In a recent memorandum to the Ministry of Finance, a Swedish tax committee has proposed changes to the regulations governing the Swedish tax surcharge. The reason behind the proposal is that the regulations will lead to improved compliance – in comparison with the existing rules – with the European Declaration of Human Rights and the principles in respect of penalties.
The committee strongly criticizes the present regulations, deeming them to be arbitrary and unfair. According to the proposal, the primary condition for levying a tax surcharge will still be that the taxpayer has provided incorrect information to the tax authorities for the assessment of tax. At present, a tax surcharge can be levied if the tax authority on an objective level can establish that the taxpayer has provided incorrect information. However, according to the proposal, the tax authority must be able to presume malicious intent or negligence by the taxpayer in the provision of incorrect information.
