Löneunderlagsregeln - en undersökning av regelns bakomliggande syften
(2019) LAGF03 20191Department of Law
Faculty of Law
- Abstract
- The specially made rules for taxation of partners in close companies regarding dividend are unique in many ways. During the first twenty-five years these rules changed twenty-three times, almost once a year. This occurrence was mainly due to underlining political balance between purposes. In these close companies there’s often no real two-party relationship as the partner oversees the company. This circumstance opens for the partner to decide for him-/herself in what way to extract compensation, through salary or dividend. The reason for the introduction of these rules were to limit the partner’s possibilities to extract salary as dividend which would mean a lower tax rate. Throughout the development of the rules, new methods and... (More)
- The specially made rules for taxation of partners in close companies regarding dividend are unique in many ways. During the first twenty-five years these rules changed twenty-three times, almost once a year. This occurrence was mainly due to underlining political balance between purposes. In these close companies there’s often no real two-party relationship as the partner oversees the company. This circumstance opens for the partner to decide for him-/herself in what way to extract compensation, through salary or dividend. The reason for the introduction of these rules were to limit the partner’s possibilities to extract salary as dividend which would mean a lower tax rate. Throughout the development of the rules, new methods and structures have been invented to exploit the new rules. A big part in this is the rule that lets a partner base the amount granted as dividend on the size of the salaries in the company. This rule is motivated foremost by concern of developing companies and growth in these companies by easing the risk of employment. The rule also resulted in larger amounts granted as dividend, mainly for larger companies. For the past twenty-five years the rules have gone from unfavorable to very favorable to rather limited with propositions of getting more limited.
These limitations have, among other things, consisted with the demand of owning four percent of the share capital as well as the definition of subsidiaries and the demand of a certain amount of disbursed salary to the partners. These limitations have a limiting effect on extracting salary as dividend but has also resulted in new company-structures and methods to maximize dividends. These methods often include restructuring the company in different ways, especially how the ownership is structured.
The purpose of these rules is rather well met with the application of the rules but at the same time it’s not fully covered. This is mainly due to different purposes behind the rules. As the purposes differ over time it’s difficult to give a straight answer whether the rules inline with the purposes, it depends on which purpose and to what extent. What can be said is that today there is somewhat of a balance between the hinderance of extracting salary as dividend and the different motives concerning smaller companies. Through today’s rules the risk within the company isn’t divided out of proportion compared to how the rules were made. This also adds to the conclusion of a balance within the rules. The conclusion is that the rules are both limiting concerning extraction of salary as dividend but also in favor of smaller companies and employment. (Less) - Abstract (Swedish)
- Ett regelverk i förändring. De särskilt inrättade reglerna för beskattning av delägare i fåmansföretag för kapitalvinst eller utdelning är unika på många sätt. De första tjugofem åren ändrades reglerna tjugotre gånger, nästan en gång per år. Främst beroende på bakomliggande svängningar i politiken. I fåmansföretagen finns det som huvudregel inget reellt tvåpartsförhållande då delägaren styr bolaget. Detta skapar en möjlighet för delägarna att själva bestämma i vilken form och utsträckning de får sin ersättning. Anledningen till regleringens införande var att begränsa delägares möjligheter till inkomstomvandling. Ersättning hänförlig till tjänst ska inte beskattas som inkomst av kapital, då kapitalinkomster beskattas lägre. I takt med att... (More)
- Ett regelverk i förändring. De särskilt inrättade reglerna för beskattning av delägare i fåmansföretag för kapitalvinst eller utdelning är unika på många sätt. De första tjugofem åren ändrades reglerna tjugotre gånger, nästan en gång per år. Främst beroende på bakomliggande svängningar i politiken. I fåmansföretagen finns det som huvudregel inget reellt tvåpartsförhållande då delägaren styr bolaget. Detta skapar en möjlighet för delägarna att själva bestämma i vilken form och utsträckning de får sin ersättning. Anledningen till regleringens införande var att begränsa delägares möjligheter till inkomstomvandling. Ersättning hänförlig till tjänst ska inte beskattas som inkomst av kapital, då kapitalinkomster beskattas lägre. I takt med att reglerna utvecklats har nya metoder tagits fram för att utnyttja dem. En stor del i detta är löneunderlagsregeln som motiverats med främst bolagsfrämjande hänsyn. Löneunderlagsregeln är ett sätt att gynna anställning i dessa bolag, vilket är starkt förknippat med risk. Regeln har samtidigt resulterat i större gränsbelopp och högre utdelningssummor, i synnerhet för större bolag. Löneunderlagsregeln har de senaste tjugofem åren gått från relativt ofördelaktig till mycket fördelaktig till begränsad med förslag för ytterligare begränsningar.
