Subsidy for costs

Individuals, businesses, certain associations and institutions, estates of deceased persons, companies and foundations may apply for subsidy for costs if:

• you are entitled to file an appeal against a decision in a tax, customs or duty case
• you have been implicated in the case by the authorities
• you are otherwise recognised as a party to the case.

Taxable companies and foundations are only eligible for subsidy for costs if the expert assistance was obtained after 1 January 2017.

Whether you are entitled to subsidy depends on the individual case and whether you meet the relevant conditions. There are also cases where you will not be entitled to subsidy for the case costs. See examples below.

Examples of cases where you may be entitled to subsidy for costs:

• Appeals to the Danish Tax Appeals Agency (Skatteankestyrelsen), the Danish Tax Board of Appeal (Skatteankenævnet) or to the Danish National Tax Tribunal (Landsskatteretten) and in cases where a decision by these bodies is reviewed.
• Cases brought before the National Tax Tribunal by the Ministry of Taxation or the courts.
• Cases in which decisions made by administrative appeal bodies are brought before the courts, including decisions made by an assessment or motor vehicle appeals board.
• Cases brought directly before the courts after 1 July 2020, where the decision is made a tax appeals board, the Tax Appeals Agency or the National Tax Tribunal.
• Cases brought before the European Court of Justice to which you are a party.

Examples of cases where you are not entitled to subsidy for costs:

• Cases concerning customs, taxes or employer compliance check and registration of vehicles, which the senior presiding judge decides should by decided by the Tax Appeals Agency.
• Appeals against decisions under the Danish Act on Collection of Debt to Public Authorities (Gælds inddrivelsesloven).
• Appeals filed with the Danish Assessment and Motor Vehicle Appeals Board (Vurderings- og motorankenævnet), where the case is brought before the courts without the Assessment and Motor Vehicle Appeals Board having made a decision on the appeal.
• Inadmissible cases due to, for example, lack of competence, failure to meet the deadline for appeals or lack of justification.
• Appeals against subsidy for costs.
• Appeals against decisions to revoke decisions regarding dividend tax refunds. Applies to expert assistance provided after 1 January 2020.
• Appeals against decisions to deny requests for dividend tax refunds. Applies to expert assistance provided after 1 January 2020.

You can apply for a subsidy for the following costs:

• Fees for lawyers and accountants and similar.
• Expert opinion costs.
• Expenses for expert's reports
• Fees for professional declarations and other evidence apart from statutory documentation for controlled transactions.
• Imposed legal costs and court fees.
• The expert’s travel expenses.
• Costs related to the preparation of a request for a deferral in connection with an appeal.

If the appeal involves matters not covered by the subsidy for the costs  scheme, the costs of the case must be broken down.

The Tax Appeals Agency’s appeals fee can't be part of the subsidy for costs.

Your compensation will be reduced by any awarded legal costs and public legal aid.

VAT will not be part of the subsidy for costs if the VAT on the expert’s fees is deductible.

You're entitled to a subsidy corresponding to 100% of your costs eligible for subsidy if your appeal was fully or predominantly upheld. If an appeal has been brought at the initiative of the Danish Ministry of Taxation or the Danish Customs and Tax Administration, you are also entitled a subsidy corresponding to 100% of your costs eligible for subsidy relating to the points raised by the authorities.

If your appeal was only partially upheld or if it was not upheld, 50% of the expert’s the subsidy for costs will be 50%.

If the case is not settled, the subsidy for costs is paid on account subject to reservations. Once the case has been settled, the final amount is decided on the basis of the degree to which the appeal was upheld. Subsidy paid on account amounts to 50% of the eligible costs.

Furthermore, the Tax Appeals Agency or the Customs and Tax Administration may also give advance approval of your expert opinion costs in cases before the Tax Appeals Agency, the Tax Appeals Board, the National Tax Tribunal or the Danish Tax Assessment Council (Skatterådet) being subsidised at a rate of 100%.

Subsidy for costs may be subject to repayment.

You can either apply for subsidy for costs yourself, or have an expert, such as a lawyer, apply on your behalf. To apply, you need to fill in the digital application form.

If you have several ongoing appeals, you must fill in one form per appeal to apply for subsidy for costs. You can attach several invoices if they relate to the same appeal. 

You must also fill in one form per expert if you have hired several experts and one form per body if your appeal has been processed by several bodies. 

We recommend that you to also fill in the fields in the form marked with (optional) if you have the information as it will facilitate the processing of your case.

Sign using MitID

The application must be signed by you and the expert whose fees you are seeking subsidy for costs for using MitID.

Log on and fill in digital application form 02.008: Subsidy for costs

Exempt from digital post?

