KU31: a guide to the statement of earnings for dividends
KU31: how to file the statement of earnings for dividends, and why the share ledger decides whether it is correct
“KU31? What is that?” It is one of the questions Henrik Kristensen, founder of NVR, hears most often from companies that have paid dividends to their owners. The answer: KU31 is the statement of earnings that tells the Swedish Tax Agency (Skatteverket) who received a dividend and how much. For dividends paid in 2026, it must be received by 1 February 2027, because 31 January falls on a Sunday. The information then becomes the basis for shareholders’ pre-filled tax returns. If the share ledger shows the wrong owner, the tax return will be wrong too. In this article we look at what KU31 is, who files it, what it must contain, and why everything starts in the share ledger.
What is KU31?
KU31 is the statement of earnings in which a company tells Skatteverket what dividend it has paid out, and to whom. It covers dividends on equity rights, meaning shares and similar holdings. The company, or whoever handles the payment, files it.
Skatteverket uses KU31 to tax the dividend. For individuals, Skatteverket pre-fills the tax return with this information. KU31 must therefore show the right recipient and the right amount, even when someone other than the company submits it.
KU31 is not the same as Form K10. The company files KU31. The owner files Form K10 in their own tax return to calculate the tax on shares in a close company, under the so-called 3:12 rules. One does not replace the other.
Who must file KU31, and for which shareholders?
KU31 is filed by whoever pays out the dividend: the company, or the party that handles the payment on the company’s behalf, according to Skatteverket.
KU31 is filed for individuals and certain estates of deceased persons that have received a dividend. It shows the dividend and any tax that has been withheld. This also applies to owners who live abroad and are liable to tax in Sweden only on certain income (limited tax liability). Being a foreign owner therefore does not mean KU31 can be skipped. This is shown in Skatteverket’s examples.
Foreign owners are also subject to Swedish withholding tax on dividends (kupongskatt), the tax withheld when a dividend is paid to someone who lives abroad. In a non-CSD company (kupongbolag), a company that keeps its own share ledger, the withholding tax is reported on separate forms (18a or 18b). These are filed in addition to KU31, not instead of it. You can read more in Skatteverket’s guidance on non-CSD companies.
When is KU31 due?
KU31 must reach Skatteverket by 31 January of the year after the calendar year it covers. For dividends paid in 2026, the last day is Monday, 1 February 2027, because 31 January falls on a Sunday. You file KU31 through Skatteverket’s e-service or as a file.
The timeline starts with the general meeting’s decision on the dividend, but the date of the decision does not in itself determine which year KU31 covers. According to the Swedish Tax Procedure Act (skatteförfarandelagen), what counts is when the dividend is paid out or credited, meaning made available to the owner.
What must KU31 contain?
KU31 must show who is filing the statement, who received the dividend and the gross amount attributable to the recipient. For a Swedish natural person, enter the company registration number in field 201, the recipient’s personal identity number (personnummer) in field 215 and the dividend before tax in field 574. Skatteverket’s examples show how to complete the information for different dividend situations.
Report the dividend before tax, not what remains after tax has been withheld. If preliminary tax has been withheld, enter it in field 001. Any withholding tax (kupongskatt) deducted goes in field 003. Which field applies depends on the recipient. For a dividend from a non-CSD company to an individual who lives in Sweden, no tax is normally withheld.
If the company is a close company (fåmansföretag, often called fåmansbolag), tick field 061 when the recipient is a shareholder, a person closely related to a shareholder or anyone else covered by the field’s description. A close company is a company in which four or fewer owners hold more than half of the votes. The tick tells Skatteverket that the dividend comes from a close company and that the owner will later need to use Form K10 in their tax return. It does not change the amount.
Why does the share ledger decide whether KU31 is correct?
The share ledger is the company’s record of who owns the shares and what rights the owners have. If it shows the wrong owner or the wrong number of shares, KU31 will be wrong too: wrong recipient or wrong amount. Under the Swedish Companies Act (ABL), the share ledger is the basis for shareholders’ rights against the company.
The risk is greatest when shares change hands during the year, or pass on through a gift or inheritance. If the new owner has not been registered in the share ledger, the records still show the previous owner. A missing or incorrect personal identity number also means KU31 does not identify the right recipient.
