhet? -En kritisk granskning av Skatteverkets vägledningar om kryptovalutor
(2022) LAGF03 20221Department of Law
Faculty of Law
- Abstract (Swedish)
- Bitcoin har exploderat från att 2008 enbart ha varit en idé, till att det idag är den femtonde största valutan i världen. Även mining har blivit en enorm industri. Trots detta tillämpas de generella reglerna i inkomstskattelagen (1999:1229), vilket innebär att Skatteverkets vägledningar får stor betydelse. Uppsatsens syfte är därför att kritiskt granska Skatteverkets ställningstagande gällande mining av kryptovalutor. Detta sker genom att tillämpa en rättsdogmatisk metod där den juridiska hållbarheten i Skatteverkets gränsdragning mellan hobby och näringsverksamhet granskas. Vidare analyseras detta mot bakgrund av en teori i form av rättssäkerhet med fokus på legalitet och likhet.
I utredningen jämförs Skatteverkets vägledning på... (More) - Bitcoin har exploderat från att 2008 enbart ha varit en idé, till att det idag är den femtonde största valutan i världen. Även mining har blivit en enorm industri. Trots detta tillämpas de generella reglerna i inkomstskattelagen (1999:1229), vilket innebär att Skatteverkets vägledningar får stor betydelse. Uppsatsens syfte är därför att kritiskt granska Skatteverkets ställningstagande gällande mining av kryptovalutor. Detta sker genom att tillämpa en rättsdogmatisk metod där den juridiska hållbarheten i Skatteverkets gränsdragning mellan hobby och näringsverksamhet granskas. Vidare analyseras detta mot bakgrund av en teori i form av rättssäkerhet med fokus på legalitet och likhet.
I utredningen jämförs Skatteverkets vägledning på området med den praxis som finns i andra branscher gällande gränsdragningen mellan hobby och näringsverksamhet. Rekvisitet yrkesmässigt bör i de flesta fall vara relativt okomplicerat att bedöma medan förvärvsverksamhet troligen är mer komplext. Slutsatsen är att den avgörande faktorn är i första hand möjligheten att
gå med vinst. Därefter är viktiga omständigheter intäkternas omfattning samt storleken på och vilket slags investeringar som har gjorts. Vidare finner uppsatsen att myndighetens juridiska bedömning i vissa delar saknar stöd i rättskällorna, se nedan.
I uppsatsen konstateras att Skatteverkets vägledningar i grunden är positiva och bidrar till en likformighet i beskattningen. Emellertid kan den aktuella vägledningen kritiseras då myndigheten har satt upp en kvantitativ gräns (25 bitcoin per år, motsvarande ca 10 miljoner kr) som avviker kraftigt från praxis i andra branscher. Detta problematiseras utifrån legalitetsprincipen eftersom myndigheten är skyldig att tillämpa rättskälleläran. Vidare leder det till en osaklig olikbehandling mellan branscher som kan strida mot likhetsprincipen. Dessutom behandlar Skatteverket samtliga kryptovalutor likadant – trots att det har framkommit relevanta skillnader mellan dessa. Även detta ifrågasätts utifrån likhetsprincipen.
Uppsatsen föreslår främst att den kvantitativa gränsen borde vara betydligt lägre satt. Vidare bör den formuleras i SEK och inte i bitcoin eftersom den senare är utsatt för tekniska förändringar samt fluktuation i pris. (Less) - Abstract
- Bitcoin has developed from 2008 merely being an idea till today being the world's 15th largest currency. Also mining has become an enormous industry. Despite this, the applicable law is the general rules in the Swedish Income Tax Act (1999:1229). During these circumstances, guidance from the Swedish Tax Agency plays a crucial role. The purpose of this thesis is to critically
analyze the Swedish Tax Agency’s guidance regarding mining of cryptocurrencies. This is done by applying a legal dogmatic method. Furthermore, the guidance is analysed against the background of a theory with focus on the principles of legality and equality before the law.
