The comparison · Updated 17 September 2026

Worst case here against zero per cent there

This is what a year costs a business owner in Sweden if every tax proposal lands, and how little the same year costs in the countries that do not tax salary at all. With the conditions that actually apply to a move, because they decide whether the difference is real.

01The rates

What each country takes

The same five questions in every country: what does the salary cost, the dividend, the wealth and the profit, and what does Sweden keep for itself after a move. The rates are those of September 2026 and can change.

Country	Tax on salary	Dividends to the owner	Wealth tax	Corporate tax	Sweden's claim after the move
Sweden today	Up to 52.4%	20% within the allowance	None	20.6%	—
Plus 31.42% in employer contributions on top of the salary, with no ceiling. On distributed profit, 36.5% in total. Sources1 2 3 4
Sweden, worst case	57.4% plus the credit phased out	30%	1.5% above SEK 1.5m	20.6%	—
The harshest version of every proposal on the table, plus Sweden's own wealth tax as it stood in 2006, with no exemption for working capital. No governing party currently proposes a general wealth tax with a stated rate. Sources5 6 7 8
United Arab Emirates	0%	0%	None	9%	Ten years, unrestricted
No personal income tax at all, and no social contributions for expatriate employees. Corporate tax is 0 on the first AED 375,000, 0 on qualifying free zone income and 0 for turnover under AED 3m until 2029. But: Sweden has no tax treaty with the Emirates, so the ten-year rule applies in full, and the country is excluded outright from the Swedish white list for CFC taxation. Sources9 10 11 30
Cyprus	0–35%	0% plus a 2.65% health levy	None	15%	Seven years under the treaty
Non-dom for 17 years: no income tax and no defence contribution on dividends. Tax free up to €22,000 of salary, and half the salary exempt above €55,000 for someone who has lived abroad for 15 years. Corporate tax rose from 12.5% to 15% on 1 January 2026. Sources12 13 14 26
Estonia	22%	0% for the owner	None	0% on retained profit, 22% on distribution	Depends on the treaty
Profit kept in the company is not taxed at all, which makes Estonia strong for anyone reinvesting. The tax arrives when the money is paid out. Social tax is 33% with no ceiling, so high salaries are expensive. Sources15 16 17
Bulgaria	10%	5%	None	10%	Depends on the treaty
Ten per cent across the board, and social contributions capped at €2,300 a month. That ceiling is the largest structural difference from Sweden, where contributions have none. The country joined the euro on 1 January 2026. Sources18 19 20

Sweden today
Tax on salary
Up to 52.4%
Dividends to the owner
20% within the allowance
Wealth tax
None
Corporate tax
20.6%
Sweden's claim after the move
—
Plus 31.42% in employer contributions on top of the salary, with no ceiling. On distributed profit, 36.5% in total.
Sources1 2 3 4
Sweden, worst case
Tax on salary
57.4% plus the credit phased out
Dividends to the owner
30%
Wealth tax
1.5% above SEK 1.5m
Corporate tax
20.6%
Sweden's claim after the move
—
The harshest version of every proposal on the table, plus Sweden's own wealth tax as it stood in 2006, with no exemption for working capital. No governing party currently proposes a general wealth tax with a stated rate.
Sources5 6 7 8
United Arab Emirates
Tax on salary
0%
Dividends to the owner
0%
Wealth tax
None
Corporate tax
9%
Sweden's claim after the move
Ten years, unrestricted
No personal income tax at all, and no social contributions for expatriate employees. Corporate tax is 0 on the first AED 375,000, 0 on qualifying free zone income and 0 for turnover under AED 3m until 2029. But: Sweden has no tax treaty with the Emirates, so the ten-year rule applies in full, and the country is excluded outright from the Swedish white list for CFC taxation.
Sources9 10 11 30
Cyprus
Tax on salary
0–35%
Dividends to the owner
0% plus a 2.65% health levy
Wealth tax
None
Corporate tax
15%
Sweden's claim after the move
Seven years under the treaty
Non-dom for 17 years: no income tax and no defence contribution on dividends. Tax free up to €22,000 of salary, and half the salary exempt above €55,000 for someone who has lived abroad for 15 years. Corporate tax rose from 12.5% to 15% on 1 January 2026.
Sources12 13 14 26
Estonia
Tax on salary
22%
Dividends to the owner
0% for the owner
Wealth tax
None
Corporate tax
0% on retained profit, 22% on distribution
Sweden's claim after the move
Depends on the treaty
Profit kept in the company is not taxed at all, which makes Estonia strong for anyone reinvesting. The tax arrives when the money is paid out. Social tax is 33% with no ceiling, so high salaries are expensive.
Sources15 16 17
Bulgaria
Tax on salary
10%
Dividends to the owner
5%
Wealth tax
None
Corporate tax
10%
Sweden's claim after the move
Depends on the treaty
Ten per cent across the board, and social contributions capped at €2,300 a month. That ceiling is the largest structural difference from Sweden, where contributions have none. The country joined the euro on 1 January 2026.
Sources18 19 20

Other regimes, such as Switzerland's lump-sum taxation, Italy's €300,000 flat tax and Monaco's zero income tax, are in the country overview on How it works. They are part of what we negotiate about, but not in the calculator, because they require assumptions that cannot be made general.

