The ROT deduction is a Swedish tax reduction worth 30 percent of the labour cost in 2026, up to 50,000 SEK per person per year. It covers renovation, repair and extensions in a home you own. If you rent, you get no ROT at all, which is the first thing to establish before planning any work.
The 2026 percentages and ceilings, including green technology
| ROT | RUT | Green technology | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Share of the cost | 30 % of labour | 50 % of labour | 15 % (solar) or 50 % (battery, EV charger) of labour and materials |
| Own ceiling per person per year | 50,000 SEK | 75,000 SEK | 50,000 SEK |
| Shares a ceiling with | RUT, combined 75,000 SEK | ROT, combined 75,000 SEK | Nothing, its own separate ceiling |
| Home type | Only a home you own | Rented or owned | Only a home you own |
| Example | Renovation, electrical, plumbing, painting, roofing | Cleaning, moving, gardening, childcare | Solar panels, battery storage, EV charge points |
ROT and RUT count against the same 75,000 SEK ceiling per person per year, of which the ROT portion may never exceed 50,000 SEK. If you have used a lot of RUT for cleaning this year, that reduces the room for ROT, and the other way round. Check current figures with Skatteverket.
Green technology has its own, separate ceiling of 50,000 SEK per person per year, distinct from the 75,000 SEK shared by ROT and RUT. If you install both a new bathroom (ROT) and solar panels (green technology) in the same year, you can use both ceilings, in theory up to 125,000 SEK combined. More on green technology further down this page.
If two adults both own the home, you each have your own ceiling on all three deductions, as long as the invoice is split and both are named as payers. That doubles the room available for a larger renovation.
Who is eligible?
To claim ROT you must:
- own the home where the work is done: house, bostadsrätt, terraced house or holiday home
- be at least 18 at the end of the year
- be liable for tax in Sweden
- have paid enough tax during the year
- have a personnummer, since the deduction is reported against it
The company must hold approved F-skatt. Without it the deduction is lost entirely, no matter how well the work is done.
If you rent
You get no ROT. Maintaining the apartment is the landlord's responsibility, and you should report faults to them rather than hiring someone yourself. You do still have full access to RUT for cleaning, moving and gardening.
This catches out a lot of newcomers, since in many countries a tenant improving their own flat is normal. In Sweden it is both financially unrewarded and often a breach of the lease.
If you own a bostadsrätt
You get ROT, but only for work inside the apartment that you are responsible for under the association's rules. Surfaces, kitchen fittings and your own wiring are normally yours. Risers, façade and windows usually belong to the association, and there you get nothing.
Always check with the association before ordering work, particularly in bathrooms. Many changes also require their written permission.
Homes that qualify, which surprises people
- A holiday home (fritidshus), and any home you live in only sometimes, as long as you own it
- Your parents' home, if you paid for the work and own the home wholly or partly
- A home you have just bought but not moved into, if nobody else lives there, you move in straight after the work, and you apply for lagfart within three months
- Homes anywhere in the EU, EEA or Switzerland, on the same terms as in Sweden
Homes that never qualify
- A rented home
- A home you rent out. If you own an apartment someone else lives in, work there earns you nothing.
- Your child's home, even if you own it and pay for the work. It works the other way round: you can claim in your parents' home, but a parent claims nothing in their child's.
- A särbo's home, a partner you do not live with
- Shared areas of an apartment building: stairwell, entrance, laundry room and storage
Which work qualifies?
These qualify whatever kind of home you own:
- Bathroom: renovation, waterproofing, tiling, replacing sanitaryware
- Kitchen: removing and fitting units, installing fixed appliances
- Electrical: new consumer unit, new wiring, sockets, lighting
- Plumbing: taps, radiators, toilets, replacing pipework inside the home
- Carpentry: skirting, interior doors, built-in wardrobes
- Interior painting and wallpapering
- Flooring: sanding, laying, replacing
These qualify only in a detached house (småhus: villa, terraced house or holiday home):
- Windows: replacement, insulating and noise-reducing glass
- Roof and façade: re-roofing, painting, cleaning
- Gutters and downpipes
- Additional insulation
- A deck or balcony built together with the house
- Drainage and groundwork immediately around the house
If you own a bostadsrätt, the deduction only covers work inside the apartment's walls, ceiling and floor, and only what you are responsible for under the association's rules. The façade, roof, balcony, window replacement and additional insulation earn you nothing, not even if the bostadsrätt is a terraced house.
ROT by trade: electrical, heating, painting, roofing and more
Here is ROT broken down by trade, showing what counts as ROT work at 30 percent and where the line falls against green technology, which has its own percentages and its own ceiling.