Dessa begränsningar har bland annat bestått i andelskravet, definitionen av dotterföretag och krav på utbetald lön till delägarna. Begränsningarna har en inskränkande effekt på inkomstomvandling, men har också lett till nya strukturer och modeller för att maximera utdelningen. Dessa strukturer berör oftast omstruktureringar på olika sätt, framförallt av ägarstrukturen i företaget.
Reglernas tillämpning står sig relativt bra mot syftena samtidigt som reglerna inte är optimala eller heltäckande. Detta kan bero på att syftena ofta motsäger varandra vilket leder till att reglerna är ett resultat av flertalet politiska avvägningar. Det är därför svårt att ge ett konkret svar på hur väl reglerna lyckas stå sig mot syftena, det beror på vilket syfte och i vilken omfattning det ska nås. Det som kan sägas är att det i dagsläget råder en någorlunda balans mellan hindrandet av inkomstomvandling och de främjande motiv som finns riktade mot mindre företag. Genom dagens regler sprids inte heller risken i företagen utöver vad reglerna är menade för, vilket också talar för en balans i regleringen. Det kan alltså sägas att löneunderlaget med kringliggande regler verkar både begränsande med sikte på inkomstomvandling och samtidigt främjande för småföretagande samt entreprenörskap. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/8976880
- author
- Malm, Daniel LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- LAGF03 20191
- year
- 2019
- type
- M2 - Bachelor Degree
- subject
- keywords
- Löneunderlagsregeln, 3:12-reglerna, utdelning, syfte
- language
- Swedish
- id
- 8976880
- date added to LUP
- 2019-09-16 10:42:04
- date last changed
- 2019-09-16 10:42:04
@misc{8976880, abstract = {{The specially made rules for taxation of partners in close companies regarding dividend are unique in many ways. During the first twenty-five years these rules changed twenty-three times, almost once a year. This occurrence was mainly due to underlining political balance between purposes. In these close companies there’s often no real two-party relationship as the partner oversees the company. This circumstance opens for the partner to decide for him-/herself in what way to extract compensation, through salary or dividend. The reason for the introduction of these rules were to limit the partner’s possibilities to extract salary as dividend which would mean a lower tax rate. Throughout the development of the rules, new methods and structures have been invented to exploit the new rules. A big part in this is the rule that lets a partner base the amount granted as dividend on the size of the salaries in the company. This rule is motivated foremost by concern of developing companies and growth in these companies by easing the risk of employment. The rule also resulted in larger amounts granted as dividend, mainly for larger companies. For the past twenty-five years the rules have gone from unfavorable to very favorable to rather limited with propositions of getting more limited. These limitations have, among other things, consisted with the demand of owning four percent of the share capital as well as the definition of subsidiaries and the demand of a certain amount of disbursed salary to the partners. These limitations have a limiting effect on extracting salary as dividend but has also resulted in new company-structures and methods to maximize dividends. These methods often include restructuring the company in different ways, especially how the ownership is structured. The purpose of these rules is rather well met with the application of the rules but at the same time it’s not fully covered. This is mainly due to different purposes behind the rules. As the purposes differ over time it’s difficult to give a straight answer whether the rules inline with the purposes, it depends on which purpose and to what extent. What can be said is that today there is somewhat of a balance between the hinderance of extracting salary as dividend and the different motives concerning smaller companies. Through today’s rules the risk within the company isn’t divided out of proportion compared to how the rules were made. This also adds to the conclusion of a balance within the rules. The conclusion is that the rules are both limiting concerning extraction of salary as dividend but also in favor of smaller companies and employment.}}, author = {{Malm, Daniel}}, language = {{swe}}, note = {{Student Paper}}, title = {{Löneunderlagsregeln - en undersökning av regelns bakomliggande syften}}, year = {{2019}}, }