Sweden online audits VAT & accounting records 2026

The proposal mirrors a broader international trend. In the UK, Making Tax Digital (MTD) for VAT already requires digital records and API-based filing between business software and HMRC. In Greece, the myDATA platform aggregates real-time invoice and bookkeeping data, enabling tax authorities to recreate taxpayers’ ledgers centrally. Sweden’s initiative sits on that same trajectory: moving from static, document-based audits to direct, system-to-system access.

At the same time, Sweden is actively evaluating how far to go on structured e-invoicing beyond the existing B2G mandate, with Skatteverket already consulting on wider business use of structured e-invoices. The new online-access powers will inevitably influence where that debate lands.

Read more about Swedish VAT in our country guide.

What the Swedish digital audit proposal would change

Today, there is a hard legal constraint: Skatteverket is not permitted to connect to the internet to inspect a company’s accounting systems. Even if the entire general ledger, sub-ledgers, invoice images and supporting documentation are held in a modern cloud accounting platform, the tax authority must request that the business extracts a copy and sends it on.

That model has several obvious weaknesses:

• Extra administrative work for the taxpayer and for Skatteverket.
• Risk of “transmission errors” when copies are created and exported.
• More opportunities for non-compliant taxpayers to omit or selectively edit data.

The legislative proposal therefore recommends:

• Removing the ban on Skatteverket connecting to the internet for audit purposes.
• Updating the rules on securing evidence, to explicitly support remote examination of electronic accounting records.
• Allowing Skatteverket to access data even where the company does not cooperate – for example, obtaining access directly via a cloud accounting environment where the legal framework permits.

In practice, this will mean that, from 1 April 2026, Skatteverket auditors can log in remotely to inspect digital bookkeeping, VAT ledgers and supporting documents “in situ” in the live systems, rather than relying solely on exported files and PDFs.

Where Sweden digital auditing model fits in

Sweden’s proposal does not (yet) create a centralised e-books or real-time reporting platform. Instead, it upgrades audit powers so that Skatteverket can “go to the data” in the taxpayer’s own systems via the internet.

However, the underlying logic is similar:

• Move away from static, one-off document submissions.
• Leverage cloud accounting and APIs to obtain higher-quality data.
• Reduce manual steps and the opportunity for errors or omission.

Link to Sweden’s e-invoicing and digital reporting discussions

Sweden already mandates e-invoicing for B2G supplies: since April 2019, all public sector bodies must be able to receive structured e-invoices aligned with the European standard, typically Peppol BIS Billing 3.0, and suppliers must issue in that format. There is, however, no central governmental e-invoicing platform.

In July 2025, Skatteverket launched a consultation on structured e-invoicing for businesses more broadly, seeking evidence on current practices and potential models for wider use in B2B and other flows. As things stand, Sweden has not committed to a domestic B2B mandate or a full continuous transaction controls (CTC) system; it is still exploring options in the shadow of the EU’s VAT in the Digital Age (ViDA) initiative.

The new proposal to allow online access to accounting and VAT records is likely to influence that trajectory in two ways:

1. Technical alignment

If Sweden ultimately introduces structured e-invoicing or near-real-time reporting, the same cloud platforms and APIs that support e-invoices could also support online audit access, reducing duplication of interfaces and specifications.

1. Policy comfort with digital controls

Legislating for direct internet access to taxpayers’ systems is a strong signal that policymakers are comfortable with more intrusive, data-rich tax controls, provided they are framed with appropriate safeguards. That makes it easier politically and operationally to move towards more automated e-invoicing and reporting in future.

In short, this is not “the e-invoicing reform”, but it is part of the same digital compliance story.

How online access is likely to work in practice

The legislative text will need to spell out the mechanics, but some likely models include:

• Read-only auditor access to cloud accounting platforms

Skatteverket may be granted a specific read-only user profile with the ability to view general ledgers, sub-ledgers, VAT codes, invoice images and audit trails for defined periods.

• Standardised APIs provided by software vendors

Vendors of accounting, ERP and tax systems may be expected to offer secure APIs that allow Skatteverket to query specific datasets (e.g. all VAT-relevant entries for a given period) without needing full user-level access.

• Third-party connectors

Where businesses use separate tax engines or e-invoicing hubs, those platforms could host the interfaces that expose transaction-level data and accounting mappings to Skatteverket on request.

The proposal also envisages access in non-cooperation scenarios. That raises complex questions:

• Can Skatteverket compel an accounting provider to grant it technical access in the absence of taxpayer consent?
• How is data minimisation ensured – so the tax authority only accesses data relevant to the legal entity and audit period in scope?
• What logging and evidence standards will apply to remote access sessions?

These issues will need to be resolved in secondary rules and guidance.

Benefits and risks for businesses of Skatteverket e-audits

Expected benefits

For compliant businesses, there are clear upsides:

• Reduced administrative burden – fewer bespoke data exports and manual compilations for audits.
• Lower error risk – Skatteverket works from the “single source of truth” in the live system, rather than from potentially corrupted or partial extracts.
• Faster, more targeted audits – auditors can run risk-based queries and drill-downs in real time, reducing the duration and intrusiveness of inspections in many cases.

Skatteverket itself gains improved visibility and can more easily detect:

• Inconsistencies between VAT returns and detailed ledgers;
• Missing or altered invoices; and
• Patterns of behaviour consistent with under-reporting or carousel-type fraud.