ROT for electrical work
Electrical work qualifies for ROT regardless of home type, as long as it is done inside your home:
- Running new wiring
- New or relocated sockets and lighting points
- Replacing or upgrading the consumer unit (elcentral)
- New circuits for a kitchen, laundry room or workshop
- Troubleshooting and repairing existing electrics
30 percent of the labour cost, the same as any other ROT work. Only hours worked count, never materials. More in electrician cost and ROT.
An EV charge point is not the same thing, see green technology below.
ROT for heat pumps, radiators and ventilation
Radiators, pipework for heating and replacing a boiler count as ordinary ROT work, 30 percent of the labour cost.
Heat pumps also qualify for ROT, never green technology, whatever the type:
- Ground-source (brine-water)
- Air-to-water
- Air-to-air
- Exhaust-air
Skatteverket and the industry body Svenska Värmepumpsföreningen have set standard shares (schablon) of the total price that count as labour under a fixed-price contract:
| Heat pump type | Share of total price counted as labour | ROT deduction, 30% of that |
|---|---|---|
| Ground-source (brine-water) | 35 % | About 10.5% of the total price |
| Air-to-water, air-to-air, exhaust-air | 30 % | About 9% of the total price |
The schablon applies to both a new installation and a replacement. Ductwork and FTX units inside the home are treated the same way, 30 percent of the labour cost.
ROT for painting and tiling
Classic ROT work:
- Interior and exterior painting: walls, ceilings, woodwork and façade
- Wallpapering
- Tiling in bathrooms, kitchens, floors and walls
- Surface preparation that is part of the job: filling, sanding, priming
30 percent of the labour cost. Paint, tiles and adhesive count as materials and earn nothing.
ROT for roofing, gutters and façades
Only in a detached house you own (a villa, terraced house or holiday home):
- Re-roofing, repairing leaks, reinforcing the roof structure
- Gutters and downpipes: installation, repair and cleaning
- Façade: rendering, cladding, painting, brickwork repair
- Scaffolding that is part of the same job
30 percent of the labour cost. See gutter cleaning in Sweden for what cleaning specifically costs, and why it falls here rather than under RUT.
ROT for basements, insulation and damp-proofing
A common area in older homes, with one important line:
- Damp-proofing, drainage and radon measures count as maintenance and qualify for ROT whatever the age of the house
- Additional insulation in walls, roof, floor or basement qualifies for ROT in a detached house
- Converting an unfinished basement into living space counts as rebuilding. It qualifies for ROT, but is subject to the five-year rule, see below.
The line between maintenance and rebuilding does not just decide the percentage, it decides whether the age of the house matters.
Green technology: solar panels, battery storage and EV charge points
This is a third deduction, separate from both ROT and RUT, and the most common source of confusion on this page.
| Solar panels | Battery storage | EV charge point | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Share of the cost | 15 % | 50 % | 50 % |
| Calculated on | Labour and materials | Labour and materials | Labour and materials |
| Own ceiling | 50,000 SEK per person per year, shared across all green-technology installations |
Just like ROT, this only applies to a home you own: a house, an owned apartment (ägarlägenhet) or a bostadsrätt. A rented home earns no green-technology deduction at all (Skatteverket).
For a fixed-price contract, Skatteverket allows a schablon: 97 percent of the total price counts as the basis for the deduction. That gives an effective rate of roughly 14.55 percent for solar panels and 48.5 percent for battery storage and EV charge points.
A heat pump gets ROT, not green technology
The most common mix-up. A heat pump always counts as ROT work, 30 percent, whatever the type. See the table above under heating and ventilation.
EV charge point: green technology or ROT?
Normally green technology, 50 percent of the total cost. But if you buy the charger from one supplier and hire a different company just for the installation, often only the installation labour counts as ROT instead, 30 percent of that labour cost. To get the green-technology rate, the same company needs to supply and install the charge point as one package.
You cannot get both ROT and green technology for the same installation. If you receive both by mistake, you have to repay one of them to Skatteverket.
What does not qualify
- Materials. Tiles, paint, appliances, kitchen doors and the EV charger itself are paid in full.
- Call-out fees, travel and freight. Only hours worked in your home count, never travel time or work at the company's workshop.
- New construction and finishing a home
- Drawings, design and inspection
- Work the association is responsible for in a bostadsrätt
- Detached buildings with no direct connection to the home
- Any work at all in a rented home
- Troubleshooting on its own for electrical work, and servicing or inspecting machines
The five-year rule blocks less than people think
This is widely misunderstood, and the mistake costs money. Repair and maintenance qualify however old the house is. The five-year rule only applies to rebuilding and extensions, counted five years from the house's värdeår, the assessment year on your property tax decision.
