Unclear tax rules for crowdfunding

this is a fairly new phenomenon and there is no specific legislation that regulates it. Nor is there much preliminary work or court cases, which clarify, but our general attitude is that if it carries on a business which gives income so the general rule is that they are taxable, says Yngve Gripple, a legal expert at the Swedish Tax agency.

the vlogs, journalism, literature, and similar examples of businesses whose income is considered taxable, perhaps as a hobby or business activity – discover the Swedish Tax agency errors, there is a risk of the tax or notification to the judiciary. There is no lower amount where the exemption applies, exemptions, unlike, for example, the flea market where skattegränsen is at the 50,000 rmb profit per year.

– How to get into the money, via Swish or any platform for crowdfunding, doesn't matter. Do you play music on the street and get the money that way, it is also taxable, but to just sit passively with a mug and collect the money, is it not, for then it is to be regarded as gifts without any performance, " says Yngve Gripple.

– It can be difficult for me to answer spontaneously that it is absolutely si or so in individual cases, because many cases are not tried where the limits are for tax. You have such a collection and do not think that the money should be taxable, you should still account for it and justify why, so Tax may try it. It is better to ask first than to attract the attention in retrospect.

better in the area of crowdfunding. Both internationally and in Sweden there are several examples of pure bluffs, not rarely for the seemingly exciting activities or worthwhile causes. In the united states is, for example, a trial of an american couple and a homeless war veteran who lied to him 400,000 dollars with a gripping story about how the homeless man selflessly gave the woman 20 dollars for petrol when she had to stop on the highway.

" It is clear that we have an intelligence and that we have eyes on the this new phenomena. There are no kontrollfria zones, but we comment on what checks we do. We have a variety of different control options, but how they look for these particular phenomena, I can't go on, " says Yngve Gripple.

the successful example of crowdfunding in Sweden is Svenska Dagbladet's editorial writer Ivar Arpi who has taken a leave of absence to write the book ”So take genusideologin, of the Swedish university”. In social media, he asked recently about the financial help and soon had nearly 1,445 the people gave him a total of 722.470 crowns. He has tried to sort out what rules apply for the money.

– As I understand it, it is quite unclear, so I will contact the Tax office to talk with someone yourself. I have heard that there is a representationssumma of 180 sek, and if the value of the product you give away, not exceeding it so it is not a reasonable return for the subsidy you received, that is to say that it is not taxable, but I dare not swear on anything even for my own part, " says Ivar Arpi.

He speculates about how the greater gifts shall be assessed – should the sum exceed the product, and the actual value is considered a gift or not? Several others who have done fund-raising for the different projects has resonated in different ways, also those that Arpi has contacted for advice.

– It is not unclear only for the Tax, but also to writers and others, that someone suddenly can get people to be willing to jointly pay large sums of money for certain things. Many have been very angry because I got the money, so if someone can notify me so do they certainly it, " says Ivar Arpi.

that in some situations can be difficult to distinguish what is gift and what is the compensation for a performance, but concludes that the general rule applies – to engage in a gainful activity causes the tax. What applies to reasoning about representationssumma he says that one must first distinguish between what is representationsgåvor and what is marketing.

– It is not automatic representationsgåva just to (sum) the value of a product is less than the sek 180, but it is not always easy to determine. Many issues are not so simple answer yes or no because a lot of it is new things, " says Yngve Gripple.