Sweden Company Formation

Because of the double tax treaties Sweden has signed with other countries, a Swedish company enjoys exemption from withholding tax on dividend payments if the following conditions are met: i)the shares are held as business assets; ii) the recipient owns at least 25% of the shares of the Swedish company. No withholding tax is levied on payments of royalties made by a Swedish company to foreign companies. Consequently, a Swedish company is a popular holding company.

International entrepreneurs find Sweden company formation projects an excellent image to their clients, suppliers, bankers and even venture capitalists. Sweden has been a member of the European Union (EU) since 1995, and is positively perceived as one of the world's least corrupt countries, ranking 4th in the 2011 Corruption Perceptions Index by Transparency International, a global measure of corruption amongst public officials and politicians.

Switzerland-based IMD positively ranks Sweden as the world’s 4th most competitive economy in its 2011 World Competitiveness Yearbook. The ranking takes into account factors including economic performance, government efficiency, business efficiency and infrastructure.

The World Bank positively ranks Sweden 14th in its 2011 Ease of Doing Business report, up 4 points from 2010. Sweden scores highly in ease of: i) setting up a business ii) trading across borders; iii) registering property; iv) closing a business; and v) dealing with licenses. Ratings for investment protections jumped 29 points from 2010. Consequently, Sweden company formation is simple for international entrepreneurs.

The Heritage Foundation's 2011 Index of Economic Freedom ranks Sweden as the 22nd freest global economy for high levels of trade, investment, monetary and financial freedoms. Sweden ranked 11th out of 43 countries in the Europe region for economic freedom and its overall score is above world and regional averages.

INSEAD's Global Innovation Index (GII) ranks Sweden as the world's 2nd most technologically innovative country. Ratings are based on progress of innovation readiness in countries, highlighting obstacles that prevent governments, businesses, and individuals from fully capturing the benefits of innovation. Furthermore, Stockholm was ranked the world's 6th most liveably city by Monocle's Most Livable Cities Index 2010.

The Forbes magazine Best Countries For Business 2011 survey ranks Sweden as the world's 7th best jurisdiction for business. The report takes into account a number of factors including innovation, property rights, and personal freedom, all for which Sweden ranks number 1.

A Swedish company can be 100% foreign owned, and only one director and shareholder is required to fulfill statutory company incorporation requirements. The shareholder and director can be the same person, of any nationality and need not be resident in Sweden. However, the appointed director must be a resident within the European Economic Area.

Healy Consultants can open a corporate bank account to support Sweden company formation. Healy Consultants works with internationally recognised banks such as HSBC, Standard Chartered and Citibank to provide corporate bank account services.

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