Travel Allowance and Subsistence
If you perform your temporary client's work, e.g., at his office or workshop, you probably have your place of employment there. The self-employed company can then not pay a "tax-free" travel allowance or any allowance for these trips. However, you may have the right to deduct in your tax return for travel to and from work and if you need to spend the night at the workplace and for accommodation and increased living costs.

Suppose you in an assignment need to travel to places other than your place of employment, the self-employment company can reimburse expenses, e.g., train travel, pay travel allowance for your car, and - if you need to spend the night on such a business trip - also allowances and allowance for accommodation.

Examples of tax deductions for travel
Villy lives in Gothenburg and takes temporary assignments as a self-employed person at "TWA Salary". He has now been given an assignment of four weeks to help a company in Borås with its financial system. Villy commutes four days a week by train to the company office (70 km one way) and works from home one day a week. The last week he goes to the company's branch in Stockholm to inform about the financial system for two days.

In this assignment, Villy performs most of the work in the office in Borås, which is then his place of work. This means that the journeys between the home in Gothenburg and Borås are journeys to and from work, ie, private journeys. Only the trip to Stockholm is a business trip, and that your company can pay via expenses or tax-free cost compensation. Since the assignment is subject to VAT, your company must charge outgoing VAT. The company may also deduct the input VAT for the business trip if the self-employed person receives compensation for the expense. If your company pays for Villy's trips between Gothenburg and Borås, the compensation will be treated as a regular salary. The input VAT on these private trips may not be deducted.

Other costs
There are various ways to manage the cost of equipment and materials that you have, but only such expenses are necessary for you to perform a task that may come into play. Below we present some different options.

Expenses for applying for new assignments are not deductible, and compensation for such expenses from the self-employment company shall be treated as salary.

You deduct in your tax return transcript
The costs necessary for the assignment you performed and that you paid yourself, you claim a deduction for in your declaration under "other expenses." It can, e.g., apply to expenses for tools, work tools, increased roaming costs, or special computer programs. As a rule, however, you do not receive a deduction for the computer or mobile phone itself or the subscriptions for these.

If you have had to use your equipment or other equipment, you must first distribute the cost of use in the service and privately. When it comes to equipment, you can also use it privately, and deductions can only be considered for the part attributed to your assignments, e.g., 50 percent if you use the equipment both privately and at work. The cost must also be proportioned both to the number of years that the equipment can be used and based on how much you used it in the service during the year.

You will receive compensation for your own expenses
Suppose the company has reimbursed you for temporary expenses at work, for example, for consumables you have purchased for a certain assignment. You have submitted the receipt or other verification to the company, and the company does not normally have to report this in the employer declaration. However, in the event of a subsequent inspection, the company must show that what the expense refers to has been necessary to procure for your current assignment. Therefore, you should note the purpose of the purchase and the assignment to which it relates.

Keep in mind that if the company reimbursed you through such an expense, what you acquired is still the company's property. Therefore, expenses are not suitable for equipment that you want to keep and use even after completing the assignment, e.g., tools, musical instruments, or computers.

If the company pays for your purchase of, e.g., a computer for an assignment, and then allows you to keep the computer after the assignment. You have received a taxable benefit. The benefit, which is valued at the computer's value, must be reported in the employer declaration that the company submits to the Swedish Tax Agency and in your income tax return.

Can you choose when to withdraw your salary?
Do you have to withdraw the salary immediately, or can you leave it in and choose the payment date yourself?

The self-employed company must report your salary and pay employer contributions as soon as you have the opportunity to withdraw the salary according to the agreement you have with the company. You can therefore not freely choose the time for taxation of already earned salary. The company must also report such compensation that you have chosen to leave in, for which you choose the time of payment.

To invoice the self-employed company via your own company
Suppose instead of receiving a salary from the self-employment company. You want to invoice the compensation via your own company, a legal entity. This situation differs from what otherwise applies to self-employment. For example, it could be a limited liability company or trading company where you are a partner but lacks F-tax.

The self-employed company must first approve that such invoicing takes place. When several parties are involved, it is extra important that agreements regulate the parties' commitments. The agreement between the client and the self-employed company must show that it is the self-employed company that is the contractor and which assignments this agreement covers. An agreement between the self-employment company and your company then regulates which assignments are included in this collaboration. If your company does not have F-tax, the self-employed company does not pay employer contributions. It must instead make a tax deduction of 30 percent when compensation for work is paid to your company.

Suppose you have obtained an assignment directly through your company. Without the self-employed company being a party to the agreement, your company is considered a payee of the client's remuneration. If your company has A-tax, the client must make a tax deduction of 30 percent of the compensation. Please note that this also applies if you have later transferred your claim to a self-employment company or factoring company with F-tax. Also, compare the section Agree first with the company above, where it is clarified that additional agreements must be entered into the correct order.