Sweden’s tax authority has ordered six cryptocurrency mining companies operating in Boden to pay about 540 million Swedish kronor, or roughly $56.5 million, in back taxes and penalties after an investigation into alleged tax avoidance.
According to the Swedish Tax Agency, the firms used corporate arrangements that obscured active crypto mining and let them claim tax benefits intended for conventional data processing centers. Several companies have challenged the assessments, but lower courts have so far sided with the agency.
Audit focused on mining structures in Boden
The enforcement action follows a wider 2024–2026 audit of the crypto mining industry. That review reportedly resulted in more than $50 million in unpaid taxes and penalties for nine firms across Sweden, with the six companies based in Boden accounting for most of the total.
Tax officials said the companies built misleading operating structures to conceal their role in cryptocurrency mining. In the agency’s view, that setup was used to gain access to state tax relief that did not apply to their actual activities.
Appeals have not reversed the tax rulings
Several of the affected firms have appealed the decisions. However, the Administrative Court and the Court of Appeal have consistently upheld the Swedish Tax Agency’s findings, according to the report.
Patrik Lillqvist, head of intelligence at the agency, said companies under review often had arrangements designed to hide that they were engaged in mining, with the purpose of obtaining tax benefits they were not entitled to receive.
Bikupan Datacenter disputes the agency’s assessment
One of the named companies, Bikupan Datacenter, operates facilities in Boden and Robertsfors. The company has entered financial restructuring after being unable to meet its tax obligations, and its case has been appealed to the Supreme Administrative Court, where review is still pending.
Johanna Törnblad, chief executive of Bikupan Datacenter and Swedish country manager for its parent company, Hive Digital Technologies Ltd., rejected the tax agency’s interpretation of the historical operations. She said the crypto mining was carried out by external mining pools independent of the Hive group, and argued that the companies sell computing capacity that could also be used for other workloads, including AI.
Broader scrutiny of Sweden’s mining sector
The latest tax claims come after a 2024 investigation by public broadcaster SVT Norrbotten, which estimated that cryptocurrency operations had deprived the Swedish government of about $100 million, much of it linked to activity in Boden.
The source report said 18 crypto mining companies were examined during a four-year tax agency investigation, and 13 of them had established operations in Boden. Swedish authorities have previously criticized crypto mining for high energy use and limited economic benefit, while the tax agency’s intelligence chief said the concentration in smaller municipalities was deliberate and tied to promises of jobs, local growth, and tax revenue.
The next confirmed step is the pending Supreme Administrative Court review in the Bikupan matter, while the broader tax assessments against the other firms remain in place after lower-court rulings.
Source: news.bitcoin.com