Last week, the annual tax returns for 2012 were published by tax authority Skat. But mistakes made by Skat are now affecting millions of taxpayers. The mistakes are caused by system errors in Skat and by flaws on business’s reports.
Mistake regarding ATP lifelong pension of two million people
Skat informs citizens about the contributions they have made to their pension during the previous year. This year, Skat used a test file which only held the information from January to November, so a whole month’s payment was missing from the final number for nearly two million taxpayers. This, however, does not affect the individual’s dividend tax refund as it is only included on the annual tax return to inform the citizen of their pension savings.
Other mistakes made by Skat include dividend tax information, the taxable values of agricultural properties and capital pensions.
Dividend tax mistake
According to the accountant firm FSR, dividend tax information mistakes have affected 100,000 people. Skat has already announced that it will correct the mistakes before it finalises the annual tax returns on March 15. The taxpayer will not be informed if any changes are made, so FSR recommended that everyone check their annual tax return once more.
Agricultural property owners have not paid enough tax
An unknown number of people are affected by a mistake regarding the taxable values of their agricultural properties. Skat determines the taxable value as the lowest of either the property value on 1 October 2012, 1 January 2002 or on 1 January 2001, with an additional five percent added on. The additional five percent added to the property value of 2001, had been forgotten by Skat.
Tax return to be paid due to mistake on capital pensions
The last mistake which has been found is on capital pensions and affects 9,800 people. Even though the capital pension has been reported, Skat has not included it in the top tax rate. Some taxpayers can therefore expect having to pay extra money to Skat.
