Uppskov (deferred housing gain)
Uppskov lets you defer the capital-gains tax when you sell a home at a gain and buy a new one. Instead of paying the tax on the gain right away, you let it rest in the new home. Since 2021 it costs nothing extra to hold uppskov: the annual uppskovsränta was abolished. The tax does not disappear, though, it is only postponed.
How it works
To get uppskov you must have sold a permanent home (permanentbostad) at a gain and bought a replacement home (ersättningsbostad) within a set window, in practice from the year before to the year after the sale. You can defer a gain up to a cap of 3 000 000 kr per home, split by your ownership share. The minimum deferral is 50,000 kr, so small gains cannot be deferred.
Does it cost anything?
Until 2020 there was an annual uppskovsränta, a standardised income of about 0.5% of the deferred amount, which made many prefer to pay the tax right away. From income year 2021 that charge is fully removed. Holding uppskov is therefore now free, which makes it more attractive to let the tax rest rather than tie up capital to pay it.
The tax comes eventually
Uppskov is a loan from yourself, not a gift from the state. When you finally sell without buying a new home, the deferred gain is taxed at the same effective rate as other housing gains: 22%. As long as you keep swapping homes the uppskov can roll on, but count on the tax the day the chain ends.
The annual uppskovsränta was removed from income year 2021, for both new and existing deferrals. At the same time the cap was raised to 3 000 000 kr (from 1,450,000 kr) for sales from mid-2020. That makes uppskov an interest-free way to postpone the housing tax.
Where it shows up
- Capital gains