win.gg
Win.gg League of Legends Fnatic fined over one million SEK for not paying payroll taxes

Fnatic fined over one million SEK for not paying payroll taxes

Olivia Richman
Olivia Richman Published 10/09/2019

Fnatic is in trouble with the Swedish Tax Agency. 

The European organization has been fined for over one million SEK after not paying payroll taxes in 2016 and 2017. Fnatic was found guilty of not properly paying employer contributions and tax surcharges after asking to not only be exempt from the fines but also reimbursed for agency costs in their appeal.

Fnatic first came under fire when some players in the organization stated that their payroll fees were being paid by the esports organzation on their tax declarations. 

In response, Fnatic claimed that it was their players’ responsibilities to pay the correct taxes. But the Swedish Tax Agency didn’t seem convinced by this explanation, stating that the players weren’t cleared for “F-skatt,” which would have put the players in charge of paying their own taxes every month. 

As a result, the Swedish Tax Agency had not received taxes from Fnatic for two years. 

“The administrative court initially notes that it is indisputable that the [wage] recipients have been subject to Swedish social security and that they have not been approved for F-tax (self-employment tax) during the time periods brought up in the cases. It is further indisputable that the company has paid salaries to the recipients,” reads a translation of the verdict.

One million SEK is equal to a little over $103,500 USD. That is equal to one year of unpaid taxes. 

Fnatic has two months to appeal the court’s decision, according to a Swedish publication. The organization has yet to either appeal or accept the fine. 

Olivia Richman Olivia Richman
About Olivia Richman

Olivia has worked in media ever since graduating from college, with her coverage ranging from traditional newspaper reporting to digital coverage of all things gaming, online betting, and nerd culture. She has traveled around the world pursuing that coverage, from the far coasts of the United States to the busy downtown core of Tokyo, Japan. Olivia’s favorite games include Overwatch and Super Smash Smash Bros, and she has been published at Esports Illustrated, Inven Global, EsportsInsider, Upcomer, and elsewhere.

View full profile
Read Also
The 2026 LoL Worlds Swiss Stage Explained League of Legends
The 2026 LoL Worlds Swiss Stage Explained Ben Boland In 2026, the League of Legends World Championship returns with the same format that it adopted in 2023. Apart from play-in rules evolving each year, the rest is identical to 2025. So here’s the 2026 LoL Worlds Swiss Stage explained. The Swiss Stage replaces the former Group Stage as the start of the main event of the League of Legends World Championship. 16 teams compete in it, and by the ...
LoL Worlds Qualified Teams — All 19 Teams at Worlds 2026 League of Legends
LoL Worlds Qualified Teams — All 19 Teams at Worlds 2026 Ben Boland The 2026 League of Legends World Championship is just around the corner and 19 teams from across the globe will duke it out in North America. This year offers plenty of great storylines, as T1 vies for their fourth in a row, Chovy tries to overcome his demons, and the West tries to rise. Let’s take a look at the 19 teams that have qualified for Worlds 2026. The tournament sees ...
LoL Worlds Prize Pool: How Much Is the 2026 Winner Getting? League of Legends
LoL Worlds Prize Pool: How Much Is the 2026 Winner Getting? Hannan Mundia The 2026 League of Legends World Championship is about to begin and it is one of the game’s most anticipated tournament of the year. With 19 of the best teams battling it out, fans may wonder how large the 2026 Worlds LoL prize pool is. Being one of the largest esports games, it makes sense that there are multiple League of Legends tournaments throughout the year. Even setting the three ...
GAM Esports vs Shopify Rebellion: Best Odds and Predictions for the Demacia Cup Global Invitational League of Legends
GAM Esports vs Shopify Rebellion: Best Odds and Predictions for the Demacia Cup Global Invitational Ben Boland In the third round of the Demacia Cup Global Invitational, the three teams with a record of 0-2 play a Round Robin among each other. Only the team winning both of their matches gets to advance to round four, so these are two back-to-back elimination series for the teams. GAM Esports will have already played one, while Shopify Rebellion is on their first. Here are our predictions for GAM vs ...
GAM Esports vs Team Vitality: Best Odds and Predictions for the Demacia Cup Global Invitational League of Legends
GAM Esports vs Team Vitality: Best Odds and Predictions for the Demacia Cup Global Invitational Ben Boland The Demacia Cup Global Invitational is a brand new tournament in League of Legends. The next best teams that didn’t make it to the World Championship have their own mini-Worlds, to determine the best of the rest. So far, Korea and China have kept winning as always. Looking at leading sportsbook GGBet, here are our predictions and the best bets to pick for GAM Esports vs Team Vitality. GAM used ...
Team Liquid vs LYON: Best betting odds and picks for LCS 2026 grand final Esports Betting
Team Liquid vs LYON: Best betting odds and picks for LCS 2026 grand final Hannan Mundia The LCS grand final will finally pit Lyon and Team Liquid against each other, with the winner walking away with this year’s LCS trophy. After LYON made a statement victory over Cloud9, the team advanced to the grand final to face Team Liquid. Both teams have already qualified for Worlds, but the winner will take this year’s LCS trophy and get a major confidence boost before the year’s largest League of ...
Cloud9 vs LYON: Best Betting Odds and Picks for LCS 2026 Lower Bracket Final Esports Betting
Cloud9 vs LYON: Best Betting Odds and Picks for LCS 2026 Lower Bracket Final Hannan Mundia The 2026 LCS Summer playoffs are close to concluding, but Cloud9 and LYON will battle it out to decide the grand final matchup. Only one spot is left in the 2026 LCS grand final. Cloud9 and LYON have done well to make it this far, even if LYON is the favorite to win the match. Still, looking at the recent match histories of both teams, there’s a good chance that ...