Cypern-målet
Upplägget, lagstiftningen och konsekvenser
The financial result of a transfer of ownership or external sale is to a great extent depend-ent on how the transfer is implemented and how the tax rules apply. The applicability of the Swedish tax rules regarding transfer of ownership in closely held companies largely de-pends on the interpretation of the prerequisite, equal or similar activity, which can be found in section 57, clause 4 of the Swedish Income Tax Act.The ruling made by the Supreme Administrative Court in RÅ 2010 ref. 11 changed the concept of equal or similar activity. The ruling lead to that the shares in a closely held com-pany was qualified due to that the capital from the original company had been transferred to the operating company. According to the ruling the original company had been split into several companies, thus was the companies considered to carry out equal or similar activity. In 2011 the Supreme Administrative Court announced two rulings that expanded the con-cept of equal or similar activity. According to the rulings no transfer of assets is needed since the purchase price is enough for companies to be considered to carry out equal or similar activity, thus was the shares considered qualified. The decisive factor is that the pur-chase price has been generated by the owner or a family member.A transfer of ownership implies that a new generation will be handling the business. Fur-thermore, shares in closely held companies are qualified if the owners are active in signifi-cant quantities. That fact in relation to that the decisive factor is that the purchase price has been generated by the owner implies that any purchase price will be generated by the own-er. Therefore, the companies will carry out equal or similar activity which means that no tax benefit is achieved, thus will not the Tax evasion Act be applicable.