If you are a wine producer you might wonder what the rules are for selling to Swedish consumers. Or if you happen to live in Sweden, you might wonder if and how you can buy from producers or shops in other countries in Europe. The question is the same and we have done some research to clarify the rules, perhaps particularly interesting for the reader who is a wine producer with Swedish contacts or the occasional Swedish visitor. The rules are simple but there are two different cases:
1) The buyer (a private individual) buys directly from a producer or a local shop somewhere in Europe. Then the buyer, in Sweden, must pay the Swedish alcohol taxes when the wines enter Sweden, but not VAT.
2) If they buyer buys through “a third party”, for example one of the many internet shops targeting Swedish consumers, then both alcohol taxes and VAT must be paid. But that is in most cases automatically taken care of by the web shop. I do not know to what these rules are also valid for other countries. If there is any restrictions at all.
You can read a much more detailed explanation of this in our article: Buying wine from a winery or wine shop abroad: “direct import”.
