r/TillSverige • u/ovakki • 5d ago
Starting a enskild firma – looking for advice
Hi everyone,
I'm considering starting a small enskild firma in Sweden as a side business. I already have a full-time job, and I expect most of the customers/revenue to come from outside Sweden.
The expected revenue is quite small, less than 100,000 SEK per year. I've done some research and it seems that an enskild firma with FA-tax would probably be the simplest option, but I'd really appreciate hearing from people who have actual experience with this.
A few questions:
- What are the actual fixed/monthly costs of keeping an enskild firma running if I have no income from the enskild firma that month, while still having my normal income from my full-time employment?
- Can I realistically handle the bookkeeping myself with something like Bokio or Spiris, especially if I only expect to issue a handful of invoices per year?
- Do I need an accountant, or is this simple enough to manage myself?
- When registering the business, how specific do I need to be about what the business does? Can the business activity cover different types of IT/consulting projects?
- Since I already have a full-time job, is there anything specific I should be aware of regarding FA-tax, taxes or social contributions?
- For customers outside Sweden, is there anything special I should consider regarding VAT/moms?
I'm mainly trying to understand how much hassle and cost this would actually involve for such a small side business.
Would appreciate any advice or experiences! Thank you all :)
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u/rakkamakafon 5d ago
One thing to check as well if you haven't already is if your current employer has any rules regarding 'side hustles' (bisysslor).
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u/RavenousBilberry 5d ago
Consider Aktiebolag. Then you can take the whole income as vinstutdelning 100k equals 64k in wallet
Enskild firma gives you 52k in wallet (only salary possible) And that also requires your normal job income + 70k to be below statlig inkomstskatt gränsen. Else you will be taxed more.
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u/tjtj4444 5d ago
OP does not expect the kind of revenue needed for the advantage you mention. I advice against AB in OP's case.
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u/Papaae 5d ago
I started my own on the side for a side hustle. I don’t have any fixed costs for it just the outgoing for the business to keep it running. I do the book keeping myself, it takes a while but I do my VAT and profit tracking just using excel. I just keep all my receipts and orders.
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u/EnvironmentalHope767 4d ago
I ran my Enskild Firma for some years and after some years Skatteverket wanted me to pay Preliminärskatt in advance based on earlier years profit, so if I remember correct I did have a running cost even when I didn’t sell anything. That could probably have been solved but I canceled my EF to get rid of it.
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u/Flashy-Let2771 5d ago
I'm not sure why some users use Excel when it's not allowed for bookkeeping for a company.
- I have fixed costs such as a website, insurance, a union membership fee for a company owner, and a loan.
- You should hire an accountant in the beginning to help you set up a system. I hired one during my first year, and later had a family member help me out. I use Spiris, but I'm planning to switch to free software soon because it's too expensive. Bokio is even more expensive than Spiris and Fortnox.
- When you register your business, there will be a list of what kind of work you do. If you're not sure which one to choose, you can contact Verksamt.
- If you have FA tax, you do your tax declaration for your own company, and the waiting time for your tax refund is longer than usual. I got mine back in June because of the NE.
- If you have a website, you need to understand GDPR. I would recommend talking to a lawyer. I had a couple of meetings with NyföretagarCentrum before I started my own company. The adviser told me to check other businesses and copy their terms and conditions, which I think was the shittiest advice you could give someone. Lots of people don't want to spend money on this part, but it's very important that you understand the basic laws and how you're going to handle personal information according to GDPR.
Skatteverket also has online seminars about starting a business and VAT in English.
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u/LEANiscrack 3d ago
technically its allowed for smaller enskild firma if you do it correctly.
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u/Flashy-Let2771 3d ago
Du kan bokföra manuellt i en kolumndagbok eller med hjälp av bokföringsprogram. Om du har många affärshändelser i din verksamhet är det enklare att använda ett bokföringsprogram. Det är inte tillåtet att bokföra i vanliga kalkylprogram som exempelvis Excel utan du måste använda ett särskilt bokföringsprogram som är anpassat till bokföringslagen
https://verksamt.se/bokforing/bokforing-sa-funkar-det
”Om en bokföringspost rättas, skall det anges när rättelsen har skett och vem som har gjort den. Sker rättelsen genom en särskild rättelsepost, skall det samtidigt säkerställas att det vid en granskning av den rättade bokföringsposten utan svårighet går att få kännedom om rättelsen.”
(Källa: Skatteverket.se)
Med andra ord uppfyller bokföring i Excel inte kraven för bokföringsskyldigheten eftersom preliminära poster i bokföringen kan ändras i efterhand. Och ändringen framgår inte av bokföringen. Excel är därför inte godkänt som bokföringsprogram. Det är viktigt att känna till om du funderar på att bokföra i Excel.
https://www.spiris.se/blogg/foretagsredovisning/bokforing-excel
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u/LEANiscrack 3d ago
Honestly yes. For people as thick as you just use excel. my god. This isnt even difficult stuff and look at you struggle.
