Sweden's new 3:12 rules for 2026: how your dividend allowance is calculated now

If you own a Swedish limited company and take dividends, you have probably heard of the förenklingsregeln (simplified rule) and the huvudregeln (main rule). Forget them. Since 1 January 2026 there is only one way to calculate the gränsbelopp, the part of a dividend taxed at 20 percent. Here is what applies, with the figures for dividends paid during 2026.

One base amount for everyone

Every shareholder gets a base amount of four income base amounts (inkomstbasbelopp) for the year before the income year. The 2025 income base amount is 80 600 kr, so the 2026 base amount is 322 400 kr. It is split equally across the shares, so a 50 percent owner gets 161 200 kr.

If you own shares in several close companies you still only get one base amount in total. When the combined allocations exceed one base amount, it is split in proportion to the size of your holdings, under chapter 57, section 11 a of the Income Tax Act. You can no longer choose which company gets it.

The salary requirement is gone, the wage deduction is new

The old rules required you to draw a certain salary yourself before you could count the company’s payroll. That requirement is gone, as is the rule that you had to own at least four percent of the shares.

Instead there is a standard deduction. The wage-based amount is 50 percent of your share of the company’s cash salaries for the previous year, minus eight income base amounts, which is 644 800 kr for 2026. The deduction is taken in full from your share, not scaled by how much you own. Two spouses who both own shares in the same company calculate jointly and share a single deduction.

There is still a cap: the wage-based amount may not exceed 50 times the cash salary that you or a close relative received from the company in the previous year. If none of you took any salary at all, the wage-based amount is zero.

A worked example

You own the whole company. During 2025 it paid 1 000 000 kr in salaries, 600 000 kr of them to you.

The base amount is 322 400 kr. The wage-based amount is 50 percent of 1 000 000 kr minus 644 800 kr, that is 177 600 kr. The cap of 50 times your salary is 30 million, so it does not bite here. This year’s allowance is 500 000 kr.

If you have saved allowance (sparat utdelningsutrymme) from earlier years, add it as it is. The interest uplift has also been abolished.

With the same payroll but a 50 percent holding, your share of the salaries is 500 000 kr. That is less than the 644 800 kr deduction, so the wage-based amount is zero and you only get the base amount, 161 200 kr. The wage deduction hits smaller holdings harder, which is one of the most common misunderstandings about the new rules.

Acquisition cost only counts above 100 000 kr

If you paid more than 100 000 kr for your shares, you get interest on the excess at the government borrowing rate on 30 November of the previous year plus nine percentage points, 11.55 percent for 2026. A typical company with 25 000 kr in share capital gets nothing from this.

What happens above the allowance

Dividends within the allowance are taxed at 20 percent. Anything above is taxed as employment income up to a cap of 90 income base amounts for the income year, 7 506 000 kr for 2026. Beyond that the rest is taxed at 30 percent as capital income.

Which year applies?

The year the dividend is decided and becomes available determines which year’s allowance you use, not which year’s profit it comes from. If the annual general meeting in spring 2027 decides on a dividend from the 2026 profit, the 2027 allowance applies, based on the 2026 income base amount and the salaries the company paid during 2026.

To use the 2026 allowance, the dividend must be decided and paid by 31 December 2026. Run your own numbers in our 3:12 calculator, and check the figures against Skatteverket’s page before you decide.