Carried interest eller carried away? - En rättslig analys av beskattningen av carried interest i ljuset av 2025 års lagförslag
(2025) LAGF03 20251Department of Law
Faculty of Law
- Abstract (Swedish)
- Beskattning av inkomster inom riskkapitalbranschen har varit föremål för rättsprocesser sedan början av 2000-talet. Rättsläget har förblivit oklart och präglats av rättsosäkerhet och inkonsekvent rättstillämpning. Den centrala frågan rör den skattemässiga behandlingen av den prestationsbaserade avkast-ningen carried interest. Kärnan i problematiken är den komplexa gränsdrag-ningen mellan arbetsinkomst och kapitalinkomst, där skillnaden i skattesatser medför väsentligt skilda skattekonsekvenser. Såväl Skatteverkets som dom-stolarnas bedömningar har varierat. Avsaknad av vägledande prejudikat har i sin tur försvårat en enhetlig tolkning. Arbetet finner att carried interest, eller särskild vinstandel på svenska, är en prestationsbaserad... (More)
- Beskattning av inkomster inom riskkapitalbranschen har varit föremål för rättsprocesser sedan början av 2000-talet. Rättsläget har förblivit oklart och präglats av rättsosäkerhet och inkonsekvent rättstillämpning. Den centrala frågan rör den skattemässiga behandlingen av den prestationsbaserade avkast-ningen carried interest. Kärnan i problematiken är den komplexa gränsdrag-ningen mellan arbetsinkomst och kapitalinkomst, där skillnaden i skattesatser medför väsentligt skilda skattekonsekvenser. Såväl Skatteverkets som dom-stolarnas bedömningar har varierat. Avsaknad av vägledande prejudikat har i sin tur försvårat en enhetlig tolkning. Arbetet finner att carried interest, eller särskild vinstandel på svenska, är en prestationsbaserad avkastning som inte nödvändigtvis står i proportion till eget investerat kapital.
För att adressera detta behov av förutsebarhet och rättssäkerhet presenterade Finansdepartementet ett nytt lagförslag i januari 2025. Förslaget syftar till att beskatta carried interest på ett sätt som motsvarar inkomster från kvalificerade andelar enligt 57 kapitlet inkomstskattelagen, genom att införa en specifik de-finition av verksam i betydande omfattning för delägare som uppbär sådan avkastning.
Uppsatsen analyserar hur detta förslag förhåller sig till rådande rättsläge och i vilken mån det främjar rättssäkerhet och förutsebarhet. Det är tydligt att det föreligger ett behov av lagregler avseende beskattning av carried interrest. Uppsatsens analys konstaterar att lagförslaget visserligen möter kravet på för-utsebarhet och föreskriftskravet genom att införa en lagreglering för carried interest. Huruvida den önskade förutsebarheten och rättssäkerheten uppnås beror på hur bestämmelsen tolkas och tillämpas i framtida praxis. (Less) - Abstract
- The taxation of income within the private equity and venture capital industry has been the subject of legal disputes since the early 2000s. The central issue concerns the taxation of the asymmetric profit distribution referred to as car-ried interest. The tax treatment of carried interest has been characterized by legal uncertainty and inconsistent adjudication. The core problem is whether carried interest should be regarded as income from employment or capital gains taxation, where the difference in tax rates leads to significantly different tax consequences. The Swedish Tax Agency’s (Skatteverket) and the courts’ assessments have varied from case to case. The absence of precedents has complicated a uniform interpretation. This study... (More)
- The taxation of income within the private equity and venture capital industry has been the subject of legal disputes since the early 2000s. The central issue concerns the taxation of the asymmetric profit distribution referred to as car-ried interest. The tax treatment of carried interest has been characterized by legal uncertainty and inconsistent adjudication. The core problem is whether carried interest should be regarded as income from employment or capital gains taxation, where the difference in tax rates leads to significantly different tax consequences. The Swedish Tax Agency’s (Skatteverket) and the courts’ assessments have varied from case to case. The absence of precedents has complicated a uniform interpretation. This study concludes that carried interest is a form of remuneration that is based on performance and that it is not pro-portional to capital invested by the recipient.
To address the need for predictability, the Ministry of Finance (Finansdepar-tementet) presented a memorandum in January 2025. The memorandum pro-poses that carried interest should be taxed similar to income attributable to Chapter 57 of the Swedish Income Tax Act, by introducing a specific definit-ion of actively involved to a significant extent (verksam i betydande omfatt-ning) for shareholders who receive carried interest.
The essay analyses how the abovementioned memorandum relates to the current legal situation and to what extent it contributes to legal certainty and predictability. The conclusion is that there is a need for regulations regarding the taxation of carried interest. The analysis concludes that while the memo-randum properly addresses the requirement of predictability and regulatory clarity by introducing rules for carried interest. However, whether the desired predictability and legal certainty will be achieved i practice depends on how the final provisions are is interpreted and applied in future practice. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9190477
- author
- Karlsson, Tuva LU
- supervisor
-
- Mariya Senyk LU
- organization
- course
- LAGF03 20251
- year
- 2025
- type
- M2 - Bachelor Degree
- subject
- keywords
- Skatterätt, Carried interest, Riskkapital
- language
- Swedish
- id
- 9190477
- date added to LUP
- 2025-06-23 13:04:22
- date last changed
- 2025-06-23 13:04:22
@misc{9190477,
abstract = {{The taxation of income within the private equity and venture capital industry has been the subject of legal disputes since the early 2000s. The central issue concerns the taxation of the asymmetric profit distribution referred to as car-ried interest. The tax treatment of carried interest has been characterized by legal uncertainty and inconsistent adjudication. The core problem is whether carried interest should be regarded as income from employment or capital gains taxation, where the difference in tax rates leads to significantly different tax consequences. The Swedish Tax Agency’s (Skatteverket) and the courts’ assessments have varied from case to case. The absence of precedents has complicated a uniform interpretation. This study concludes that carried interest is a form of remuneration that is based on performance and that it is not pro-portional to capital invested by the recipient.
To address the need for predictability, the Ministry of Finance (Finansdepar-tementet) presented a memorandum in January 2025. The memorandum pro-poses that carried interest should be taxed similar to income attributable to Chapter 57 of the Swedish Income Tax Act, by introducing a specific definit-ion of actively involved to a significant extent (verksam i betydande omfatt-ning) for shareholders who receive carried interest.
The essay analyses how the abovementioned memorandum relates to the current legal situation and to what extent it contributes to legal certainty and predictability. The conclusion is that there is a need for regulations regarding the taxation of carried interest. The analysis concludes that while the memo-randum properly addresses the requirement of predictability and regulatory clarity by introducing rules for carried interest. However, whether the desired predictability and legal certainty will be achieved i practice depends on how the final provisions are is interpreted and applied in future practice.}},
author = {{Karlsson, Tuva}},
language = {{swe}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Carried interest eller carried away? - En rättslig analys av beskattningen av carried interest i ljuset av 2025 års lagförslag}},
year = {{2025}},
}