Sweden: Canadian fund qualifies for withholding tax exemption for non-UCITS funds (Administrative Court of Appeal decision)
Canadian fund found to be comparable to Swedish special fund despite precious metal investments.
The Administrative Court of Appeal of Sundsvall in June 2025 held that a Canadian mutual fund corporation qualified for the withholding tax exemption on dividends paid to nonresidents by nonresident funds that are comparable to Swedish special funds (i.e., and thus not undertakings for collective investment in transferable securities (UCITS) funds).
The tax authority denied the Canadian fund the exemption based on its view that the fund’s investments in precious metals disqualified it from being comparable to a Swedish special fund. However, the court rejected the tax authority’s position, finding that comparability does not require identical characteristics in all respects. The court highlighted the fund’s limited investments in precious metals and concluded that its limited ability to invest in precious metals does not undermine its status as comparable to a Swedish special fund.
Read a September 2025 report prepared by the KPMG member firm in Sweden