Accounting for e-commerce

Bookkeeping for e-commerce: selling to consumers in other EU countries

If you send goods to private individuals in another EU country, this is called intra-EU distance selling. There is a common threshold for the whole EU of EUR 10 000 (SEK 99 680), excluding VAT. The amount includes all such distance sales to other EU countries, together with any electronic services, telecommunications and radio and TV broadcasting to private individuals there. As long as you stay below the threshold both this year and last year, and are only established in Sweden, you charge Swedish VAT. From the sale that takes you over the threshold, you must instead charge the VAT of the country where transport to the customer ends. You may also choose to apply the customer's country's VAT voluntarily even below the threshold. Read more at the Swedish Tax Agency (Skatteverket).

OSS and IOSS

To avoid registering for VAT in every country where you have customers, you can use the Union scheme, One Stop Shop (OSS), and report and pay the buyer countries' VAT in a single return to the Tax Agency. It is filed per calendar quarter, in euros, by the last day of the month after the quarter. If the goods are instead sent from a country outside the EU and the value of the consignment is no more than EUR 150, there is the Import scheme (IOSS), which is reported monthly. You can find more about how it works in our article on OSS VAT.

Sales to businesses in the EU

If you sell goods to a business that is VAT-registered in another EU country, and the goods are transported there from Sweden, you normally do not charge Swedish VAT. The buyer accounts for the VAT in their own country, which is often called reverse charge. The invoice must include the buyer's VAT registration number and a reference to why VAT has not been charged, for example "Exempt from VAT" (Undantagen från skatteplikt), and it must be issued no later than the 15th of the month after delivery. The sale is reported in box 35 of the VAT return and in an EC Sales List (periodisk sammanställning). Check the buyer's VAT number before selling without VAT. Read more at the Tax Agency.

Does a webshop need a cash register?

No, not for online sales. The cash register requirement applies to those who sell against payment in cash or by card, but not to sales through distance contracts, that is, contracts concluded within a system for distance selling where communication takes place exclusively at a distance. This is set out in Chapter 39, Section 5 of the Tax Procedure Act (skatteförfarandelagen). Independent operations are assessed separately, so if you also have a physical shop where customers pay in cash or by card, the requirement applies to those sales.

Bookkeeping for webshop sales: Klarna, Stripe and Swish

Payment services rarely pay out exactly what customers have paid. A payout can combine many orders, and fees, refunds and reserves may have been deducted before the money reaches the bank. Sales must still be recorded at the full amount, with the fees as a separate cost, because income and expenses may not be offset against each other under Chapter 2, Section 4 of the Annual Accounts Act (årsredovisningslagen). We reconcile every payout from Klarna, Stripe, Swish and card acquiring against the orders in the webshop and against the bank account, so that sales, VAT and fees are correct before the VAT return is filed.

Stock valuation in the year-end accounts

Stock is recorded at the lower of cost and net realisable value at the balance sheet date, the so-called lower of cost or market principle in Chapter 4, Section 9 of the Annual Accounts Act. Net realisable value is what the item can be sold for after deducting selling costs, so goods that have become hard to sell may need to be written down. For tax purposes, stock may alternatively be recorded at no less than 97 per cent of the total cost under Chapter 17, Section 4 of the Income Tax Act (inkomstskattelagen). That is why a stocktake is needed at the end of the year even if the webshop shows the stock balance. Read more about year-end closing.

Returns and credit notes

When a customer returns an item and gets their money back, both sales and output VAT decrease. A credit note must contain a specific and unambiguous reference to the original invoice and its serial number, and the VAT is reduced for the period in which the credit is recorded or should have been recorded. Returns refunded via Klarna or Stripe are often deducted from the next payout and therefore need to be followed up in the reconciliation.

How we help e-commerce businesses

• Ongoing bookkeeping with reconciliation of Klarna, Stripe, Swish and card acquiring
• VAT returns, EC Sales Lists and reporting in OSS
• Stock valuation, year-end closing, annual report and tax return
• Payroll and employer declarations for warehouse and customer service staff, see payroll

Fixed monthly price based on the number of vouchers and employees, no lock-in period, three months' notice. See prices.