Growth Support (“växa-stöd”): special calculation of employer contributions
You can claim a reduced rate of employer contributions (Growth Support) for your business’s first employee for up to 24 months.
If you meet the requirements for Growth Support, you only have to pay pension contributions (at the rate of 10.21%) on compensation up to SEK 25,000 per calendar month. You pay full employer contributions (at the rate of 31.42%) on compensation above SEK 25,000.
What is a sole proprietorship?
- a sole trader who has carried out business activities without any employees since 1 January 2017
- a limited company that has carried out business activities since 1 January 2017, either without any employees, or with just one employee who is also a partner in the company or a family member of a partner
- a partnership with a maximum of two partners which has carried out business activities without any employees since 1 January 2017
A limited company may be eligible for Growth Support even if compensation has been paid to a partner or director of the company, or one of their family members. However, the reduced rate of employer contributions does not apply to compensation paid to a partner, director or family member.
When assessing whether your business is entitled to Growth Support, you can disregard any employees who have been paid a maximum of SEK 5,000 in contributions-liable compensation during the qualification period for temporarily extended Growth Support.
Family members
A family member can be any of the following:
- spouse
- parent
- grandparent
- child (including stepchild and foster child) and child’s spouse
- sibling, sibling’s spouse and sibling’s children
- estate of deceased person in which you or a member of your family are a part owner
If a person has had children with – or previously been married to – their cohabiting partner, this individual is considered to be their spouse. Grandchildren, great-grandchildren, etc. also count as children.
Employers with multiple business operations
An employer with several business operations is only entitled to Growth Support for one of them. If you have received Growth Support for one of your business operations, none of your other business operations are entitled to this subsidy.
The businesses in an associate enterprise are regarded as a single employer
Businesses that are under common management are associate enterprises. In order for a particular individual (or set of individuals) to be considered a business’s management, the individual(s) in question must exercise control over the business. Ownership of shares in a limited company enables control through the power to appoint a board of directors, a CEO, and so on. To have control over a limited company, shareholders must have more than 50% of the voting rights in the company. Alternatively, control over the company must have been granted in another way – for example, through an agreement.
According to the Growth Support regulations, a sole trader business and a limited company owned by the sole trader are also considered to be two business under common management.
The businesses in an associate enterprise are regarded as a single employer. To be eligible for Growth Support, each business in an associate enterprise must fulfil the requirements necessary to constitute a sole proprietorship. This means that it is not possible to establish several limited companies and either transfer an employee between the two businesses, or hire a new employee for each business. In the case of an associate enterprise, only the business that first hires an employee is eligible for Growth Support.
Example: associate enterprise
Example 1
Erik and his son Daniel each own 50% of company A and company B. These companies are under common management since the same people have an equal share of ownership in both company A and B. The same set of individuals has common control over both companies, and these companies are part of an associate enterprise.
If Erik owns 100% of company A, and Daniel owns 100% of company B, companies A and B are owned and controlled by different people. These companies are not under common management, and are not therefore part of an associate enterprise – even if Erik and Daniel are both directors of both companies, and despite the fact that they are related.
Example 2
Ali owns 100% of company A, and Bella owns 100% of company B. Ali and Bella both own company X, their share ownership being 55% and 45% respectively. Company A and company X are part of an associate enterprise. Ali owns all the shares in company A and more than half of the shares in company X. These companies are under common management since Ali has control over both of them.
Companies B and X are not part of an associate enterprise. Bella owns all of the shares in company B, but only 45% of the shares in company X. There is neither a management agreement, nor any other relevant circumstances, granting Bella control over company X. Bella has control over company B, but not over company X.
Restrictions that apply to a business’s first employee
Growth Support only applies to appointments that last at least three consecutive months, with a minimum of 20 working hours per week. Growth Support applies to the portion of compensation up to SEK 25,000 per month. Rather than paying full employer contributions, recipients only have to pay the pension contributions part (at the rate of 10.21%). Growth Support is granted for a maximum period of 24 consecutive months.
Your employee must not have been employed during the current calendar year – or any of the previous three calendar years – in any other operations that are (or have been) run directly or indirectly by you or any of your close relatives.
Limited companies and partnerships are not entitled to Growth Support for an employee who is, or has been, a partner or director of a sole proprietorship; or is, or has been, related to a partner or director.
Example: requirement of 20 working hours per week not fulfilled
An employee initially meets the requirements and the employer is granted Growth Support for five months. However, the requirement of 20 working hours per week is not fulfilled during months six to eight. The employer is not granted Growth Support during months six to eight. However, the employer may be entitled to Growth Support during months 9 to 24, provided that the employee's working hours requirement is fulfilled. The Swedish Tax Agency cannot grant an extension of the subsidy period, which is a total of 24 months.