The report compares the relevant guidance to case law concerning the demarcation of hobby and... (More) - Bitcoin has developed from 2008 merely being an idea till today being the world's 15th largest currency. Also mining has become an enormous industry. Despite this, the applicable law is the general rules in the Swedish Income Tax Act (1999:1229). During these circumstances, guidance from the Swedish Tax Agency plays a crucial role. The purpose of this thesis is to critically
analyze the Swedish Tax Agency’s guidance regarding mining of cryptocurrencies. This is done by applying a legal dogmatic method. Furthermore, the guidance is analysed against the background of a theory with focus on the principles of legality and equality before the law.
The report compares the relevant guidance to case law concerning the demarcation of hobby and business activities. The necessary prerequisite of professionalism rarely causes problems. However, it is more complicated to assess the prerequisite of profit motive. The conclusion is that
the decisive factor is whether or not there is a possibility to make financial profit. After that two important circumstances is the extent of the revenue as well as the size of and what kind of costs
and investments have been made.
In the thesis it is concluded that guidance from the Swedish Tax Agency in general is positive and contributes to uniformity in the taxation. The relevant guidance can be criticized since the quantitative guideline set by the authority (25 bitcoin per year, equivalent to 10 million SEK) differs greatly from case law within other industries. This fact is questionable based on the principle of legality since the authority is obliged to apply the legal doctrine. Furthermore it leads to discrimination between industries which risks to interfere with equality before the law. Additionally, the Swedish Tax Agency treats all cryptocurrencies the same – even though the
dissertation suggests that there exists relevant differences between them. This too is questioned based on equality before the law.
The primary suggestion is that the quantitative guideline should be significantly lower. Moreover, it should be set in SEK instead of bitcoin, since the latter is subject to both technical development as well as fluctuation in price. This can simply be avoided by using SEK instead of
bitcoin. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9079596
- author
- Röhr Hansen, Lucas LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- LAGF03 20221
- year
- 2022
- type
- M2 - Bachelor Degree
- subject
- keywords
- skatterätt, kryptovalutor, kryptotillgångar, Skatteverket
- language
- Swedish
- id
- 9079596
- date added to LUP
- 2022-06-28 11:16:37
- date last changed
- 2022-06-28 11:16:37
@misc{9079596,
abstract = {{Bitcoin has developed from 2008 merely being an idea till today being the world's 15th largest currency. Also mining has become an enormous industry. Despite this, the applicable law is the general rules in the Swedish Income Tax Act (1999:1229). During these circumstances, guidance from the Swedish Tax Agency plays a crucial role. The purpose of this thesis is to critically
analyze the Swedish Tax Agency’s guidance regarding mining of cryptocurrencies. This is done by applying a legal dogmatic method. Furthermore, the guidance is analysed against the background of a theory with focus on the principles of legality and equality before the law.
The report compares the relevant guidance to case law concerning the demarcation of hobby and business activities. The necessary prerequisite of professionalism rarely causes problems. However, it is more complicated to assess the prerequisite of profit motive. The conclusion is that
the decisive factor is whether or not there is a possibility to make financial profit. After that two important circumstances is the extent of the revenue as well as the size of and what kind of costs
and investments have been made.
In the thesis it is concluded that guidance from the Swedish Tax Agency in general is positive and contributes to uniformity in the taxation. The relevant guidance can be criticized since the quantitative guideline set by the authority (25 bitcoin per year, equivalent to 10 million SEK) differs greatly from case law within other industries. This fact is questionable based on the principle of legality since the authority is obliged to apply the legal doctrine. Furthermore it leads to discrimination between industries which risks to interfere with equality before the law. Additionally, the Swedish Tax Agency treats all cryptocurrencies the same – even though the
dissertation suggests that there exists relevant differences between them. This too is questioned based on equality before the law.
The primary suggestion is that the quantitative guideline should be significantly lower. Moreover, it should be set in SEK instead of bitcoin, since the latter is subject to both technical development as well as fluctuation in price. This can simply be avoided by using SEK instead of
bitcoin.}},
author = {{Röhr Hansen, Lucas}},
language = {{swe}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{10 miljoner kr om året – ett medelstort svenskt företag eller en hobbyverksamhet? -En kritisk granskning av Skatteverkets vägledningar om kryptovalutor}},
year = {{2022}},
}