When is the VAT return due? Dates and choosing a period for a small Swedish company

The third quarter ends in three weeks, and if your aktiebolag (limited company) reports VAT quarterly, the return for July to September is due by 12 November 2026. That is the 12th of the second month after the period ends, and the same day applies to the money (Skatteverket).

The question worth asking in October is not when the momsdeklaration (the VAT return) is due, but whether you picked the right reporting period in the first place. Give it half an hour now, because once you switch you live with it for a while.

The threshold that decides what you may choose

What governs this is your beskattningsunderlag (the taxable base, the amount you calculate VAT on). Up to 1 million kronor a year you may choose the full financial year, calendar quarters or calendar months. Up to 40 million it is quarters or months, and above 40 million it is monthly with no choice (Skatteverket).

Note that this is the taxable base, not revenue in the everyday sense. If you sell for 950,000 kronor excluding VAT you are under the limit, even though your invoices add up to nearly 1.2 million including VAT.

The dates, for a limited company

Quarterly VAT is due by the 12th of the second month after the period. August is the exception, when it moves to the 17th. In practice that means 12 May, 17 August, 12 November and 12 February.

Monthly VAT below 40 million follows the same logic, the 12th of the second month after, with the 17th in January and August. Above 40 million it is instead the 26th of the month after the period, and the 27th in December.

The yearly option is messier, because the date depends on when your räkenskapsår (financial year) ends and whether you file on paper or online. For limited companies without EU trade, Skatteverket gives these dates:

• year end January to April: 12 November on paper, 12 December online
• year end May or June: 27 December on paper, 17 January online
• year end July or August: 12 March on paper, 12 April online
• year end September to December: 12 July on paper, 17 August online

If you trade with other EU countries that table does not apply. Then the yearly VAT is due by the 26th of the second month after your financial year ends, or the 27th if that falls in December. With a calendar financial year, that is 26 February.

What the yearly option is actually worth

Take a company with a calendar financial year and a taxable base of 900,000 kronor, all at 25 percent VAT. Output VAT comes to 225,000 kronor. Deduct 60,000 kronor of input VAT and you owe 165,000 kronor for the year.

Spread evenly, quarterly reporting means roughly 41,000 kronor four times, starting 12 May 2026 and finishing 12 February 2027. With yearly reporting you pay the whole 165,000 kronor once, on 17 August 2027.

So the VAT you invoiced in January 2026 stays in the company for nineteen months. That is a substantial interest-free credit, and it is exactly why the yearly option is risky. The money has time to start feeling like yours.

Do this: if you are comfortably under a million and have no EU trade, choose yearly and move the VAT to a separate account the day you get paid. If you cannot keep that habit, quarterly is the boring but correct answer.

EU trade has its own deadline

If you sell goods or services to VAT-registered buyers in other EU countries, you also file a periodisk sammanställning (the EC sales list). It is due by the 25th of the month after the period if you use the online service, and the 20th if you send it on paper (Skatteverket).

It is separate from the VAT return, and people miss it regularly. You can have filed your VAT on time and still be behind.

Switch periods and you are locked in for two years

You change your period through the online service at verksamt.se or with form SKV 4639, Ändringsanmälan (notification of change). If you move to more frequent reporting you have to stay there for 24 months before you can go back (Skatteverket).

So do not switch to monthly VAT just because you had one messy quarter. Two years is a long time in a small company.

If you miss it

The late filing fee is 625 kronor, and 1,250 kronor if the return only arrives after a formal demand. If you are late with several returns at once you pay only one fee (Skatteverket).

Payment counts when the money is registered on Skatteverket’s account, not when you click send in your bank (Skatteverket). If the 12th, 17th or 26th falls on a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday, the deadline moves to the next working day (Skattekontobroschyren).

Set a reminder for 12 November and one for 12 February 2027 today, and while you are at it, check what taxable base you will actually land on this year. If it comes to 1.1 million instead of 900,000 the yearly option is off the table, and how Skatteverket handles a year where you cross the limit mid-period is worth asking them about before you plan your cash flow around it.