So check the share ledger against the dividend decision and the date that applies to the dividend. The share ledger must be updated once a new owner has shown that they have acquired the shares, as the Swedish Companies Act requires.
If the company has issued physical share certificates, an additional rule applies. The share ledger must show that the share certificates exist, and the dividend must be paid to the holder of the share certificate. The owner must therefore present the share certificate to the company before the dividend is paid out.
It is not enough, then, to distribute the dividend according to an old list of owners or a percentage that no longer applies. A correct KU31 starts with the right recipient and the right shareholding in the company’s records.
“Nine out of ten share ledgers contain errors. That makes KU31 wrong too.”
Henrik Kristensen has reviewed thousands of share ledgers over the years. Here is how he sees KU31.
“Nine out of ten share ledgers kept in Word or Excel, of the thousands I have reviewed, contain some kind of error. It sounds like a detail. But an incorrect share ledger means the dividend and KU31 can end up with the wrong person or show the wrong amount.”
“The errors are almost always the same: changes of ownership that were never registered, gifts to children missing from the history, inheritances that were never recorded and missing personal identity numbers. Sometimes the share ledger exists in several versions that say different things.”
“What most people miss is that ownership at the time the dividend is decided is what counts. Not what the list of owners looks like in January when KU31 is due.”
“For an accounting firm, January begins with detective work. Which of all the client companies paid dividends during the year, and when? Who owned the shares at that moment? Only once that is sorted out can the firm prepare KU31. And it all happens under time pressure. That is where the errors arise.”
Example: the former shareholder is still in the share ledger
A small IT company has three shareholders: A, B and C. When C sells all of their shares to A, the board forgets to update the share ledger.
In the autumn, the company decides on an extra dividend of SEK 300,000. According to the actual ownership split, A receives SEK 200,000 and B receives SEK 100,000, while C receives no dividend.
Why KU31 went wrong
When KU31 is due the following year, the finance manager works from the incorrect share ledger, where C is still listed as owning one third of the company.
The company therefore wrongly reports that C received a dividend of SEK 100,000 and that A received only SEK 100,000.
What it led to
The error was not discovered until spring, when the income tax returns were sent out:
- Wrong tax return for C: C’s tax return was pre-filled with a SEK 100,000 dividend and a requirement to file Form K10 as an attachment, even though C had received no money. C was therefore at risk of being taxed on a dividend that was never paid.
- Wrong information for A: At the same time, A’s pre-filled dividend was SEK 100,000 too low. Leaving the tax return unchanged would therefore have been wrong, while a correction in the Form K10 attachment did not match the company’s information and was flagged by Skatteverket.
- Correction and extra work for the company: The company had to update the share ledger with the correct transfer date and file a corrected KU31 that removed C’s incorrect entry and increased A’s dividend.
- Delayed tax refund: The discrepancy led to a manual review of both A’s and C’s tax returns, requests for written explanations, and delayed final tax statements and any tax refunds.
Three tips for this year’s dividend
- Update the share ledger as soon as ownership changes.
- Check owners and personal identity numbers before the dividend is decided.
- Reconcile each recipient’s amount before KU31 is filed.
How do you get the right foundation for KU31?
The correct basis for KU31 starts with a share ledger that shows the owners and their holdings at the point in time that is relevant to the dividend. Reconcile it against the dividend decision and check changes of ownership, gifts, inheritances and changes in shareholdings or share classes in particular.
Then gather the information for each recipient: identity, number of shares, dividend before tax and any tax withheld. Compare the total of all KU31 statements with the company’s decision and payments. Also keep the documentation behind the summary. According to the Swedish Tax Procedure Act (skatteförfarandelagen), there must be documentation that makes it possible to verify the information.
With NVR, the share ledger is kept digitally, with a full history of owners, holdings and changes. This is also where you register the dividend: the total amount and the decision date. From that, the company or its adviser automatically generates a ready-made KU31 file to submit to Skatteverket. It saves hours of work, and the right amount reaches the right owner at the right time.
Common misconceptions about KU31
The most common misconceptions concern when KU31 is due, which recipients it covers and how it relates to Form K10 and the share ledger.
