Last week the Swedish Tax Agency posted one discreet press release on its websiterevealing that 800 owners of cars, light trucks and light buses have paid too little malus tax on their vehicles. They must now pay the tax retroactively.
Malus is a penalty tax that must be paid in the first three years for new cars, light trucks and light buses with high emissions of carbon dioxide per kilometer. How big the tax is for a certain car model is based on its emissions and the fuel it is driven with.
Have paid too little penalty tax
The reason that the Swedish Tax Agency is now collecting the penalty tax from hundreds of car owners is a system error.
The authority has discovered an error in how the tax was calculated on three-year-old vehicles that have “inherited” an old registration number from an older vehicle at the time of registration.
– Many have been charged malus tax at first, but due to the system error, malus tax has been charged for too short a time, says Christopher Rosensection manager at the Swedish Tax Agency, to Nyheter24.
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800 car owners must pay retroactively
According to the Swedish Tax Agency’s press release, the letter sent out to the vehicle owners will contain a demand to pay the malus tax for the last two years.
For certain cars, which emit a lot of carbon dioxide, the tax can amount to tens of thousands of kroner a year. In other words, the retroactive tax requirement can be substantial for some.
Here you can read more about some car models with extreme malus tax.
The letter will also contain the amount of tax to be paid, and the vehicle owner will also have the opportunity to comment on the decision. When the decision is finally made, an invoice is sent to the vehicle owner with a payment period of 30 days.
Ram 1500 TRX costs almost SEK 45,000 a year to tax – Photo: RamWho will pay after a change of ownership?
The Tax Agency cannot currently say exactly how much money will be collected from the 800 car owners, as the penalty tax is affected by a number of different factors.
– The sums vary depending on the amount of carbon dioxide and fuel and the length of time the vehicle has been owned, says Christoffer Rosén to Nyheter24
Since car tax must be paid by the person who owns the car during the original payment month, demands to retroactively pay penalty tax can go out to people who no longer own the vehicle in question.
– The decisions to pay will go to those who owned the car during the relevant period. It can thus be a matter of decisions for several people per car, depending on how the ownership relationships looked, concludes Christoffer Rosén.
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