Tax minister promises refund for homeowners

Holger Nielsen says that those who paid too much in property tax will be reimbursed for Skat’s errors

Oct 7, 2013

Homeowners who paid too much in property tax due to systematic errors from tax authority Skat can expect a refund.

The tax minister, Holger K Nielsen (Socialistisk Folkeparti) has promised homeowners that those who paid too much will get the money back. At the same time, Nielsen is promising that the government will present a new system to ensure more accurate property evaluations.

"We have found a solution in which we can refund those people who have paid too much in either their home's assessed value or property tax based on the 2011 evaluations," Nielsen told Berlingske newspaper. "We haven't identified [the homeowners] yet, but we count on being able to do it even though it will be difficult and complex. We will be in contact with all of them we can find, and if we don't identify all [affected homeowners], they can appeal and have their case assessed."

The tax problems were revealed in August when a scathing report from Rigsrevision, the national auditor's office, criticised tax authorities for a host of errors in property tax evaluations. The report found that property tax estimates were wrong in three out of four assessments dating back to 2003 and that four out of ten homeowners were assessed a too-high property tax in 2011.

But despite the large number of errors, Nielsen was hesitant to estimate how many people would be refunded or how much it would cost the state to right the wrongs.

"It's hard to say how much money we are talking about," Nielsen told Berlingske. "Based on our evaluations, it will be a manageable sum."

Nielsen will announce the government's solution for more accurate evaluations later this week.