Tax when you sell – and deferral

The gain and the tax

Of the gain on a private house or owner-occupied flat, 22/30 is taxed as capital income (Income Tax Act, chapter 45, section 33); the same share applies to a tenant-owned flat (chapter 46, section 18). Capital income is taxed at 30 per cent, so the tax is in effect 22 per cent of the gain. A loss is deductible at 50 per cent.

The gain is the sale price minus the purchase price, improvement costs and selling costs such as the agent's fee. Keep the receipts for renovations.

Deferral when moving home

If you sold your permanent home – where you lived for at least the year before the sale or three of the last five years (chapter 47, section 3) – and buy a new home within the EEA and move in, you may defer the tax (sections 2 and 5). The deferral is at most SEK 3,000,000 times your share of the home (section 7). If the new home is cheaper, only part of the gain is deferred.

No standard income is charged on a deferral (Skatteverket, amounts 2026). The deferral moves to the new home and is taxed when that is sold without a new replacement home.

From the law

«I inkomstslaget kapital ska tjugotvå trettiondelar av kapitalvinsten på en privatbostadsfastighet och 90 procent av kapitalvinsten på en näringsfastighet tas upp.»

Letting your own home

Rent from letting your private home is taxable, but you may deduct SEK 40,000 a year per home (chapter 42, section 30) and, for a tenant-owned flat, the part of the monthly fee that belongs to the letting, and for a house 20 per cent of the rent.