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Sweden

#13 overall · Score 74.6 / 100 · down one place from 2025

Overall

#13

74.6 / 100

down one place from 2025

Corporate

#6

75.5 / 100

unchanged from 2025

Individual

#18

62.4 / 100

unchanged from 2025

Consumption

#26

51.6 / 100

down two places from 2025

Property

#9

72.3 / 100

unchanged from 2025

Cross-border

#12

75.8 / 100

up one place from 2025

Strengths

  • Sweden has a lower-than-average corporate tax rate of 20.6 percent and provides for net operating losses to be carried forward indefinitely.
  • Sweden has a territorial tax system that exempts both foreign dividends and capital gains income from taxation without any country limitations.
  • Sweden has no taxes on estates or inheritances, financial transactions, or the issuance of shares, and property taxes are deductible from corporate income.

Weaknesses

  • Sweden's personal dividend tax rate and capital gains tax rate are both 30 percent, above the OECD averages (24.7 percent for dividends and 19.7 percent for capital gains).
  • Sweden has a top statutory personal income tax rate of 52.2 percent.
  • Sweden has controlled foreign corporation rules that apply to both passive and active income.

Component Scores

Sweden category scores out of 100Corporate Taxes: score 75.5, rank 6. Individual Taxes: score 62.4, rank 18. Consumption Taxes: score 51.6, rank 26. Property Taxes: score 72.3, rank 9. Cross-Border Tax Rules: score 75.8, rank 12255075100Corporate Taxes: 75.5 (rank 6)Individual Taxes: 62.4 (rank 18)Consumption Taxes: 51.6 (rank 26)Property Taxes: 72.3 (rank 9)Cross-Border Tax Rules: 75.8 (rank 12)CorporateIndividualConsumptionPropertyCross-border
Category Rank Score vs 2025
Corporate Taxes #6 75.5 unchanged from 2025
Individual Taxes #18 62.4 unchanged from 2025
Consumption Taxes #26 51.6 down two places from 2025
Property Taxes #9 72.3 unchanged from 2025
Cross-Border Tax Rules #12 75.8 up one place from 2025

Ranking Changes, 2014–2026

Sweden's best overall rank was 11th and its worst was 14th. It ranks 13th in 2026.

Overall rank by year for SwedenSweden: 2014 rank 12, 2015 rank 13, 2016 rank 13, 2017 rank 13, 2018 rank 14, 2019 rank 12, 2020 rank 12, 2021 rank 11, 2022 rank 12, 2023 rank 12, 2024 rank 13, 2025 rank 12, 2026 rank 132014201520162017201820192020202120222023202420252026Sweden 2014: rank 12Sweden 2015: rank 13Sweden 2016: rank 13Sweden 2017: rank 13Sweden 2018: rank 14Sweden 2019: rank 12Sweden 2020: rank 12Sweden 2021: rank 11Sweden 2022: rank 12Sweden 2023: rank 12Sweden 2024: rank 13Sweden 2025: rank 12Sweden 2026: rank 13#12#13

OECD Context

Each row places all 38 countries on a 0–100 score scale for one measure. Sweden is highlighted; the dashed line is the OECD median.

All 38 Countries' Ranks

Overall and category ranks for all 38 countries
CountryOverallCorporateIndividualConsumptionPropertyCross-border
Estonia#1#2#1#24#1#7
Latvia#2#1#8#22#4#6
New Zealand#3#31#7#1#8#14
Switzerland#4#7#9#4#36#2
Lithuania#5#3#10#23#6#16
Luxembourg#6#20#21#7#15#5
Czech Republic#7#9#4#32#5#11
Australia#8#29#14#9#3#23
Turkey#9#21#6#15#22#8
Hungary#10#5#3#38#23#4
Israel#11#11#31#11#10#18
Slovak Republic#12#24#2#33#7#17
Sweden#13#6#18#26#9#12
Costa Rica#14#35#13#6#11#29
Canada#15#17#28#8#25#28
Netherlands#16#23#30#14#20#3
United States#17#8#17#3#27#37
Austria#18#18#27#17#17#10
Germany#19#30#34#13#12#9
Norway#20#15#29#27#16#15
Mexico#21#28#26#12#2#38
Finland#22#10#24#28#21#24
Greece#23#22#5#29#30#19
Chile#24#32#23#10#13#36
Slovenia#25#14#12#30#24#30
Korea#26#26#38#2#31#34
Belgium#27#16#15#25#28#21
Japan#28#36#35#5#26#31
Ireland#29#4#36#35#18#27
United Kingdom#30#25#22#34#33#1
Denmark#31#19#37#20#14#32
Poland#32#12#11#36#29#25
Portugal#33#34#19#21#19#33
Iceland#34#13#32#19#34#26
Spain#35#33#20#18#35#20
Italy#36#27#16#37#38#22
Colombia#37#37#25#16#37#35
France#38#38#33#31#32#13

Among European Peers

Sweden ranks 10th of 27 European OECD members on the overall index.

Source: 2026 International Tax Competitiveness Index.

Notes on the Data

The 2026 Index uses the most up-to-date data available as of July 2026. Data may not reflect changes in countries making rapid reforms.

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About the Authors

Alex Mengden Tax Foundation
Expert

Alex Mengden

Economist

Alex Mengden is an Economist at the Tax Foundation, where he focuses on international tax issues and tax policy in Europe. He holds a BA in philosophy and economics from the University of Bayreuth and an MSc in economics from the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich.

Tax Foundation Staff

Luis Zarka

Transatlantic Tax Fellow

Luis Zarka was a 2026 Transatlantic Tax Fellow with the Tax Foundation’s Center for Global Tax Policy.

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Sarah Wilbur Tax Foundation Media Relations Contact

Sarah Wilbur

Communications Manager

Sarah Wilbur is Communications Manager at the Tax Foundation where she advances the organization’s institutional reach by developing its corporate communications and media programs.

Jesse Solis Tax Foundation

Jesse Solis

Vice President of Communications

Jesse Solis is Vice President of Communications at the Tax Foundation, where he leads the communications team and works to build coverage of Tax Foundation’s experts and their work across the globe. He joined the team in 2021 as Communications Manager and became Communications Director in 2024.