Minimiaktiekapitalet i Sverige: En konsekvensstudie av ett slopande av aktiekapitalkravet

Sammanfattning: In 2007 the Swedish government appointed a commission of inquiry with the task to submit a proposal of reduction in the requirement of a minimum legal capital for private limited liability companies. The commission of inquiry’s main proposal involved a reduction to SEK 50,000 compared to the prevailing SEK 100,000. Following a complementary proposal from the Justice Department suggesting a reduction to SEK 1, this paper aims at providing an understanding of the function and purpose of a minimum legal capital and the consequences that follows from an abolition of the statutory capital requirement. The thesis concludes that the legal capital’s main purpose is that of a standard contract internalizing the shareholder’s risk in business. Somehow the shareholder should share the risk in favor of creditors; and an abolition of a minimum legal capital will lead to piercing the corporate veil. From a socioeconomic point of view it is impossible to determine the optimal level of legal capital and the critical question is if it is worth to ease the principle of personal limited liability in favor of increased accessibility to the private limited liability company form.