02The conditions

The difference is real only if the move is

A move on paper gains nothing. This is what it actually takes, and what Sweden keeps for itself. We spell it out, because a negotiated solution that does not hold is worthless.

01 / 09
Essential ties decide, not your address
Sweden taxes you as a full resident if you have essential ties here. The law lists ten circumstances: a dwelling fit for year-round use, family here, business here, assets giving material influence, real property, citizenship and how long you lived here. The former permanent home weighs heaviest, and that tie is cut only when the buyer takes possession.
Sources21
02 / 09
Five years with the burden of proof reversed
For five years from your departure you are presumed to have essential ties here unless you show otherwise. It is on you to prove it, not on Skatteverket. After five years the burden shifts.
Sources21
03 / 09
Keeping the company may be enough, and the question is open
In November 2025 the Board for Advance Tax Rulings held that an owner who had moved to an EU country with his family, sold the home and ran his Swedish company entirely from abroad still had essential ties. The Supreme Administrative Court set that ruling aside on 31 August 2026 without deciding the substance, and one justice would have gone the other way. During 2026 the Board reached the opposite conclusion in several other cases, including indirect holdings under 20 per cent many years after departure. So the question is unresolved.
Sources22 23 24
04 / 09
From 2027 the days are counted
The government proposes a definition of habitual presence: more than 160 days with an overnight stay in a calendar year, or more than 120 days two years running. Anyone crossing the line becomes a full resident regardless of ties. The rules are proposed to apply from 1 January 2027.
Sources25
05 / 09
The ten-year rule, and the treaty decides how long
Gains on Swedish shares can be taxed in Sweden in the year of sale and the ten preceding calendar years. How much of that can be enforced depends entirely on the treaty with the new country: seven years with Cyprus, five with Switzerland and only for Swedish citizens, the whole period with the Emirates because there is no treaty at all. Qualified shares also keep their 3:12 status through the waiting period.
Sources21 26 27 30
06 / 09
What attracts you can be taken away
Sweden terminated its tax treaties with Portugal and Greece from 1 January 2022, precisely because those countries’ regimes for new residents were being used. A country’s offer is a negotiating position, not a guarantee, and that is one reason to negotiate as a group rather than trust a brochure.
Sources28 29
07 / 09
Not moving gains nothing
If you stay in Sweden, you are taxed currently on your share of the profit in a low-taxed foreign company where you own or control at least 25 per cent, as business income and whether or not anything is distributed. The line runs at 55 per cent of Swedish corporate tax, about 11.33 per cent. The Emirates, Malta and Monaco are excluded outright from the exemption list, and the exemption for genuine establishment applies only inside the EEA. Substance in Dubai does not help.
Sources21 34
08 / 09
Moving the company costs, and takes time
A Swedish limited company is taxable here as long as it is registered here, wherever the board sits. A cross-border conversion within the EEA moves the company without dissolving it, but assets leaving Swedish taxation are taxed at market value. Deferral is available inside the EEA, but must be applied for every year, is paid down by a fifth a year and carries interest. The fees are small, SEK 3,200, but the process takes about six months and needs a two-thirds majority. The ten-year rule and the 3:12 status follow the shares.
Sources21 31 32 33
09 / 09
If the customers and staff stay, so does the tax
A place of management is the first example of a permanent establishment in the law. If the business is in practice run from Sweden, it is taxed here anyway. Intangibles or customer relationships moved out must go at arm’s length, and getting the price wrong costs 40 per cent in surcharges on top of the tax.
Sources21

None of this says that moving is wrong. It says that a move has to be real, prepared and calculated, and that the conditions are worth negotiating before you need them.

03Sources

The rates are simplified and current as of September 2026. They do not replace advice in an individual case, and tax rules change. Always check against the source and a qualified adviser before making decisions.

A prepared company has more options.

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Worst case here against zero per cent there

What each country takes

Sweden today

Sweden, worst case

United Arab Emirates

Cyprus

Estonia

Bulgaria

The difference is real only if the move is

Essential ties decide, not your address

Five years with the burden of proof reversed

Keeping the company may be enough, and the question is open

From 2027 the days are counted

The ten-year rule, and the treaty decides how long

What attracts you can be taken away

Not moving gains nothing

Moving the company costs, and takes time

If the customers and staff stay, so does the tax

03Sources

A prepared company has more options.