Denmark's Tax Minister Jakob Engel-Schmidt wants to pause ongoing lawsuits over so-called triple taxation until new legislation is in place. He has asked Kammeradvokaten, the state's lawyer, to examine whether the cases between citizens and the tax authorities can be put on hold, according to kristeligt-dagblad.dk.
Triple taxation is a tax dispute in which Skatteforvaltningen, the tax administration, in several cases has treated a person who ran a business through his own company as an employee instead. The citizens were then ordered to pay company tax, income tax and dividend tax, which is where the name comes from. Media have reported on people who paid up to 110 percent in tax on an income.
"While my work is ongoing, there are people who are hit by it, and who are still in the legal system," Engel-Schmidt says. He says the separation of powers forbids him from interfering in which lawsuits are started and appealed. ", I can take a position on how the law is changed in the future," he says.
The minister plans to change the tax law so that triple taxation cannot take place, and wants the cases suspended until the change takes effect. Asked whether it is a slippery slope to postpone lawsuits under current law, he says: "If I decided who should be taken to court and who should be appealed, then yes. He adds: "But if one says that now we change the law, and until then we put lawsuits on hold, then it is an expression of due diligence."
Berlingske reports that the tax and growth minister has asked Kammeradvokaten to look at getting the lawsuits postponed. He has gone hard at the tax authorities since the start of his time as minister because he finds the practice unreasonable.