Since 2014, enterprises in Sweden can make deductions from employer contributions for employees who work in research and development. On April 1, 2020, and July 1, 2021, the incentive was reinforced by raising the ceiling of the amounts that can be deducted while the length requirement for hours worked in R&D was shortened.

The reinforcements of the tax incentive had clear effects. In 2019, R&D deductions were made to a value of SEK 732 million. In 2021, the corresponding deductions amounted to SEK 2,090 million. During the same period, the number of enterprises that made deductions at least one month in a year increased from 2,423 to 2,756. The size of the deductions increased for enterprises in all size classes, but most among large enterprises with 250 or more employees and - to a somewhat lesser extent - among enterprises with 50–249 employees.

Out of the enterprises that responded to Statistics Sweden's survey Research and development in Sweden 2021 and reported R&D expenditure, a total of 461 enterprises claimed the tax incentive while 682 did not. In all size classes, there were more enterprises that did not claim the tax incentive than those that did.

Read more about the R&D tax incentive 2021 (pdf)