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u/CreepyOctopus 5d ago
Enskild firma is simpler though AB is more beneficial. If you start actually getting more revenue, consider switching to AB so you can pay yourself dividends and ultimately keep more money.
Fixed monthly costs can be 0 if you want to, to about 300 kr if you want to pay a bit more to make things easier. The cost would be a subscription for Bokio or similar and a completely separate bank account. You don't need an accountant, in the simplest case it really is simple. Between the information online and features of the accounting software, it's simple in my experience for basic things like invoicing services.
Your business description can be very generic for the field. Mine is something like "development, customization and integration of software and data systems" which covers anything I may want to do.
With an EF, the main tax thing to remember if that all money the EF receives counts as your personal income so it is added together with your main job for tax purposes.
VAT is a bit annoying and you have to read up on things like omvänd moms and fiktiv moms but you'll get the hang of it. Generally if selling to other EU countries, there's VAT, if selling to the US there's no VAT. Just don't forget to keep the VAT in your calculations.
I would say the most important thing with an enskild firma is to do absolutely nothing that is risky. No loans, no contracts that include penalties you may have to pay, no work at all that could conceivably result in being held responsible for damages. AB protects you from risks, EF means you're personally responsible so you could theoretically bankrupt yourself.
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u/lehar001 5d ago
I have this exact situation:
- 0 kr
- Yes
- No, you can manage yourself
- You need a correct classification, but it’s not super detailed
- A big one is that your company’s income is your income. For example, if your day job earns you above the threshold of state tax, the small profit from your business will be taxed the same. An AB is better from a tax perspective in most cases. Also, any debt your company has will be considered your personal debt. This is not the case for an AB.
- Plenty of rules and regulations in this area, all depending on what you sell, to whom and where. Too complex to answer here without details. This generally doesn’t differ between AB or enskild firma.
My enskilda firma has a turnover of about 150.000 kr and if I did it again, I’d start an AB instead. But it doesn’t matter enough to actually bother switching either.
Finally: how much hassle is it? I sell digital products and have recently switched to using MoR services to minimise VAT management for international clients. The hassle and admin is minimal with this setup.
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u/Ordinary-Audience363 5d ago edited 5d ago
My first question is, are you from the US? Then I recommend Enskild Firma over Aktiebolag. Since a sole proprietorship is not its own legal entity (you and the business are the same entity), the profits in the US are considered your personal income. It's much easier for filing taxes. The foreign earned income exclusion is $132,900.
Even if you aren't a US citizen, I still recommend Enskild Firma. You can put 35% of your taxable income in an IPS (individuellt pensionssparande) account at your bank and deduct that amount from your taxable income. That money can be invested and taken out when you retire. Of course, it's taxed at 30% then but still.
Income tax Enskild Firma goes on top of your other income. You can take bokslutsdispositioner (periodiseringsfonder), which means you can deduct 30% of the profit for the year, but it has to be brought back for taxes at a later date within 5 years.
You declare your income from Enskild Firma on NE blankett. It's fairly simple.
You need to familiarize yourself with MOMS when selling online services. Check with Skatteverket (" Selling services to other EU countries" and " Selling services to countries outside the EU").
Make sure you follow the rules for proper invoicing.
Good luck.
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u/RavenousBilberry 5d ago
You can I theory book-keep with pen and paper, but Excel is preferred over that :p That makes the monthly cost free
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u/Boniuz 5d ago
Excel is not allowed for book-keeping. It’s not immutable. Other than that I agree with the Aktiebolag since that makes things easier from a legal and insurance perspective.
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u/LEANiscrack 3d ago
There is no law or rules that excel isnt allowed. Its perfectly fine for smaller enskild firma.
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u/Boniuz 3d ago
No, its absolutely not. Excel isn’t immutable.
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u/LEANiscrack 3d ago
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u/Boniuz 3d ago
You’re proving my point.
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u/LEANiscrack 3d ago
That there is no law or rule to use excel in a small enskild firma? oh wait no. that was my point
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u/Boniuz 3d ago
Excel is allowed, if you follow the rules for immutability. Excel, by default, is not allowed.
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u/LEANiscrack 3d ago
…That is not what those words mean friend.
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u/Boniuz 3d ago
Explain to me how you guarantee immutability in a default Excel sheet.
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u/OkOnion7078 5d ago
Honestly, I would just get an accountant for peace of mind. Unless you are fluent in Swedish it becomes a bit of a headache.
My accountant only charges me around 3000 a year, and he does an excellent job and has taught me a lot - I come to him often with questions such as what expenses I can claim against tax.