Denmark’s state auditor, Rigsrevisionen, will investigate the new delays in the country’s property valuation system, a review expected to take about a year.
Rigsrevisionen, the auditing body that reports to the Folketing, has decided to examine the background for the latest delays in the new property valuations. The investigation appears in an appendix sent to parliament, and the body confirmed it in an email to DR Nyheder.
The starting point is the stopgap solution that the Folketing passed in June to soften the delays. It means homeowners will not receive real valuations in 2027 and 2028 either. Instead they get indexed valuations, calculated from average price developments in their area.
That is the same method used this year and last year. According to DR, the indexed figures decide taxation for roughly 3.2 million homeowners in Denmark. Property value tax is collected alongside income taxes in Denmark.
In its email, Rigsrevisionen states that indexing was chosen because the tax administration is not keeping pace with sending out valuations. Since this amounts to a significant postponement, the auditor wants to examine the reasons behind it.
Earlier criticism scrapped the old system
It is not the first time the auditor has examined how the tax authorities value Danish property. In a 2013 report to the Folketing, Rigsrevisionen found the valuations so wrong and inconsistent that they were in direct breach of the law. The Ministry of Taxation had known about the problems for six years without acting.
Those conclusions led to the entire valuation system being scrapped and work on a new one starting. In November 2021, Rigsrevisionen again criticized the ministry, finding that development costs had run out of control. The state auditors issued their sharpest form of criticism, saying parliament had not been given an accurate picture of the project’s finances.
Delays have also forced the tax authorities to issue so-called preliminary valuations. Homeowners cannot appeal those, and they risk an extra bill when the final valuation arrives in their e-Boks. According to the latest count from Vurderingsstyrelsen, more than half a million 2022 valuations have still not been sent out.
That valuation determines what homeowners pay in tax for 2024. DR also notes that Jeppe Bruus previously told the broadcaster that provisional and indexed valuations were only a transitional arrangement until the end of 2026.
Venstre, part of the political agreement behind the new system, backs the investigation. Tax spokesperson Marie Brixtofte says it is now essential that the work is completed, and she questions whether this postponement will be the last. She adds that citizens have lost trust, and that trust falls further with each delay.
DR Nyheder is seeking a comment on the investigation from Minister of Taxation Jakob Engel-Schmidt of the Moderates.
