Guides

#Can you invoice without your own company?

Yes. You can invoice without having your own company by using a light entrepreneurship company. The company sends the invoice to your customer in its own name and with its own registration number, receives the payment, and pays out your compensation as salary. Tax, employer contributions and VAT reporting are handled by the light entrepreneurship company.

This is an established and fully legal model used by freelancers, consultants, and anyone who wants to get paid for occasional assignments without first registering a business. All you need to do is sign up with a light entrepreneurship company, which usually takes just a few minutes.

#How to invoice without a company: step by step

1. Agree with your customer. Decide what will be delivered, at what price, and by when. It's a good idea to put the agreement in writing by email so both parties are on the same page. Remember to state whether the price excludes VAT, which is standard practice between businesses.

2. Sign up with a light entrepreneurship company. You enter your personal and account details and accept the terms. No business registration, F-tax certificate, or VAT registration is needed.

3. Create the invoice details. Fill in the customer's information, a description of the work, the amount, and the payment terms. Common payment terms are 14 or 30 days; for smaller assignments, 7 days is sometimes used.

4. The invoice is sent to the customer. The light entrepreneurship company reviews the details, applies the correct VAT rate, and sends the invoice in its own name. For most services, the standard rate of 25 percent applies.

5. The customer pays. The payment goes to the light entrepreneurship company, which monitors the due date and sends reminders if needed.

6. You get paid. The light entrepreneurship company deducts its service fee, pays employer contributions, withholds preliminary tax, and pays out your net salary to your account, along with a payslip.

The whole process is then repeated for each new assignment. You don't need to commit to any particular volume: you can send a single invoice a year or several a month, and you can stop whenever you like without having to wind anything down.

#What happens with tax and employer contributions?

When you invoice without a company, it's important to understand the difference between the invoice amount and what actually lands in your account. The VAT added to the invoice is never your money: it's reported to the Swedish Tax Agency (Skatteverket) by the light entrepreneurship company. Your compensation is based on the amount excluding VAT.

From the amount excluding VAT, the light entrepreneurship company's service fee is deducted first. On the gross salary that's then calculated, the company pays employer contributions, which for most people amount to 31.42 percent of the gross salary. Finally, preliminary tax is withheld from the gross salary according to the tax table or your tax adjustment decision, and the net salary is paid out to you.

All of this happens automatically, but it affects how you should set your price. A good habit is to work backwards: start from the net salary you want and use the light entrepreneurship company's salary calculator to see what invoice amount that requires. You can find current rules on tax deductions and employer contributions at skatteverket.se.

#When is it worth invoicing without a company?

Invoicing through light entrepreneurship is worthwhile mainly when simplicity matters more than optimizing your margins. Typical situations include occasional assignments alongside a job or studies, freelance work that's still small or irregular, or a business idea you want to test before committing to a company.

You avoid the cost and time of bookkeeping, tax returns, and dealing with authorities, and instead pay a service fee per invoice. As long as your volumes are moderate, that's often a good trade-off. If your business grows, with many invoices per month and significant costs you could deduct, a sole proprietorship or limited company might leave you with more in the end. It's worth comparing the alternatives at verksamt.se.

#Common mistakes to avoid

The most common mistake is setting the price without factoring in fees and tax, and then being disappointed with the net salary. Always work backwards from your desired salary. Another mistake is forgetting that VAT is added on top of the price: always tell business customers that the price excludes VAT.

Also be clear about payment terms right when you agree on the assignment, and check which insurance coverage is included through the light entrepreneurship company, such as liability insurance during the assignment. Carelessness on these points creates unnecessary conflicts with the customer.

Don't forget the bigger picture around your financial security either: how these assignments affect your entitlement to unemployment insurance fund (a-kassa) benefits depends on your situation, so check with your unemployment insurance fund before you start invoicing regularly.

#Invoicing without a company with Truster

Truster lets you invoice without your own company and get paid with tax and fees handled for you. The platform is built by a payment institution authorized by the Finnish Financial Supervisory Authority (FIN-FSA), with the requirements for secure payment handling that entails. Truster is launching in Sweden by invitation: join the waitlist and we'll be in touch.