So if you live in a four-year-old house and something needs repairing, you are fully entitled to the deduction. It is rebuilding and extending that has to wait.
The rule of thumb: ROT pays for the hands, never for the things.
Worked example
A bathroom job:
| Line | Amount |
|---|---|
| Labour | 90,000 SEK |
| ROT deduction, 30% of labour | −27,000 SEK |
| Materials, tiles and sanitaryware | 45,000 SEK |
| Total to pay | 108,000 SEK |
The deduction applies only to the labour line. That is exactly why the invoice must itemise labour and materials separately. If they are combined on one line, Skatteverket can reject part of the deduction and you may have to repay it.
Ask for that split to appear in the quote, not just on the final invoice.
How it appears on the invoice
You do not apply for anything yourself. The company deducts 30 percent of the labour directly on the invoice, so you pay the lower amount, then claims the rest from Skatteverket using your personnummer. It is reconciled in your tax return.
If you exceed the ceiling, or have not paid enough tax during the year, you pay the difference yourself. ROT is a tax reduction, not a grant.
ROT, RUT or green technology?
The short rule: ROT is building work, RUT is household work, green technology is specific energy installations.
Renovation, electrical, plumbing and carpentry are ROT. Cleaning, moving, gardening and home computer help are RUT, at 50 percent, and available to renters too. Solar panels, battery storage and EV charge points belong to green technology, with their own percentages and their own ceiling, see above. See also the RUT deduction.
Some jobs sit near the line. Assembling a piece of furniture is RUT; building a wardrobe fixed into the wall is ROT. If in doubt, ask the company how they will classify it before work starts.
Two ways to lose the deduction afterwards
These are the most expensive mistakes, because they only surface once the work is finished and paid for.
Paying cash. Since 1 January 2020, electronic payment is required for ROT. Card, BankID, Swish or a bank transfer all work. Cash, cheques and gift cards mean the deduction is lost entirely, however properly the work was done.
Hiring a relative. The person carrying out the work must not be related to you. That covers a spouse, cohabiting partner, parents, grandparents, children and grandchildren and their spouses, and siblings and their families. Stepchildren and foster children count as children. A company's employees may work for the owner's relatives, just not for their own.
Two more things that decide the amount:
- The payment date decides which year the deduction falls in, not the invoice date. Paying just after New Year moves it onto next year's ceiling.
- A grant, insurance payout or the green-technology reduction for the same work rules out ROT. If the insurance clearly covers only materials, you can still claim on the labour.
Common mistakes
- Expecting a deduction on materials, often half the cost of a renovation
- Not realising ROT and RUT share a ceiling
- Ordering work in a bostadsrätt that the association is responsible for
- Hiring a company without approved F-skatt
- Accepting an invoice where labour and materials share one line
- Assuming ROT applies in a rented home
- Assuming the five-year rule blocks repairs too
Common questions
What percentage is the ROT deduction in 2026?
30 percent of the labour, up to 50,000 SEK per person per year, within the combined 75,000 SEK ceiling (Skatteverket).
Who is eligible for ROT?
You must own the home and have paid enough tax. It does not apply to rented homes.
Which work qualifies for ROT?
Renovation, repair, maintenance and extensions: bathrooms, kitchens, electrical, plumbing, painting, carpentry and flooring. Labour only.
Does ROT apply in a newly built house?
New construction and finishing a home never qualify. The five-year rule only blocks rebuilding and extensions for five years after the house's värdeår. Repair and maintenance qualify whatever the age of the house.
Do I get ROT in a bostadsrätt?
Yes, but only for work inside the apartment you are responsible for under the association's rules.
How do I claim the deduction?
The company applies it on the invoice and claims the rest from Skatteverket. Check they hold approved F-skatt.
Can I use ROT and RUT in the same year?
Yes, they share a combined ceiling of 75,000 SEK per person per year, of which the ROT portion may never exceed 50,000 SEK.
What is the green technology deduction?
A third tax reduction for solar panels, battery storage and EV charge points: 15 percent for solar, 50 percent for battery and charge points, up to 50,000 SEK per person per year.
Do solar panels qualify for ROT or green technology?
Green technology, never ROT, 15 percent of labour and materials.
Does a heat pump qualify for ROT or green technology?
ROT, 30 percent of the labour cost, whatever the type of heat pump.
Can I get both ROT and green technology for the same installation?
No, you choose one deduction per installation.
Related guides: the RUT deduction, bathroom renovation cost, electrician cost and ROT and gutter cleaning in Sweden.