SV vice president Torgeir Knag Fylkesnes believes the tax agency’s own interpretation of rules from 2014 shows he shouldn’t have paid tax on the passenger accommodation. Now he demands answers.
District councils received a 477,000 bill from the tax agency. He has been given commuter housing, while he rents out parts of his home in Tromsø.
He received it for free passenger accommodation after being set at NOK 1,026,644 in increased income for the years 2017-2020.
Due to the rental income at the residence, the Swedish Tax Agency considered that the passenger accommodation in Oslo was no longer tax-exempt.
For its part, Filkesnes believes that the rental income is less than the expenses and does not understand that he will have to pay tax on the flat he is traveling in during that period.
– It’s sour money, says Filgesness dryly.
The Norwegian Tax Agency writes in an email to VG that their view has not been changed by the commuter housing cases – and says that you cannot rent housing at home and get tax-free commuter housing at the same time.
Read their full response below the case.
– Unintelligible answers
Filgesness tells VG that he has taken out a loan to pay the claim – but he still wants to file a complaint.
– What do you want to achieve by complaining?
– I want an answer, very simply. Fylkesnes tells VG that this is the only way to get answers to what I believe are very reasonable questions.
– Do you want to eliminate the tax you owe now?
– Yes, get one or the best answers. I pay taxes with understanding and unfortunately I’m not the only one who experiences responses from public officials that are so difficult to understand and incomprehensible.
Description from 2014
In 2014 county councils were granted access to dialogue between SMK and the Swedish Tax Agency. There, the Swedish Tax Agency itself writes in a proposal for a manual for the political administration of the SMK:
“For politicians who dispose of their own house at home and keep their expenses, service home is a tax-free passenger home.”
VG has seen email correspondence between SMK and the Swedish Tax Agency.
It is this sentence that the county council now wants a response from the tax agency. He believes the tax agency’s own interpretation from 2014 says he shouldn’t have had a tax impact. He also wants to answer when the tax agency changed its interpretation and should it have a retroactive effect.
Check out his questions below:
The question in the Filkesnes case was whether he should pay full tax on the rental of passenger accommodation. parts He believes the expenses outweigh the income – he commutes from Tromsø to home.
– Tax authorities have changed their understanding of legal sources from last year to this year. “I don’t understand how they can do that,” he says.
He says the tax agency is maintaining its interpretation until December 2021 and points to the following quote from the Director of Taxation on when politicians must pay tax on tourist accommodation:
– Everyone – not just politicians – has to pay tax on a commuter house they get for free from their employer. They can avoid paying tax on that benefit if they have a deductible expense, said tax director Nina Schänke Fannemark. Pinposton.
– And in what cases do you have a deductible expense?
– That means if you have the cost to maintain your primary residence, she continued.
– Recommendations kilometers
County councils say they contacted the Swedish Tax Agency last autumn, this spring and this autumn – and were asked these three questions each time.
– The only thing I got back was kilometers of different kinds of references to passages that I couldn’t really understand. I also consulted lawyers to try to understand the tax authorities’ new interpretation of the law, he says.
Districts report opposite VG In September 2021, he has earned NOK 5,000 to 6,000 in rent until then.
He explained the time Pinposton He earns NOK 16,000 by renting out his apartment in Oslo.
Leadership conflict in S.V
SV president Audun Lysbakken recently announced his resignation as SV president, but Fylkesnes said last week that he did not consider running for the SV leadership.
– You are S.V. Is this also a reason for signaling that you don’t want to be the leader?
– No, it isn’t. The question of leadership is another and much broader question.
VG has submitted a review to the Swedish Tax Agency. They are yet to respond to inquiries.
Norwegian Tax Agency: – Established since 80s
The Norwegian Tax Agency has submitted a review from the county council. They insist they are bound by a duty of confidentiality and cannot comment on individual cases.
VG received the following response to an email from Legal Director Harald Johannessen via the Communications Department.
– The house in the house cannot be rented at the same time to get tax-free commuter house from the employer. This is clearly stated in the Tax Agency’s guidance on Tax ABC skatteetaten.No In the “Handbook of Political Leadership” from the 1980s: 1.3 Working outside the home – Norwegian tax administration.
Johannessen writes that the Norwegian Tax Agency has not changed its principled view on commuter regulations through the commuter housing cases.
– Different ways of regulating one’s domestic situation will raise questions that were partially clarified in practice in the past, and partially clarified now. Our assessments appear at the conclusion of the tax agency in passenger accommodation cases published on Storting’s website. There, the company evaluates the employer’s response and explains its vision. Complaints in these control cases are referred to the Board of Tax Appeals for decision.
– With the “Manual for Political Leadership” and the preceding line East’s entry, we refer to section 5.1.2. In this section, it is a prerequisite that politicians should not rent a house at their place of residence for allotment of passenger accommodation from the Prime Minister’s office. It includes: “Politicians who maintain housing costs at home: Those who maintain housing costs at home and do not rent it out will be provided with free passenger accommodation including furniture, electricity, cleaning of stairs.”
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