Several mining companies in Sweden are said to have avoided large amounts of tax by using misleading and incomplete information. Now that Swedish tax authorities have found out about this, they are demanding back almost $100 million in unpaid taxes from the companies in question.
Misleading information from Bitcoin miners
The investigation found that up to 18 of the 21 crypto mining companies examined had avoided taxes by providing misleading and incomplete information to Skatteverket, the Swedish tax authorities. This allowed these companies to avoid VAT – also known as “VAT” – on products and services during the period 2020 to 2023.
In addition, the companies were able to avoid import duties on purchased mining hardware and no income tax was paid on the proceeds from mining activities. Over the years, the benefits have amounted to millions.
Repay more than $90 million
According to the Swedish tax authorities, crypto mining companies now have to pay the evaded taxes and wrongly received tax benefits. In the period 2020 to 2023, this amounts to a total amount of more than 990 million Swedish krona. That amounts to almost 85 million euros.
The total amount is said to be made up of a portion of SEK 932 million for unpaid VAT and SEK 57.9 million for unjustified tax benefits.
The companies then appealed to the court. Of the 18 companies, only two were confirmed, meaning 16 companies are not exempt from the high rating.
An interesting country for BTC mining companies
Sweden was very popular with mining companies during the above period. Due to the enormous number of hydroelectric power plants and wind farms, energy prices there were very low. Ideal for mining companies that require a lot of power for their activities.
However, in the summer of 2022, Sweden decided to regulate Bitcoin (BTC) mining more tightly. This had everything to do with the severe energy shortage in the country. Sweden decided to give priority to other sectors that would create more jobs than the available electricity.
