Billionaire Ikea founder pays first Swedish income taxes since 1973

STOCKHOLM: The billionaire founder of flatpack furniture chain Ikea has paid Swedish income tax for the first time since he left the country in 1973, a report said Friday.

Ingvar Kamprad declared income of 17.7 million Swedish kronor (1.9 million euros, $2 million), with 1.2 million kronor coming from work, according to the Dagens Nyheter daily.



The 89-year-old paid around six million kronor in taxes, the newspaper said.

The Kamprad family reportedly holds around 40 billion euros ($44 billion) in assets, with the Ikea founder himself sitting on a fortune of an estimated three to four billion euros.

Originally from Almhult in southern Sweden, Kamprad decided to leave his longtime home of Switzerland for his native land after the death of his wife Margaretha in 2011.



The billionaire has yet to retire -- Kamprad still serves on the supervisory board of Ingka Holding, Ikea's parent company.

Ikea, founded in 1943, is the number one furniture store in the world bringing in around 31.9 billion euros for the 2014-2015 fiscal year.