By Martin Nymann, AddonNordic ApS, the company behind CheckBiz. Updated 1 October 2026.
To check a Swedish company before you sign a contract, look it up by its 10-digit organisation number (organisationsnummer) in Bolagsverket’s free company search, confirm that the SE VAT number is the same number with “SE” in front and “01” at the end, and check its F-tax and VAT registration at Skatteverket. You can search the company free on CheckBiz first; the full report with identity, status, VAT and sanctions costs €1.99, paid once, with no account.
Search a Swedish company free on CheckBiz
| What you have today | What CheckBiz shows |
|---|---|
| A contract and an invoice with a company name | Trust verdict: green, yellow or red, or “insufficient data” |
| An organisation number | Identity: registered name and number, status, legal form, founding date |
| A VAT number starting with SE | VAT registered: yes or no |
| Nothing checked yet | Sanctions screening and a plain-English summary |
Example for illustration — not a real company.
Contents
- What do the Swedish registers show?
- Step 1: How do you find the company in Bolagsverket?
- Step 2: How do you match the VAT number to the organisation number?
- Step 3: How do you check F-tax and VAT at Skatteverket?
- What are the three pitfalls when you check a Swedish company?
- What should you check before you sign?
- What does a CheckBiz report cover for Sweden?
- FAQ
What do the Swedish registers show?
Sweden splits company information between two public authorities. Bolagsverket (the Swedish Companies Registration Office) holds the legal facts. Skatteverket (the Swedish Tax Agency) holds the tax facts. You need both.
| What you want to know | Where to look | What you see |
|---|---|---|
| Does the company exist, and under which name? | Bolagsverket – Sök företagsinformation | Name, organisation number, legal form, registered address |
| Is it active, bankrupt or in liquidation? | Bolagsverket – Sök företagsinformation | Status, for example “Konkurs inledd” (bankruptcy opened) |
| Is the VAT number valid? | EU VIES | Valid / not valid, plus name and address for Swedish numbers |
| Does it hold F-tax, and is it registered for VAT and as an employer? | Skatteverket – Hämta företagsinformation | F-skatt yes/no, moms yes/no, employer yes/no |
Both searches are free, and Skatteverket’s service needs no Swedish e-ID.
Step 1: How do you find the company in Bolagsverket?
Ask the supplier for its organisation number. It has ten digits, written as six plus four with a hyphen: Aktiebolaget Volvo is 556012-5790. A Swedish limited company (aktiebolag, “AB”) has a number that starts with 5.
Search the number in Bolagsverket’s company search and check three things:
- The name matches the contract and the invoice exactly. Groups have many similar names. Northvolt alone has at least six registered companies (Northvolt AB, Northvolt Ett AB, Northvolt Labs AB and more), each with its own number.
- The legal form is what you expect. “Aktiebolag” means a limited company with its own legal personality.
- The status. Anything other than an active company is a reason to stop and ask.
Step 2: How do you match the VAT number to the organisation number?
A Swedish VAT number is built from the organisation number: “SE” + the ten digits + “01”. Volvo’s VAT number is therefore SE556012579001.
That gives you a quick test nobody can fake: remove “SE” and “01”, and what is left must be the organisation number of the company on the contract. If it is not, the VAT number belongs to someone else.
Then check the VAT number in the EU’s VIES service. For Swedish numbers, VIES returns the registered name and address as well as “valid”. We checked SE556012579001 on 26 September 2026: valid, “Aktiebolaget Volvo”, Göteborg. That is more than you get for a German number, where VIES confirms the number but shows no name.
Step 3: How do you check F-tax and VAT at Skatteverket?
Skatteverket’s free service “Hämta företagsinformation” shows whether a company is approved for F-tax (F-skatt), registered for VAT (moms) and registered as an employer.
F-tax matters most when the work is carried out in Sweden. According to Skatteverket, if you hire a company for work in Sweden and it is not approved for F-tax, you may have to deduct tax from the payment and report it. A supplier that sells services and has no F-tax approval is worth a question before you sign.
What are the three pitfalls when you check a Swedish company?
1. “Active” in a database is not the same as active in Bolagsverket. Northvolt AB (559015-8894) was declared bankrupt by Stockholm District Court on 12 March 2025. Bolagsverket shows the bankruptcy. A database that copies the register and updates slowly can still show such a company as active. For status, Bolagsverket is the source that counts. If a secondary source and Bolagsverket disagree, believe Bolagsverket.
2. A sole trader’s number is a personal ID number. A Swedish sole trader (enskild firma) uses the owner’s personal identity number (personnummer) as its organisation number. It is not a limited company, so the owner is personally liable, and you will not find share capital or a board. That is not a red flag in itself, but you should know which kind of company you are paying.
3. The group name is not the contracting company. Check that the organisation number on the invoice belongs to the company that signs the contract. A payment to a sister company or a newly registered company with a similar name is the classic setup for invoice fraud.
What should you check before you sign?
- Get the organisation number in writing.
- Search it in Bolagsverket: name, legal form and status.
- Check that the VAT number is SE + the same ten digits + 01, and that VIES says valid.
- Check F-tax and VAT registration at Skatteverket.
- Check the company against EU and international sanctions lists.
Search a Swedish company free on CheckBiz
What does a CheckBiz report cover for Sweden?
Sweden is one of the countries with the deepest coverage in CheckBiz. The €1.99 report puts the company’s identity from the Swedish registers (registered name and number, status, legal form, founding date), its VAT registration and a screening against EU and international sanctions lists on one page, with a trust verdict and a plain-English summary. See the coverage page for exactly which fields each country includes, and how it works for how the report is built.
The report does not replace Bolagsverket’s own entry: for the legal status of a Swedish company, Bolagsverket’s search is the final word, and it is free.
For the four checks that apply in every EU country, read How to verify a company in Europe before you pay it. For what a VAT check does and does not prove, see What an EU VAT number check proves, and what it doesn’t. And for the warning signs of a fake supplier, see Supplier scam red flags you can check in the company register before you pay.
Search a Swedish company free on CheckBiz
FAQ
Is it free to check a Swedish company?
Yes. Search its organisation number in Bolagsverket’s company search (Sök företagsinformation) for name, legal form and status, and in Skatteverket’s “Hämta företagsinformation” for F-tax and VAT registration. Both are free. If you want it all on one page, search the company free on CheckBiz; the full report costs €1.99, paid once, with no account.
What does a Swedish organisation number look like?
Ten digits, written 6+4 with a hyphen, for example 556012-5790. Limited companies (aktiebolag) have numbers that start with 5. A sole trader uses the owner’s personal identity number.
How is a Swedish VAT number built?
“SE”, then the ten-digit organisation number, then “01”. For organisation number 556012-5790 the VAT number is SE556012579001.
Does VIES show the company name for Swedish VAT numbers?
Yes. For a valid Swedish VAT number, VIES returns the registered name and address. Compare them with the name on the invoice.
What is F-skatt, and why should I check it?
F-skatt (F-tax) is Skatteverket’s approval that a company pays its own preliminary tax. If you hire a company for work in Sweden and it is not approved for F-tax, you may have to deduct tax from the payment.
Can a company be bankrupt and still show as active?
In some commercial databases, yes. A database that copies the register can lag behind. Northvolt AB was declared bankrupt on 12 March 2025, and Bolagsverket’s own search shows the bankruptcy, so always check status there.
Read also
- How to check a French company’s SIREN and VAT number before you pay it
- How to check a Polish company in the KRS register before you pay it
- How to verify a German VAT number when VIES shows no company name
This content was generated with artificial intelligence and editorially reviewed by a human before publication.