When the Skattestyrelsen raises tax cases against citizens and these are appealed to a higher body, citizens have the right to have costs for assistance in tax cases paid by the Skattestyrelsen.
The problem is that the Danish Tax Agency withholds citizens' money for more than 200 days and even warns that citizens can wait another 90 days or more, since the Tax Agency has not had time to deal with the case!
The citizen applied for cost recovery on August 8, 2024. On 4 April 2025, SkatteInform received four homonymous letters from the Swedish Tax Agency. All with the same content quote:
“We have not been able to process your case yet, as we have many cases to process.
The case is delayed 3 months. We will write to you again if the processing of the case is further delayed.”
The right to cover costs paid by the Tax Agency
It is a matter of the fact that citizens have the right to recover 50% of the costs of assistance in a tax case. If the case is won to a predominant degree, the costs will be covered 100%.
The citizen had applied for cost recovery back in August 2024, that is 229 days after the customer receives this letter, in which the Tax Agency has granted itself an additional deadline for payment:
The citizen must pay the charged tax
It should be emphasized that the citizen is charged the tax payment requested, just as the citizen must pay for assistance with assistance in the tax case. This is the payment of taxed funds, which is why the protracted proceedings can make it difficult for citizens to finance help with a tax case.
The Tax Agency raises the cases
We remind you that it is the Tax Agency that brings the cases against the citizens
It is the management of the Tax Agency that must ensure that the Board has the capacity to handle the cases that they raise themselves, including paying the citizens their legal claims.
The Danish Tax Agency grants itself loans from citizens — legal basis?
It is a matter of the Tax Agency granting itself loans from citizens, since the repayment period must be said to be unusually long and therefore similar to a loan. Is there a legal basis for that?
The Tax Agency does not pay interest to citizens.
The Tax Agency has raised fines, fees and tax surcharges.
This should be seen in the context of the fact that citizens are charged fines, tax surcharges and fees immediately, that a claim to the Tax Agency is not paid on time.
In addition, it should be emphasized that delayed reporting of income information from 2025 onwards entails tax surcharges that have been doubled. The same applies to late reporting of VAT.
Suggested solutions:
Hire more staff
It is SkatteInform's proposal that, as more tax cases arise, the Tax Agency should also hire staff to handle cost recovery.
Disbursed aconto amount to citizens
Alternatively, citizens will be paid 90% of their legal costs, subject to reimbursement if it later turns out that an incorrect amount has been applied for.
Prioritize the cases
It is also possible to prioritise cases, so that heavy cases are dealt with in a separate group and less difficult cases are dealt with in a group, which can process cases more quickly.
Contact Us
Do you have questions about a tax case or would you like to hear more about how we can help you, please feel free to contact us? Our team of tax experts is ready to help you!
You are more than welcome to fill out our contact form at the bottom of the page and we will get back to you as soon as possible.
Phone:33 32 10 10
E-mail: Info@skatteinform.dk
SkatteInform Statsautoriseret Revisionpartnersselskap
Frederiksborggade54, 1. tv.
1360 Copenhagen K
Disclaimer of Liability:
We do not accept responsibility for any dispositions that may be made on the basis of this article without prior individual advice. Likewise, we do not accept responsibility for any errors and omissions.
