Tax Haven Tax Dodgers Under Fire

Iceland’s head of tax fraud investigation has completed the purchase of tax records from tax havens around the world.

Bryndís Kristjánsdóttir spent ISK 30 million (EUR 200,000/USD 225,000) of public money on the tax records which give the Directorate of Internal Revenue the chance to go over data connected to Icelanders in 400-500 tax havens.

The government approved the extra cash to buy the records at a meeting in April, following a small sample of the information seen by Bryndís’s office which showed there was good reason to buy the full set, Hringbraut reports.

Bryndís told reporters that a group of specialists within the Directorate is now poring over the data and deciding what to do next. They have already concluded that in many cases, if not all cases, individuals making use of tax havens have not completed their Icelandic tax returns correctly and paid the right amount of tax.

As a result, a good number of Icelanders can expect a little surprise from the tax man in the not-too-distant-future.