COPENHAGEN: Earlier this week it was reported that Danish companies that had defrauded the Danish tax authority SKAT of 30 million kroner in moms (VAT) were implicated in financing overseas terrorism. Today Karsten Lauritzen, the tax minister, announced targeted checks against moms fraud and a re-examination of the system to deal with the problem.
“It is completely unacceptable when organised criminals knowingly cheat society out of moms and duties. We should make it easy for the many who follow the rules, but we should also come down hard on those who systematically cheat Danish society,” Lauritzen said.
“I have therefore just submitted a number of initiatives to Parliament’s taxation committee, which will strengthen the fight against cheating with moms and duties.”
As well as re-examining the moms system and targeting organised fraud, it will be investigated how public authorities can work together to share knowledge and data to tackle the problem.
Børsen reports that, according to figures from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the state misses out on between 10.5 and 18.5 billion kroner in tax revenue because companies do not report and pay the moms they should.
