Nearly a year-long ready time within the Tax Appeals Board: – Unsustainable, says the affiliation

– Getting a tax difficulty clarified typically has a huge impact on the person’s funds. Due to this fact, it’s unsustainable to have to attend so lengthy to have your criticism processed, says Lothe in a press launch.

In a assertion earlier in Could, the Civil Ombudsman concluded that the Tax Appeals Board has for a number of years breached the requirement for processing time within the Tax Administration Act.

From 2022 to 2023, the typical processing time elevated from 20.4 to 23.1 months. The variety of pending instances elevated from 1,649 to 1,657, whereas 874 of the pending instances on the finish of April had a processing time of over one yr.

A complete of 855 instances had a processing time of greater than two years.

The civil ombudsman directed sturdy criticism on the tribunal for the truth that the processing time has not been diminished after an offense was ascertained in 2022. Lothe additionally believes that it’s notably dangerous that that is the third time in a couple of years that the tribunal has acquired affirmation from the civil ombudsman, with out the circumstances having improved.

– The Directorate of Taxation has beforehand had overly optimistic expectations for diminished case processing time. We don’t see something concrete within the directorate’s response that signifies that they’ll now succeed, says Lothe.

The Tax Directorate has replied to the Civil Ombudsman that they count on the variety of instances that stay pending to be diminished by the tip of 2025. Nevertheless, there are not any plans to extend staffing.