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Tax agency grants day’s grace

The Swedish Tax Agency (Skatteverket) has extended the deadline for the submission of tax returns for those unable to file online on Monday after the system proved unable to cope with the high demand.

Published: 4 May 2010 08:07 CEST

In the hours before the deadline on Monday evening many people had difficulty logging in using their electronic bank identifications and primarily affected customers of Swedbank, Danske Bank and Handelsbanken.

“Just as on Sunday night it has been difficult for many people to log in using their bank identification. It is a question of capacity, the servers for the bank-ID do not have the capacity when a large number of people try to use it simultaneously,” said Erik Boman at the agency.

Boman suggested that all those unable to log in should follow the instructions in the error message and try again later.

The agency has now extended the deadline until the end of Tuesday to enable any that are still unable to log in and file their taxes online can hand them in manually.

“If you tried to submit your declaration this evening (Monday) and have not succeeded then no late filing charge will be levied if it is handed in tomorrow. We are also able to see if you have made an attempt,” Erik Boman said.

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Beskæftigelsesfradraget: What is Denmark's employment allowance?

What is the employment allowance?

The Beskæftigelsesfradraget (from beskæftigelse, meaning employment, and fradrag, meaning rebate) was brought in by the centre-right Liberal Party back in 2004, the idea being that it would incentivise people to get off welfare and into a job.

Everyone whose employer pays Denmark’s 8 percent AM-bidrag, or arbejdsmarkedsbidrag, automatically receives beskæftigelsesfradraget. Unlike with some of Denmark’s tax rebates, there is no need to apply. The Danish Tax Agency simply exempts the first portion of your earnings from income taxes.

In 2022, beskæftigelsesfradraget was set at 10.65 percent of income with a maximum rebate of 44,800 kroner.

How did the government agree to change the employment allowance in its coalition deal?

In Responsibility for Denmark, the coalition agreement between the Social Democrats, the Liberals and the Moderate Party, the new government said it would set aside 5 billion kroner for tax reforms.

Of this, 4 billion kroner was earmarked for increasing the employment allowance, with a further 0.3 billion going towards increasing an additional employment allowance for single parents.

According to the public broadcaster DR, the expectation was that this would increase the standard employment allowance to 12.75 percent up to a maximum rebate of 53,600 kroner.

How might this be further increased, according to Børsen?

According to a report in the Børsen newspaper, the government now plans to set aside a further 1.75 billion kroner for tax reforms, of which nearly half — about 800 million kroner — will go towards a further increase to the employment allowance.

The Danish Chamber of Commerce earlier this month released an analysis in which it argued that by raising removing all limits on the rebate for single parents and raising the maximum rebate for everone else by 20,300 kroner, the government could increase the labour supply by 4,850 people, more than double the 1,500 envisaged in the government agreement.

According to the Børsen, the government estimates that its new extended allowance will increase the labour supply by 5,150 people.

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