Value-added tax (VAT) shipping (“moms frakt” in Swedish) applies to shipping costs in Sweden. However, the rate isn’t fixed. It follows the VAT rate of the goods being delivered. For example, a clothing order ships at 25%, food order at 12%, and book order at 6%. Cross-border sales, mixed-rate orders, and the difference between buying transport and recharged shipping can cause additional confusion.

Below, we’ll cover how Swedish VAT rules apply to shipping across domestic sales, EU transactions, and exports outside the EU. Plus, tips for handling invoicing, checkout tools, and the mechanics of shipping costs (“moms fraktkostnad” in Swedish).

Highlights

• Shipping VAT within Sweden follows the VAT rate of the goods being delivered, not a fixed rate of its own.

• Businesses offering freight services must charge the standard VAT rate on those services.

• When you recharge carrier costs to customers, the shipping becomes part of your supply of goods and is taxed at the product rate, not the carrier’s standard rate.

Is there VAT on shipping?

Yes, there is generally VAT on shipping (“moms på frakt” in Swedish), and VAT applies to commercial cargo transport services. VAT is calculated based on the purchase price, including the shipping cost and potential customs fee.

What is the shipping tax rate in Sweden?

Sweden uses three VAT rates. The shipping rate depends on the good(s) being delivered:

• 25%: Covers goods by default and is the standard rate. Ship clothing, electronics, or household items, and you’ll charge 25% VAT on the delivery. Businesses offering freight services must also charge 25% VAT on that cargo transport service.

• 12%: Applies to food and certain other goods. A food delivery is typically taxed at 12% end-to-end, the same rate as the contents.

• 6%: Applies to books, newspapers, and some cultural goods.

Mixed-rate orders are more complicated. If a single order contains goods at different VAT rates, you need to allocate the shipping cost across those rates, typically in proportion to the value of each category. The Swedish tax authority, Skatteverket, doesn’t mandate a specific allocation method, but whichever approach you use needs to be consistent and documented.

How does VAT on shipping work within Sweden?

What determines the VAT treatment of shipping is how you’ve structured your pricing and what you’re delivering. What you’re delivering sets the VAT rate that you charge; if you’re shipping items with different applicable tax rates (e.g., food, taxed at 12%; and a book, taxed at 6%), you split the shipping cost between the two rates proportionally based on the value of each category. Make sure you document how this was calculated.

As for pricing, there are two ways it can be structured: with shipping included in the price or with shipping charged separately.

Here’s how VAT treatment works in either scenario:

• Shipping included in the price: The entire amount is taxed at the applicable product rate. If you advertise free shipping or a bundled price, there’s no separate shipping line on the invoice.

• Shipping charged separately: The shipping charge follows the product’s VAT rate. If you’re selling a jacket (25% VAT) for 800 Swedish kronor (SEK) and charging 59 SEK for delivery, the VAT on shipping is 11.80 SEK (59 × 0.25), shown as its own line on the invoice with the rate and amount specified.

Prices shown to consumers are typically VAT-inclusive. B2B sales typically show VAT-exclusive prices with VAT itemised on the invoice.

How does VAT on shipping work within the EU?

Cross-border sales within the EU introduce other factors. The rules differ substantially depending on whether you’re selling to businesses or consumers:

• B2C sales and the One Stop Shop (OSS): Once your cross-border B2C sales across all EU countries exceed €10,000 per year, you’re required to charge VAT at the rate of the customer’s country, not Sweden’s. Shipping costs follow the same destination-country rules as the goods. If the German VAT rate on clothing is 19%, the shipping on that order is also taxed at 19%. The OSS scheme lets you report and pay all that VAT through a single Swedish registration rather than registering in every country where you have customers.

• B2B sales and reverse charge: When you sell to VAT-registered businesses in other EU countries, reverse charge applies. You invoice without VAT, and the customer accounts for it in their own country. This applies to the shipping cost as well, since it’s part of the same supply. Your invoice needs to reference the reverse charge mechanism and show the customer’s VAT number.

How does VAT on shipping work outside the EU?

Exports to countries outside the EU are generally zero-rated for Swedish VAT purposes, which means Swedish VAT isn’t added to the goods or the shipping tied to them. If you’re invoicing a customer outside the EU for both goods and delivery, neither line carries Swedish VAT. Zero-rated is different from exempt because you still report the sale in your VAT return and need to retain export documentation to support it.

Export documentation is proof that the goods have been delivered to a location outside the EU, or that the sale is considered an export for other reasons (freight forwarding or shipping documents suffice). Without them, Skatteverket can challenge the zero-rating.

What happens at the destination depends on your delivery terms. Delivered duty paid (DDP) means you’re covering import costs; delivered at place (DAP) shifts them to the customer.

If you’re importing goods, Swedish VAT is calculated on the customs value at the border, which includes the cost of shipping to Sweden. If goods cost 5,000 SEK and shipping is 500 SEK, VAT at 25% is assessed on 5,500 SEK. As a VAT-registered business, you can typically reclaim that as input tax on your return.

How do you handle VAT on shipping from transport companies?

Within Sweden, whatever carrier you’re using will charge you 25% VAT on their transport services. If you’re a VAT-registered business, you reclaim that as input VAT in your return.

But what happens when you pass shipping costs on to your customers? If you buy transport and pass it on to your customer, it becomes part of your supply of goods, so the VAT treatment follows the goods rather than the carrier’s 25% rate. In this scenario, a carrier could charge you 25% on delivery, but you pass that cost on as part of a food order (12% VAT). You reclaim the full 25% input VAT from the carrier and collect 12% output VAT on the recharged amount. The rates on each side of the transaction don’t have to match.

The distinction between buying a transport service and recharged shipping affects how you account for both input and output VAT. Getting it wrong means either collecting too much VAT from your customers or reporting too little output tax, both of which create reconciliation problems at filing time.

How should you handle VAT on shipping?

To get VAT on shipping right in practice, it’s helpful to consider a few things: how you handle mixed-rate orders, how your checkout is configured, and whether your VAT return reflects both accurately. Common mistakes include applying 25% to all shipping regardless of what’s being delivered, not updating checkout VAT logic after exceeding the OSS threshold, and treating zero-rated exports as exempt without retaining the documentation to prove the goods left the EU.

Here are some things to keep in mind:

• Variable rate allocations: If an order spans multiple VAT rates, allocate the shipping proportionally and show the split. B2B customers need this to reclaim input VAT.

• Checkout configuration: Your checkout needs to identify the customer’s location, apply the correct destination-country VAT rate for EU B2C orders above the OSS threshold, and handle mixed-rate orders correctly. Tools such as Stripe Tax can do this automatically for you by detecting the customer’s location, applying the correct VAT rate to both products and shipping, and updating as rates change across EU jurisdictions.

How Stripe Tax can help

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