Approved stockist: nicotine goods

Who can become an approved stockist?

You are eligible to become an approved stockist if you intend to carry out any of the following activities on a professional basis in Sweden:

• produce excise-duty-liable nicotine goods
• introduce excise-duty-liable nicotine goods to Sweden from another EU country, or take receipt in Sweden of nicotine goods from another EU country
• import excise-duty-liable nicotine goods from a country outside the EU’s excise duty area
• purchase excise-duty-liable nicotine goods from an approved stockist for resale to traders
• sell excise-duty-liable nicotine goods in export shops

To qualify for approval, you must also be deemed suitable by the Swedish Tax Agency, based on economic and other criteria.

What does it mean to be an approved stockist?

As an approved stockist, you have certain entitlements including the following:

• If you produce, introduce or receive excise-duty-liable nicotine goods from other countries within the EU excise duty area, you are not required to declare and pay excise duty on such goods at each instance of importation or production. You are allowed to postpone declaration and payment until a later date. Please note that this applies only to goods that you own.
• If you import excise-duty-liable nicotine goods from a country outside the EU’s excise duty area, you will pay excise duty to the Swedish Tax Agency at a later date, instead of paying it to Swedish Customs at the time of import. Please note that this applies only to goods that you own.
• You can make deductions in certain circumstances.
• You can use our e-service to file an excise duty return (“Punktskatt – deklaration”) instead of submitting a return on paper.
• You can destroy excise-duty-liable nicotine goods, under the supervision of the Swedish Tax Agency, without having to declare and pay excise duty.

The Swedish Tax Agency’s approval of a stockist applies only to the natural person or legal entity named in the decision notification. If several companies in a group intend to run excise-duty-liable operations, each company must apply for approval individually.

An approval is not transferable. If you transfer ownership of your business, the new owner must submit a separate application for approval as a stockist.

How to apply

Fill in form SKV 5413, “Application: approved stockist – excise duty on certain nicotine goods” (in Swedish “Ansökan lagerhållare – skatt på vissa nikotinhaltiga produkter”) and send it to the Swedish Tax Agency at the address stated on the form.

• Application: approved stockist – excise duty on certain nicotine goods (SKV 5413, in Swedish)
  

When the Swedish Tax Agency has processed your application, we will send you a decision notification. If your application is approved, the authorisation granted is valid until further notice; you will not need to renew it periodically.

Destruction of tobacco goods

You don’t need to declare or pay excise duty on duty-liable goods that are destroyed under the Swedish Tax Agency’s supervision. For the goods to be regarded as destroyed under our supervision, you must comply with the following procedure:

1. Notify the Swedish Tax Agency at least seven business days before you intend to destroy the goods.
2. Wait for the Swedish Tax Agency to confirm that your notification of destruction meets our requirements.
3. Destroy the goods using the method of destruction specified in your notification, and document the destruction in a written report.
4. Send a copy of the report to the Swedish Tax Agency.

Notification

Notify the Swedish Tax Agency that you intend to destroy excise duty liable goods at least seven business days before the planned date of destruction. Please notify us by completing and submitting the online form below. If you are a representative, you must submit a power of attorney document with your notification.

Keep in mind that you must wait for confirmation from the Swedish Tax Agency that your notification meets our requirements before destroying the goods. The autoreply that you receive when you have submitted the online form does not count as acceptance of your notification.

Alternatively, you can submit your notification to us by post.

Wait for us to confirm that your notification meets our requirements

You can only destroy goods without paying excise duty after the Swedish Tax Agency has confirmed to you that your notification meets our requirements. Please note that we are entitled to request access to the location where the goods will be destroyed, during the specified time of destruction.

Destroy the goods and document the destruction in a written report

It is important to destroy only the goods you specified in your notification. If you destroy other duty-liable goods, you must pay excise duty on them. When the destruction process is complete, the goods must be unusable. You can destroy tobacco goods by burning them, for example.

You must document the destruction of the goods in a written report. The report must be signed by the notification provider. If a Swedish Tax Agency official is present during the destruction process, they must also sign the report. You must save the report for seven years after the goods have been destroyed.

The report must specify:

• the date and time of destruction of the goods
• the location where the goods were destroyed
• the method of destruction
• which goods have been destroyed (state type of goods, quantity and article number for each item)

Send a copy of the report to the Swedish Tax Agency

Use this online contact form to submit a copy of the report to us as soon as possible:

• Send us a message

For faster processing, write this heading at the top of your message: “Report on the destruction of tobacco goods”. Alternatively, you can post a copy of the report to the Swedish Tax Agency at the following address:

Skatteverket

SE-771 83 Ludvika

Sweden

The Swedish Tax Agency's regulations (SKVFS 2022:13) include further information about the destruction of excise duty liable alcohol, tobacco and nicotine goods.

• The Swedish Tax Agency's regulations on supervised destruction of excise duty liable alcohol, tobacco and nicotine goods (Legal guidance, in Swedish)

Notify the Swedish Tax Agency of any changes

As an approved stockist, you must contact the Swedish Tax Agency if:

• the ownership structure of your business changes significantly
• authorised signatories, accountants or the board of directors change
• there is any other change to the information you have provided, or should have provided, to the Swedish Tax Agency – either in your application or after approval

Deregistration as an approved stockist

It is possible for the Swedish Tax Agency to deregister you as an approved stockist – either at your own request or if we deem it necessary (if you have not declared or paid excise duty on time, for example).

If you wish to be deregistered as an approved stockist, you must send a request in writing to the Swedish Tax Agency at the following address: Skatteverket, SE-771 83 Ludvika, Sweden. An authorised signatory must sign the request.

Please note that deregistering for VAT or other taxes will not change your status as an approved stockist.