Tax Amnesty

All parties in the Danish Parliament, except for the Social Democrats, have agreed to introduce a tax amnesty scheme in 2011 for taxpayers with assets in tax haven countries. The Minister of Taxation will also be given the authority to buy information from banks and other sources abroad.

The historic agreement between the parties in the Parliament uses both stick and carrot, and the intention is to make Danish taxpayers with assets in foreign tax havens come clean.

The carrot is that Denmark, like a number of other countries, will offer a short-term amnesty scheme.

The scheme has the following advantages:

• Guarantee of no prison term regardless of the amount involved.
• Resolution of the matter on a confidential basis without involving the courts.