No tax surchage for obvious mistakes in the income tax return

In Sweden, a taxpayer providing incorrect information, or omitting information, may be considered to have submitted incorrect taxation information which can lead to tax surcharges. Information is deemed incorrect if it is clearly erroneous. However, information is not deemed incorrect if it is obvious that it cannot form the basis for a decision regarding taxation. In addition, if the information is unclear or contradictory, it may trigger the Swedish Tax Agency's responsibility to investigate and review further – meaning the information should not be deemed incorrect.

In case 2284‑24, the taxpayer had given a group contribution to a subsidiary and mistakenly made the deduction for it twice in its tax return. In case 7304-24, the taxpayer had made a write-down of shares held in an associated company, which was correctly reported in its tax return but was not properly added back for tax purposes in the tax adjustments section.

In both cases, HFD noted that given how the taxpayers' tax returns had been completed, it was virtually inconceivable that the Tax Agency would have accepted the information and used it as the basis for taxation without further investigation. Therefore, there were no grounds for imposing a tax surcharge. Accordingly, the taxpayers' appeals were approved.