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Cookbook — year-end closing (bokslut)

Lock a Swedish fiscal year, run the year-end procedures, set opening balances for the new year. Built around BFL 5 kap and 7 kap requirements (verifikationskedja, balanskontinuitet, 7-year retention).

This is the operational companion to the Fiscal-periods reference. Year-end is the single most consequential lifecycle event in a Swedish bookkeeping system — closing is irreversible per BFL 5 kap 8 §. Treat the steps below as a checklist, not a script to copy-paste.

What you'll need

  • A test API key with bookkeeping:write, bookkeeping:read, and reports:read scopes.
  • All transactions for the year posted (no drafts).
  • All VAT declarations for the year filed (12 monthly, 4 quarterly, or 1 annual — see the VAT cookbook).
  • All AGI declarations filed and kontrolluppgift (KU) generated.
  • The bokslut date — usually 31 december for calendar-year companies (kalenderår), or the last day of the räkenskapsår for off-calendar (brutet räkenskapsår).

1. Pre-flight: continuity check (IB/UB per BFL 5 kap)

Before locking anything, verify the period's continuity. BFL 5 kap requires that the closing balance (UB) of year N equals the opening balance (IB) of year N+1 on every BAS 1xxx, 2xxx account.

curl "https://gnubok.app/api/v1/companies/$COMPANY_ID/reports/continuity-check?from=2025-01-01&to=2025-12-31" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer gnubok_sk_test_..."

Response:

{
  "data": {
    "checks": [
      { "account": "1930", "year_end_ub": 156432.00, "next_year_ib": 156432.00, "match": true },
      { "account": "1510", "year_end_ub":  47100.00, "next_year_ib":  47100.00, "match": true },
      { "account": "2440", "year_end_ub":  -8200.00, "next_year_ib":  -8200.00, "match": true },
      ...
    ],
    "ib_ub_continuity_holds": true,
    "discrepancy_count": 0
  }
}

ib_ub_continuity_holds: false is a BFL violation — investigate before proceeding. A discrepancy on 1930 (bank) usually means a missed reconciliation; on 2611-2641 (moms) means a VAT declaration disagrees with the GL.

2. Pre-flight: voucher gaps (BFNAR 2013:2)

BFNAR 2013:2 kap 6–7 §§ requires explanations for missing voucher numbers. Run the check:

curl "https://gnubok.app/api/v1/companies/$COMPANY_ID/compliance/check?type=voucher_gaps&period=2025" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer gnubok_sk_test_..."

For every gap returned, file an explanation via POST /voucher-gap-explanations before the year is closed. Skatteverket can ask for these years later under the 7-year retention rule.

3. Pre-flight: missing documents on posted entries

For aktiebolag, BFL 7 kap requires every verifikation to have its underlag (receipt, faktura, kontrakt) attached. The check:

curl "https://gnubok.app/api/v1/companies/$COMPANY_ID/compliance/check?type=unmatched_documents&period=2025" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer gnubok_sk_test_..."

Attach missing documents via POST /journal-entries/{id}/documents before locking. After locking, the document-immutability trigger prevents detaching but allows attaching (first-link is treated as completing the audit trail, not modifying it).

4. Lock the period

POST /fiscal-periods/{id}/lock blocks all writes to the period while leaving it reversible. Use this when the year's books are "done" but you may still need to add a year-end accrual entry under supervision.

curl -X POST "https://gnubok.app/api/v1/companies/$COMPANY_ID/fiscal-periods/$PERIOD_ID/lock" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer gnubok_sk_test_..." \
  -H "Idempotency-Key: $(uuidgen)"

Locked periods can be unlocked via PATCH with a clear reason that lands in the audit log. After year-end procedures are complete (step 6), close instead — closing is irreversible.

5. Run year-end procedures

POST /fiscal-periods/{id}/year-end is the engine-touching step. It:

  1. Posts the resultatdisposition — closes every 3xxx, 7xxx, 8xxx account into 8910 (årets resultat), then transfers to 2099 (årets resultat in equity).
  2. Posts the periodiseringsfond adjustment if company_settings.use_periodiseringsfond is true.
  3. Posts överavskrivningar för fastigheter och inventarier if the depreciation differential exists.
  4. Computes bolagsskatten on the taxable result (currently 20.6% for 2026) and posts the 8811 (skatt på årets resultat) ↔ 2512 (beräknad skatt) entry.
  5. Generates the opening-balance journal for year N+1 in a single atomic batch — every IB entry on the new period referencing the UB of the closing period.

This is an async operation:

curl -X POST "https://gnubok.app/api/v1/companies/$COMPANY_ID/fiscal-periods/$PERIOD_ID/year-end" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer gnubok_sk_test_..." \
  -H "Idempotency-Key: $(uuidgen)" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "next_period_id": "fp_...",
    "result_disposition": {
      "to_periodiseringsfond": 120000,
      "to_balanserat_resultat": 380000
    }
  }'

Response is a 202 with an operation handle (year-end can take minutes for large books):

{
  "data": {
    "operation_id": "op_...",
    "status": "queued",
    "poll_url": "/api/v1/operations/op_...",
    "webhook_event": "operation.completed"
  }
}

Poll the operation; on succeeded the result block lists every voucher posted:

{
  "data": {
    "operation_id": "op_...",
    "status": "succeeded",
    "result": {
      "year_end_voucher_numbers": ["A-2025-9001", "A-2025-9002", "A-2025-9003"],
      "opening_balance_voucher_number": "A-2026-0001",
      "årets_resultat_amount": 580000.00,
      "bolagsskatt_amount": 119480.00,
      "periodiseringsfond_set_aside": 120000.00
    }
  }
}

6. Verify opening balances on the new year

After year-end runs, the new period (next_period_id) has IB on every balance-sheet account matching the prior period's UB. Verify:

curl "https://gnubok.app/api/v1/companies/$COMPANY_ID/reports/trial-balance?period=2026" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer gnubok_sk_test_..."

