The committee recommends that the taxes to be paid be reduced by at least 80 percent. The employees say they are somewhat relieved, but will still fight having to pay the taxes at all.
Finland’s shipping industry depends on skilled specialists who often travel long distances to work short-term contracts at various sites. The tax dispute centres on benefits they receive for travel expenses and per diems.
The province of South-West Finland decided earlier this year that these benefits are considered taxable income, and has demanded back taxes from these specialists. This caused an uproar, because for years the province’s tax authorities have approved these benefits as tax-free.
In once case, a man from Raisio is being asked to pay more than 70,000 euros in unpaid taxes accrued over the past seven years.
The newspaper Helsingin Sanomat reported that a working group set up by the Ministry of Finance to sort out the mess was leaning heavily in favour of the workers.
According to the paper, the Ministry will propose overturning the province’s decision to collect the taxes. The working group says that if the taxman approves a benefit as tax-free, an employee must be able to trust that this decision will not suddenly be reversed in the future.