“I am the sole owner, so I don’t need to file KU31.” Even a company with a single owner must file KU31 when the owner has received a dividend. The number of owners makes no difference.
“I file Form K10 or K12, so KU31 isn’t needed.” The company files KU31. The owner files Form K10 or K12 in their own tax return. One does not replace the other.
“Everyone who receives a dividend needs a KU31.” KU31 applies primarily to individuals and estates of deceased persons. If a Swedish limited company receives a dividend, no KU31 is filed. Special withholding tax rules apply to foreign owners.
“The share ledger can be sorted out once KU31 is due.” The share ledger should be kept up to date on an ongoing basis, with documentation for every change. Anyone who sorts out the ownership history only in January runs a greater risk of ending up with the wrong recipient or amount.
Checklist: how to prepare for KU31
Prepare KU31 by checking recipients, dividend amounts and details against the company’s records before you file.
- Find out who is to file KU31: normally the company paying out the dividend.
- Reconcile the share ledger and ownership history against the point in time that determines entitlement to the dividend.
- Check which recipients are to be reported and that their identity details are correct.
- Compare the dividend decision with the amounts allocated to each recipient.
- Reconcile the dividend before tax and any tax withheld.
- Check that the right fields are completed, including field 061 if the company is a close company.
- File KU31 through Skatteverket’s e-service or as a file, no later than the deadline.
Read Skatteverket’s KU31 instructions
Frequently asked questions about KU31
These are the questions we receive most often about KU31.
Do I have to file KU31 if I am the sole owner?
Yes. If your limited company has paid you a dividend, it must be reported on KU31, even if you are the sole owner.
Is KU31 needed when a limited company owns the shares?
Normally not, if the owner is a Swedish company. Special withholding tax rules may apply to foreign companies. Read more in Skatteverket’s guidance on non-CSD companies.
What happens if KU31 is filed late or is incorrect?
File the statement as soon as possible and contact Skatteverket if you are unsure. An incorrect statement must be corrected or removed according to Skatteverket’s instructions. If the error is the wrong person, the process is different from when the amount is wrong.
How do you correct a KU31?
If the amount is wrong, you submit a new KU31 with the same specification number and identity details as the original. If the statement concerns the wrong person, you first remove the incorrect one and then submit a new one with the correct identity.
What is the difference between KU31 and Form K10?
The company files KU31 on the dividend. The owner files Form K10 themselves if the shares are qualified shares under the close company rules. Both are needed.
Should foreign owners be included on KU31?
Yes, if they are individuals. KU31 must be filed for owners who live abroad as well. The withholding tax is then reported separately. Read more in Skatteverket’s guidance for non-CSD companies.
Do I have to file KU31 if the dividend was decided at an extraordinary general meeting or has already been notified to Bolagsverket?
Yes. It makes no difference whether the dividend was decided at the annual general meeting (AGM) or at an extraordinary general meeting, or whether it has already been notified to the Swedish Companies Registration Office (Bolagsverket) or mentioned in the annual report. KU31 must still be filed with Skatteverket.
Is a KU31 needed for every dividend?
No, you submit one KU31 that sums up all the dividends paid during the year.
KU31 is a small form with a wide reach. It determines what appears in shareholders’ tax returns, and it can never be more correct than the share ledger it is based on. So start in the share ledger: make sure it shows who owned what when the dividend was decided. Then KU31 becomes a reconciliation instead of detective work.
A correct share ledger means a correct KU31.
In NVR, you register the dividend directly in the share ledger and generate a ready-made KU31 file to submit to Skatteverket.
Prepare KU31 with NVR – book a demo.
Sources
[1] Skatteverket – Statement of earnings for dividends etc. on equity rights (KU31) · skatteverket.se
[2] Skatteverket – How to complete KU31: examples · skatteverket.se
[3] Skatteverket – Dividends from non-CSD companies and withholding tax · skatteverket.se
[4] Skatteverket – The e-service for filing statements of earnings · skatteverket.se
[5] Swedish Tax Procedure Act (Skatteförfarandelag 2011:1244) · riksdagen.se
[6] Swedish Companies Act (Aktiebolagslag 2005:551) · riksdagen.se
[7] Skatteverket – How to correct a statement of earnings · skatteverket.se
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