Icelanders who have hid their taxable assets abroad, might be offered amnesty if they turn themselves in to authorities, financial minister Bjarni Benediktsson told RÚV.
Tax evasion is a crime in Iceland and conviction may result in fines and imprisonment, but according to the financial minister the possibility of amnesty is being explored within his ministry. In exchange for paying their taxes, plus added penalties, tax fraudsters would not face time behind bars.
Earlier this year the Directorate of Tax Investigations in Iceland was offered to buy a set of data holding information about potential tax evaders. Most likely the information is stolen, which complicates things. Can the state buy something illegally obtained?
When Germany was facing the same question several years ago authorities famously marched on, paid millions of euros for similar data sets, brought the sinners to justice and collected huge sums for the treasury. Buying stolen data is an emergency remedy, a spokesman for Germany's federal finance ministry told Reuters in November 2013.
How the Directorate of Tax Investigations Iceland will respond remains to be seen, but the financial minister’s possible amnesty proposal is a direct reaction to the offer that is on the table.
Icelanders who have hid their taxable assets abroad, might be offered amnesty if they turn themselves in to authorities, financial minister Bjarni Benediktsson told RÚV.
Tax evasion is a crime in Iceland and conviction may result in fines and imprisonment, but according to the financial minister the possibility of amnesty is being explored within his ministry. In exchange for paying their taxes, plus added penalties, tax fraudsters would not face time behind bars.
Earlier this year the Directorate of Tax Investigations in Iceland was offered to buy a set of data holding information about potential tax evaders. Most likely the information is stolen, which complicates things. Can the state buy something illegally obtained?
When Germany was facing the same question several years ago authorities famously marched on, paid millions of euros for similar data sets, brought the sinners to justice and collected huge sums for the treasury. Buying stolen data is an emergency remedy, a spokesman for Germany's federal finance ministry told Reuters in November 2013.
How the Directorate of Tax Investigations Iceland will respond remains to be seen, but the financial minister’s possible amnesty proposal is a direct reaction to the offer that is on the table.
