Gifts sent from foreign countries

Gift from a country outside the EU
You may receive a gift from a private individual outside the EU without paying duty or value added tax if the gift:

is a single consignment intended for your personal use, or that of your family, and
the value of the consignment does not exceed 500 SEK.

You may also be exempt from paying customs duty and value added tax if the total value of the consignment exceeds 500 SEK, but the consignment includes gifts to various members of the same family, as long as

all gifts from each giver to each recipient have a maximum value of 500 SEK and
the giver and the recipient of each gift are clearly identified, e.g. using address labels on each gift

Example:
Aunt Sara (living in the USA) sends a package to her sister Elisabeth in Sweden. The package contains gifts for Elisabeth and her children, Linda and Thomas. Sara has specified the contents of the package as follows:

Linda gets a pair of jeans worth 500 SEK and an MP3 player worth 600 SEK.
Thomas gets a pair of binoculars worth 500 SEK and a shirt worth 400 SEK.
Elisabeth gets a glass vase worth 800 SEK.

The jeans and the binoculars are exempt from customs duties, as they are within the value limit. The total value of the MP3 player, the shirt and the glass vase is 1,800 SEK. Customs duty would be charged at a flat rate of 2.5 percent, or 36 SEK in this case. The VAT of 25 percent would be calculated based on 1,800 SEK plus 36 SEK, for a total of 465 SEK. The total amount due would be 495 SEK (36 SEK plus 459 SEK).

If the total charges for the entire item are under 100 SEK, no payment is necessary.

For items that do not meet the above requirements for tax- or duty-free items, we use a flat rate to calculate customs duties. The standard flat rate for customs duties is 2.5 per cent plus tax. This customs rate is only used for items whose total value is less than 7000 SEK. The standard flat rate for customs duties may not be used for items containing alcoholic beverages or tobacco products.

If the value of the item exceeds 7000 SEK, however, customs duties will be charged according to the customs tariff plus tax. The customs duty rate may vary from 0 to 20 per cent depending on the type of goods in question.

Certain goods may not be received duty-free, even as gifts. Examples of such goods are alcohol and tobacco.

Remember, you must be 20 years of age to receive alcohol products and 18 to receive tobacco products.

Gift from another EU country
You do not need to present goods sent to you from another EU country to Swedish Customs. However, there are special regulations in place for certain goods, regarding environmental protection and public health and security.

More information
Alcohol as a gift
Tobacco as a gift
Arms and other dangerous articles
Animals
Medicines
Foodstuffs