If you or the expert, as a natural person, have been exempted from Digital Post and therefore can’t sign the form using MitID, you can use form 02.008 – Subsidy for cost (PDF). Please note that your application will be rejected if you use the PDF form even though you or the expert have not been exempted from Digital Post.

Along with your application, please enclose documentation for the appeal and the amount you are seeking a subsidy for. The information to be provided on the application form and in the supporting documents depends on what you are applying for.

If you apply for payment on account, the requirement for a breakdown of costs per body doesn't apply if it hasn't yet been decided which body is responsible for processing your appeal.

If the application involves matters not covered by the subsidy for costs scheme, the costs of the case must be broken down.

If you also wish to apply for a subsidy for expert opinion costs in connection with your appeal, please submit a separate application. This means that you should fill in one form for subsidy for costs for advisory services and one form for expert opinion costs. Special rules apply to the required documentation in cases involving an expert opinion.

Your claim for subsidy for costs expires three years after the subsidy for costs appeal proceedings have been settled and the deadline for review by a higher body has expired. Your application for subsidy for costs must reach the Tax Agency before the limitation period expires. 

Below you can see which documentation you need to enclose with: 

• your general application for subsidy for costs for advisory services, and
• your application for a subsidy for expert opinion costs.

We may request additional documentation if this is necessary for the processing of the case. 

Documentation for advisory assistance 

Together with the application for subsidy for costs for advisory services, excluding expert opinion costs, please submit:

• The bills for expenses for expert assistance etc., for which you are seeking a subsidy, together with a brief description of the work carried out and a specification of the number of hours spent by the expert.
• Any expenses that are not eligible for a subsidy must be clearly stated on the bill.
• The decision, order or judgment delivered in your case, if available.
• The first appeal, writ, application for review, notification by the authorities of the continuation of the proceedings or request for elimination of double taxation on which the application is based.
• The decision you have appealed.
• Notification of referral from the Tax Appeals Agency, if available.
• Indication that the case should be processed by the National Tax Tribunal, if relevant.
• The advisory opinion of the relevant administrative appeal body on the degree of success if your application concerns a case settled by the Tax Appeals Agency, the Tax Appeals Board, the National Tax Tribunal or the Tax Assessment Council.
• If you are seeking a subsidy for your costs for processing by more than one body, please submit one application for each body. The bills must specify the fee paid for the work carried out by each body and show information on the number of hours spent by each body.
• A written fee agreement or, if no written agreement is available, a written statement of the contents of the fee agreement. You can omit any text in the fee agreement, which is covered by the expert’s duty of confidentiality. 

Documentation in cases involving an expert opinion

Together with the application for reimbursement of expert opinion costs, please submit:

• Advance approval of full subsidy for expert opinion costs, if available.
• The court’s granting of your request for an expert opinion.
• Decision by the Customs and Tax Administration or the Tax Appeals Agency confirming that your expert opinion costs will be subsidised in full, if available.
• Invoice issued by the expert.
• The court’s approval of the expert’s invoice.
• The court’s decision on the provisional and/or final allocation of the expert opinion costs.
• Decision under section 52(5) of the Danish Tax Administration Act (Skatteforvaltningsloven) on full reimbursement of expert opinion costs, if available. 

IThe Tax Agency decides on the subsidy for costs, including the degree of success of the appeal. The decision is an estimate of several matters in the case, but, as a general rule, the estimate is based on the monetary value of the case. The administrative authority that decided your case will issue an advisory opinion on the degree of success.

The Tax Agency assesses all applications individually and may obtain additional information for processing the application. This may include the expert’s accounting records with supporting documents, time/case accounts, an account of the work carried out and other documentation.

It's also assessed whether the expert’s fee is reasonable, and any subsidy may be paid subject to possible repayment.

In addition, the Tax Agency may wholly or partially refuse a subsidy if the fees charged in on account and final cases are clearly unreasonable.

The subsidy for costs is paid by the Tax Agency. The amount will be paid directly into your or your expert’s NemKonto.

You're not required to pay tax on the compensation.

You're not entitled to deduct expenses incurred in connection with your tax case.

However, businesses may deduct expenses for expert assistance etc. to the extent that no subsidy for costs is granted.

If you are entitled to subsidy for costs, you may refer your claim for subsidy to an expert, such as an accountant or lawyer. In that case, we will pay the compensation directly to the expert appointed by you.

As a general rule, all individuals, businesses, associations, foundations, interest associations etc. can contribute to covering the expenses in connection with the case.

The contribution doesn't reduce the expenses eligible for subsidy.

The contribution received may be taxable.

The entity providing the contribution must inform us of the size of the amount and who has received it. This can be done via Form 03.064 – Declaration of contribution (PDF)

Read more in Danish about how we process your personal data when you apply for a subsidy for costs.