The Internal Revenue Board is the supreme administrative appeals authority for cases regarding taxation, VAT, and duties. It is independent of the Ministry of Finance and the relevant administrative office. As such the Internal Revenue Board provides independent merits reviews of administrative decisions. It reviews a wide range of administrative decisions made by the Directorate of Internal Revenue (Ríkisskattstjóri/RSK) and the Directorate of Customs (Tollstjóri) including their administratively binding advice. It is also within the jurisdiction of the Internal Revenue Board to review decisions on inheritance tax and stamp duty made by the district commissioners (Sýslumaður).
Another role of the Internal Revenue Board is to rule on fines in cases referred to it by the Directorate of Tax Investigations (Skattrannsóknarstjóri ríkisins).
Finally it is within the jurisdiction of the Internal Revenue Board to review decisions based on act no 43/1999, on temporary reimbursements in respect of film making in Iceland, made by the Committee on Reimbursement for Film Production.
If you want to appeal an administrative decision please note the following:
Important: Making an appeal because of disputes over taxation does not give you a new deadline or payment date for tax claims nor bring about absolution of any penalties that have been charged because of lack of tax payment. In special circumstances, this clause can be deviated from with the decision of the Minister of Finance.
Taxes are collected by the respective debt collector of the Treasury. The Directorate of Customs in Reykjavík (Tollstjóri) is responsible for collecting the taxes in the administrative district of Reykjavík and district commissioners in other administrative districts. If taxation is lowered after a ruling of the Internal Revenue Board, reimbursement of taxes will take place.
In most cases, you must appeal within three months from the date of the decision letter. In some cases you must appeal within 30 days. The deadline for appeal should be stated in the decision letter.
If you miss the deadline for appeal you must explain the reason for the delay so that the Internal Revenue Board can decide if they’ll still consider your appeal.
When the Internal Revenue Board receives an appeal, a copy of it is sent to the relevant administrative office. The role of the administrative institution is threefold in the appeal process: It provides the Internal Revenue Board with the original documents of the case, it collects additional documents, if deemed necessary, and it provides an opinion on the appeal within 45 days from the arrival of the appeal.
When you appeal to the Internal Revenue Board, it will send you a copy of the opinion made by the relevant administrative office as well as copies of additional documents, if any. You will be given an opportunity to respond to the claims made by the administrative office. Generally, you must reply within 20 days.
The Internal Revenue Board aims to ensure that cases are processed as quickly as possible. However, it has six months to rule on your appeal from the date when it receives all the necessary documents from the administrative office. When a decision is reached, the Internal Revenue Board sends its ruling to you and your representative, if any, as well as to the relevant administrative office.
There are no fees for making an appeal to the Internal Revenue Board.
The Internal Revenue Board can decide a reimbursement for your expenses due to an appeal to the Internal Revenue Board if the ruling is in your favour, in full or in part. You must make a claim for reimbursement and provide documents supporting your costs.