Witness: The Tax Agency did not know that the Municipality of Kujalleq owed them money

During 2023 and 2024, Municipality of Kujalleq has not paid A-tax on time for 10 months and failed to pay at all for three months, and this should result in a fine of 6.1 million kroner, according to the prosecution on behalf of the Tax Agency.

Therefore, the case is before the Court of Greenland on Tuesday.

The municipality is charged with gross negligence and pleads not guilty.

They acknowledge that payments have not been made on time for all months, but deny that they have acted “intentionally or grossly negligently”. This is what the municipality’s defendant says in court.

Before noon, a number of witnesses will give evidence in court. The first is Arne Ørbæk Skifte Andersen, who has been employed as CFO/Deputy Municipal Director of Kujalleq Municipality as of 1 February 2024. He is responsible for the municipality’s finances.

He became aware of the case at the end of March 2024, just before Easter.

- A few days before, I had been given a verbal briefing that there might be a debt to the Tax Agency, he says.

He received this briefing from an external consultant, whom he asked to investigate the matter further.

Still financial challenges

The prosecutor asks how Arne Ørbæk Skifte Andersen will describe the municipality's finances when he took office.

- Before I took office, I knew that the municipality had not submitted accounts for 2021 and 2022, but apart from that I did not have much knowledge of the finances.

He explains that this is because the transition to a new financial system in 2021 had been difficult for the municipality.

The prosecutor then asks how the municipality's finances are today.

- The municipality is still financially challenged. Part of it can be traced back to this tax arrears. We have had to take out loans from the bank to pay the debt. I expect this financial situation to last until the entire debt is repaid, says Arne Ørbæk Skifte Andersen.

He explains that as of February 2025, the municipality no longer owes money to the Tax Agency. However, they are still paying off the loan to the bank.

The Tax Agency did not know that there was an outstanding balance

After this, the defense attorney for the Municipality of Kujalleq asks the witness some questions.

Here, Arne Ørbæk Skifte Andersen explains that they have had difficulty logging on to Sullissivik to see if they owe money to the Tax Agency, and that it is not simple or clear to get an overview.

If it is possible to get in, can you immediately see whether you owe anything or not, the defense attorney asks.

- That is not my opinion, no, says Arne Ørbæk Skifte Andersen.

He explains that it was the Municipality of Kujalleq itself that contacted the Tax Agency to make them aware that there was a tax debt from the municipality. He does not recall receiving any reminders from the Tax Agency.

- It was not my opinion that the Tax Agency knew that there was a balance before we made contact, says Arne Ørbæk Skifte Andersen.

Hiring external consultant

Former municipal director of the Municipality of Kujalleq Tine Pars will come forward as the next witness. She was municipal director from August 2021 until her employment expired in the summer of 2025.

She says that for many years the municipality received all information about the economy from finance manager Kim Rosendahl.

Tine Pars says that she thought the problem was the financial system, which is why she hired an external consultant. Only then did she become aware that there was a bigger problem with the municipality's finances.

That is why she was also shocked when she found out how much the municipality owed the tax authority.

Tine Pars wonders why they are the ones who should make the tax authority aware of the debt.

She talks about a meeting between her, Kim Rosendahl and the head of the tax authority in Qaqortoq in 2022, which she refers to as a courtesy visit. Here, the head of the tax authority makes a comment that there is some A-tax that needs to be paid.

After the meeting, she does not receive any further information about the tax debt from Kim Rosendahl.

The treasury is empty

The next witness is Kim Rosendahl, who was the finance manager for over 20 years in the Municipality of Qaqortoq and the Municipality of Kujalleq after the municipal merger. He retired in July 2024.

Like the other witnesses, he says that there were problems with the new financial system. As a result, he lost some of his overview.

In 2023, the municipality had hired a consulting firm to help with a new system. In November 2023, the consultant came into Kim Rosendahl's office and asked if he was aware that they owed three million in interest to the Tax Agency,

- It was the first time I became aware that we owed interest and that there was a debt for tax, he says.

Kim Rosendahl says that one or two years before 2023, he had contact with the Tax Agency. That meeting was about the municipality's tight finances. He cannot remember anything more about what was discussed at that meeting.

He is asked about the meeting that Tine Pars has explained about in 2022, where non-payment of A-tax had been touched upon. He is asked if he can remember it.

- No. I have to be honest, no, I can't remember that, he says. The meeting he remembers took place before Tine Pars was hired.

The prosecutor asks why the municipality did not pay the tax on time after Kim Rosendahl became aware of the problem in November 2023.

- There was no money at that time. The cash register is empty.

Did the Municipality of Kujalleq know that you did not pay A-tax on time after November 2023, the prosecutor asks.

- I would say the cash register was empty.

The judge interrupts and says that it is a simple question and that he must answer it.

- Yes. I would say yes. We did not have the money, so I made an installment plan so that we could gradually reduce the debt that was now there.

Afterwards, however, he says that it was the interest debt that he was talking about. He claims that the taxes were paid on time after November 2023.

Low competences in the tax authority

The next witness is an accountant who has been hired as an independent consultant for the Municipality of Kujalleq from autumn 2023 to April 2025.

She was hired to get a handle on the municipality's finances and discovered during 2024 that the municipality had not paid their taxes on time, which she subsequently informed them about.

- It was quite clear to me that the municipality was not aware of it, and that it was their opinion that the money had been settled, says the witness. She says that the municipality was surprised by her messages.

She says that the tax authority does not carry out active debit follow-up.

- They sit back and believe what is written, and that is a mistake, and they do not carry out any active follow-up, she says, which means that they do not take action against the debtors.

It is her opinion that the municipality would not have received a fine if they had not contacted the tax authority themselves before paying the amounts.

The prosecutor asks whether the Municipality of Kujalleq knew that they had not paid the money.

She says that Kim Rosendahl and the payroll manager in the municipality were absolutely sure that they had paid the money. She believes that Kim Rosendahl should have known that they had not paid taxes.

A bit of a coincidence with fines

An employee from the Tax Agency comes forward as the next witness. She has helped prepare the fines for the municipality.

She says that the fines are usually issued in connection with an inspection, or if they are made aware that someone has not paid the tax on time.

The witness states that there is no system in the Tax Agency that tells them that someone has not paid on time.

Therefore, not everyone who has not paid on time gets a fine.

The defense attorney asks if it is a bit of a coincidence who gets a fine, and the witness agrees.

All witnesses have thus been questioned in the case. The trial continues over dinner, where the defense and prosecution must document and prepare procedures.