You can now apply for voluntary tax liability for energy tax on electricity

The Swedish Parliament has decided that a party consuming electricity on a large scale (at least 20 GWh per year) may be approved as a voluntary tax-liable party if the overwhelming share of the electricity consumption takes place within the manufacturing process in industrial operations or in a computer data centre. The large-scale consumers affected may apply for voluntary tax liability from 15 December 2016.

As of the turn of the year, the electricity supplier will invoice the electricity consumer for an unreduced tax of 29.5 cents per kWh. The energy tax on electricity consumed in the manufacturing process in industrial operations or in a computer data centre is 0.5 cents per kWh. The electricity consumer may subsequently apply for a refund of the difference, i.e., 29 cents per kWh.

A party registered as a voluntary tax-liable party reports and remits the energy tax to the Swedish Tax Agency on the electricity that the party consumes. It may therefore entail cash-flow advantages to be registered as a voluntary tax-liable party, since the purchase of electricity from an electricity supplier is made without energy tax.

The regulation allowing one to apply for voluntary tax liability thus comes into effect today. A decision on voluntarily tax liability applies as of the decision date or else as of a later requested date. According to information from the Swedish Tax Agency, a decision on voluntary tax liability will not apply retroactively. This means that a party wanting voluntary tax liability as 1 January 2017 needs to apply more or less immediately.

A party that is not registered as a voluntary tax-liable party may instead apply for a refund of energy tax on electricity, i.e., this is done annually.

A party whose consumption amounts to 250,000 kWh in the manufacturing process in industrial operations or in a computer data hall may register in order to apply for a quarterly refund paid.