Recalculation of vehicle registration duty

Case no. 53/2012, 54/2012 and 55/2012
Judgment delivered on 12 June 2014

Himmerlands Automobiler ved Erland Knudsen and Kim Buch
vs.
The Danish Ministry of Taxation

The case concerned three cars, which had all been imported used from abroad, and for which vehicle registration duty had been paid in Denmark in accordance with the rules applicable at the time of registration. Following an amendment of the Danish Registration Duty Act in 2008, a number of car owners requested that the duties be recalculated in accordance with the provisions of the new Act, since it contained a transition provision to that effect.

One of the main issues in the case was whether SKAT, the Danish tax authorities, had complied with the 2008 Act when it based its recalculation of the duty on the new price of the cars, including the registration duty which should have been paid under the Danish provisions on the duties payable for similar cars at the time when the cars were registered as new abroad.

The Supreme Court found that the calculation method used by SKAT was in accordance with the 2008 Act. In addition, the recalculation of the registration duties for the three cars was not in contravention of EU law.

The High Court had reached the same conclusion.