According to the National Broadcasting Service, RÚV, the district court of Reykjavík has ordered the Icelandic government to repay artist Leifur Breiðfjörð 7.5 million krónur, which equates to 48.200 euros, in addition to interests accumulated on the sum over the last four years. Leifur, a well know painter and stained glass artist, has done artwork for Keflavík International Airport, St. Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh and Hallgrímskirkja church in Reykjavík to name a few.
Some years ago Leifur was asked to decorate the front of the iconic Hallgrímskirkja church. The artist designed the stained glass window above the church’s entrance and two massive bronze doors which weighed around 800 kilos (1760 pounds) each. The doors, entitled “Come to Me”, were installed on the church’s 25th anniversary in 2010.
The doors were constructed in Germany and Leifur bore the cost of shipping them to Iceland himself. However, Icelandic custom officials classified the doors as raw materials instead of art. This required Leifur to pay value added tax (25.5%) as well as 25% in assessment, a total of 7.5 million krónur. Had the doors been rightfully defined as artwork, no value added tax would have been added to the shipping cost.
The artist did not agree with the definition given by customs and filed a complaint last year. The district court finally came to a conclusion yesterday and ruled in Leifur’s favour.
The district court of Reykjavík has ordered the Icelandic government to repay artist Leifur Breiðfjörð 7.5 million krónur. Leifur was unhappy with having to pay value added tax for artwork he had done for Hallgrímskirkja church.
According to the National Broadcasting Service, RÚV, the district court of Reykjavík has ordered the Icelandic government to repay artist Leifur Breiðfjörð 7.5 million krónur, which equates to 48.200 euros, in addition to interests accumulated on the sum over the last four years. Leifur, a well know painter and stained glass artist, has done artwork for Keflavík International Airport, St. Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh and Hallgrímskirkja church in Reykjavík to name a few.
Some years ago Leifur was asked to decorate the front of the iconic Hallgrímskirkja church. The artist designed the stained glass window above the church’s entrance and two massive bronze doors which weighed around 800 kilos (1760 pounds) each. The doors, entitled “Come to Me”, were installed on the church’s 25th anniversary in 2010.
The doors were constructed in Germany and Leifur bore the cost of shipping them to Iceland himself. However, Icelandic custom officials classified the doors as raw materials instead of art. This required Leifur to pay value added tax (25.5%) as well as 25% in assessment, a total of 7.5 million krónur. Had the doors been rightfully defined as artwork, no value added tax would have been added to the shipping cost.
The artist did not agree with the definition given by customs and filed a complaint last year. The district court finally came to a conclusion yesterday and ruled in Leifur’s favour.