Example: employment gap due to illness
A company employs Eva (for at least three months and at least 20 working hours per week). She receives a salary in January and February, but is then sick for three weeks in March. She receives sickness benefit from the Swedish Social Insurance Agency while on sick leave, and this counts as a work period. The Growth Support requirements have therefore been met when the company pays Eva’s salary for March.
Example: employment gap due to unpaid leave
A company employs Jens (for at least three months and at least 20 working hours per week) in August 2022. After seven months of work, Jens applies to take unpaid leave (not paid annual leave, sick leave or parental leave) in February, March and May 2023. Since Jens will not work at least 20 hours per week in February, March and May, his employer is not entitled to Growth Support during these months. However, the company remains entitled to Growth Support for April, June and the following 13 months – provided that it fulfils the subsidy requirements. The maximum subsidy period is a total of 24 months and cannot be extended.
Growth Support temporarily applicable to two employees for the period 1 July 2021 to 31 December 2022
If you had no employees during the eligibility period (from 10 September 2020 until the point at which you hired an employee during the period 1 July 2021 to 31 December 2022), your company was eligible for Growth Support. It was possible to claim a reduced rate of employer contributions for up to two employees for the period in question.
If you already had an employee at the beginning of the eligibility period, you were entitled to claim Growth Support for an additional employee hired during the period 1 July 2021 to 31 December 2022. This was only applicable if your first employee was still employed by you when you hired the second person.
The rules also stipulated that, from 10 September 2020, the person you employed must not have been employed in any other operations run directly or indirectly by you or any of your close relatives. Furthermore, this employee could not be a partner or director of your company, or a family member of a partner or director.
Example: an employee hired during the eligibility period leaves before a new employee is hired
Company B had no employees on 10 September 2020 but then employed someone for the period 1 May 2021 to 31 August 2021. The company subsequently hired another employee on 1 October 2021. Company B was not eligible for Growth Support since its first employee was no longer employed by the company.
Example: associate enterprise
Ami has a sole trader business and owns a limited company. These companies are part of an associate enterprise and are therefore regarded as one employer. This means both companies must fulfil the Growth Support eligibility requirements. If both companies met the Growth Support eligibility requirements and one person was employed by the sole trader business on 1 November 2021, the sole trader business was entitled to Growth Support. When another individual was employed by the sole trader business on 1 February 2022, the sole trader business was also entitled to Growth Support for this second employee. If, on the other hand, the other individual was employed by the limited company, the limited company was not entitled to Growth Support because the subsidy can only be paid to one business.
Growth Support combined with other subsidies
Growth Support is a government subsidy that must fulfil the requirements of the European Commission’s “de minimis” rule on small amounts of public aid. You are only entitled to Growth Support if you have received no more than EUR 200,000 of public in total over the past three years. Please also note that lower subsidy limits may apply to some industry sectors.
Employer contributions cannot be reduced to a level lower than the pension contributions rate of 10.21%. This means you are not entitled to Growth Support on the various forms of compensation paid to employees who are 66 years old or more at the beginning of the year.
The Growth Support subsidy covers compensation up to SEK 25,000 per person per calendar month. You are entitled to a reduced rate of employer contributions for research and development provided that you fulfil the relevant requirements.
If you are granted Growth Support, the compensation it applies to cannot be included in the basis for reduced contributions in accordance with the regulations on regional support. If you fulfil the relevant requirements, you are entitled to regional support on compensation above SEK 25,000 per person per calendar month.
How to apply for Growth Support
PAYE return: box 062 – Growth Support
If you are entitled to Growth Support for two employees under these temporarily amended regulations, please put an x in box 062 for each individual in question.
Declare how much “de minimis” aid you have received this year or during the past two years in box 462 “Mottagna stöd” (“Aid received”). If you have not received any “de minimis” aid during the period in question, enter 0 in the box.
How to correct specific information about an individual payee when eligible for Growth Support
Log into our e-service “Lämna arbetsgivardeklaration” (“File your PAYE return”), which is in Swedish.
When you have logged into our e-service, please complete the following steps:
- Click on “Inlämnade arbetsgivardeklarationer” (“Filed PAYE returns”).
- Choose the accounting period you wish to correct.
- Click on “Rätta uppgifter” (“Correct information”).
- Select the payee whose details you wish to correct.
- Please take note of box 062 "Växa-stöd" (Growth Support) at the bottom of the form. Uncheck the box if your company is not entitled to Growth Support.
- Click on “Spara” (“Save”) and repeat the process from step 4 if you need to make corrections for additional employees.
- Click on “Nästa” (“Next”) until you get to “Granska, signera och skicka in” (“Check, sign and submit”).
- Sign your PAYE return. Done!
The Swedish Tax Agency will send you a receipt when we receive your corrections. When we have processed your PAYE return, we will send you a decision notice stating the adjusted amount in question.
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