The opening_balance column on every 1xxx/2xxx row should equal the closing_balance on the same row for 2025. 3xxx-8xxx accounts have zero opening balance — the year-end procedure cleared them into 2099.

If opening balances are wrong (rare; the engine validates before posting), use POST /fiscal-periods/{id}/opening-balances with explicit values — but this is a backstop, not a routine path. The year-end procedure should produce correct IB without manual intervention.

7. Close the period (irreversible)

After the declaration, the auditor's review (if applicable), and any year-end accruals are settled, close the period. BFL 5 kap 8 §: closing is irreversible. No code path can re-open a closed period.

curl -X POST "https://gnubok.app/api/v1/companies/$COMPANY_ID/fiscal-periods/$PERIOD_ID/close" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer gnubok_sk_test_..." \
  -H "Idempotency-Key: $(uuidgen)" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{ "confirmation_phrase": "close period 2025 irrevocably" }'

The confirmation_phrase is a forced typed acknowledgment. The request fails with VALIDATION_ERROR unless the literal phrase matches.

8. Generate the årsredovisning (aktiebolag only)

For an AB, the annual report (årsredovisning) is filed with Bolagsverket within 7 months of the fiscal-year end. v1 produces the K2/K3-formatted source data; you typeset it externally and submit via Bolagsverket Mina Sidor.

curl "https://gnubok.app/api/v1/companies/$COMPANY_ID/reports/annual-report?year=2025" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer gnubok_sk_test_..."

The response carries the resultaträkning, balansräkning, kassaflödesanalys (K3 only), the noter pre-populated from the GL, and the förvaltningsberättelse template. The signing flow (every styrelseledamot must sign) is outside the API surface.

9. Generate INK2 / NE for the tax declaration

The tax declaration (INK2 for AB, NE-bilaga for enskild firma) is due in March/May depending on entity type and fiscal-year shape. The endpoints:

# Aktiebolag — INK2
curl "https://gnubok.app/api/v1/companies/$COMPANY_ID/reports/ink2?year=2025" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer gnubok_sk_test_..."

# Enskild firma — NE-bilaga
curl "https://gnubok.app/api/v1/companies/$COMPANY_ID/reports/ne-bilaga?year=2025" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer gnubok_sk_test_..."

These produce two files — INFO.SRU (metadata header) plus BLANKETTER.SRU (the declaration body) — uploaded together as a single submission to Skatteverket. The SRU format is plain text encoded in ISO 8859-1 (NOT XML) — a tagged record-line shape per Skatteverket's SRU specification. A single-file upload is rejected by Skatteverket's validation. This is a separate artefact from Bolagsverket's digital årsredovisning filing, which uses iXBRL (an XML-based standard). SRU goes to Skatteverket for INK2/INK2R/INK2S declarations; iXBRL goes to Bolagsverket for the public annual report. Don't conflate them.

Note: /reports/ink2 and /reports/ne-bilaga are queued as deferred endpoints — see the API changelog for current availability. Until they ship, generate the inputs via /reports/trial-balance?year=... and feed your tax-software of choice.

Brutet räkenskapsår (off-calendar year)

For a company on a non-calendar fiscal year (e.g. 2024-07-01 → 2025-06-30), the entire flow is identical — substitute the actual period dates everywhere. The IB/UB continuity check, the year-end procedure, and the lock/close lifecycle all operate on the period regardless of its alignment with the calendar.

The one exception: the VAT declaration cadence is monthly/kvartalsvis/årlig regardless of the räkenskapsår shape, so a brutet räkenskapsår company files moms on calendar months while closing books on its own fiscal calendar.

Common pitfalls

  • Don't year-end before the last month's moms is declared. The year-end procedure expects every moms-account balance to reconcile. A pending declaration leaves dangling balances on 2611-2641.
  • Periodiseringsfond reserve cap. Per IL 30 kap 5 § and 30 kap 6 a §, AB can set aside max 25% of the taxable profit AFTER schablonintäkt has been added back and BEFORE the periodiseringsfond deduction itself. The schablonintäkt rate is (SLR + 1%) × outstanding prior-year periodiseringsfonder balance, where SLR is Skatteverket's statslåneränta as published on 30 November of the preceding income year — for 2026 SLR is 2.55%, so the rate is 3.55%. The engine reads the canonical rate from tax_rates and surfaces both the schablonintäkt amount and the resulting cap on the year-end result block; pass to_periodiseringsfond as the desired set-aside amount and the engine returns VALIDATION_ERROR with the maximum allowed value if it exceeds the cap. Note: under BFL/BFNAR 2016:10 kap 13 (materiellt samband for AB), periodiseringsfond is BOOKED as an obeskattad reserv on accounts 2110–2139, not just declared on INK2 — the engine posts the booking automatically as part of the year-end procedure.
  • Don't unlock a period after the AB's annual report is filed. The signed annual report is a public document at Bolagsverket; unlocking and changing the books afterwards creates a discrepancy with the filed report (which is itself an audit finding). Use storno (POST /journal-entries/{id}/reverse) to correct in the current open period instead.
  • Year-end is async. The operation can take minutes; don't block your request loop on it. Subscribe to operation.completed or poll GET /operations/{id} with reasonable backoff (every 5–10s).
  • The closing-period confirmation phrase is locale-sensitive. It must match exactly. If you localise the prompt to Swedish ("stäng period 2025 oåterkalleligt"), document the exact string your UI requires — the API requires the English version above.

Next steps