Swedish tax agency extends court battle over one krona dispute

One krona ($0.15) is apparently all it takes to get the ever-watchful Swedish tax authorities to set their lawyers in action, as the agency has opted to launch an appeal following a lower court ruling over a disputed payment.

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Back in April, a Stockholm man paid one krona too little in congestion tax after pushing the wrong button while carrying out the online transaction.

Instead of paying the 65 kronor he owed the Swedish Transit Agency (Transportstyrelsen), the man only ended up paying 64 kronor.

While the man eventually paid back the missing krona, it wasn’t registered in the transit agency's account until after the payment deadline, prompting a 500 kronor fine.

The man appealed the fine to the Swedish Tax Agency (Skatteverket), which agreed to lower the penalty to 200 kronor.

But the man was anything but satisfied with what he saw as the tax agency’s meager attempt at kindness, and decided to have the case tried in the county administrative court (Länsrätten) in Stockholm.

In late October, the court found in favour of the man and waived the fine completely.

According to the court, the small amount of the payment error, combined with pushing the wrong button resulted in it being “obviously unreasonable” to fine the man for the late krona.

Now the Tax Agency wants to appeal the court’s ruling to the administrative court of appeal (Kammarrätten), arguing that the man’s error was ultimately “within his control and responsibility”, thus making him liable for the late fee, according to current laws governing payment of the congestion tax fees.

According to the agency, the lower court’s ruling in the case “is out of line with earlier decisions from the county administrative court”.