The former Conservative Party Chairman Bendt Bendtsen has been reported to the Tax Authority (SKAT) on allegations of failing to pay tax on hunting and golf trips paid for by Danish companies, according to B.T.

The report was filed by the Mayor of Hørsholm Uffe Thorndahl, who until last year was also a member of the Conservative Party.

“The government is currently preoccupied with the abuse of social benefits in which people with a much lower income than yours try to cheat themselves to benefits they are not entitled to,” says Thorndahl in his report.

Gifts are taxable
According to Copenhagen University Associate Professor in Tax Law Jacob Graff, hunting trips are taxable if they do not have professional content.

“In principle you have to pay tax on gifts received. The law says that you can only accept tax-free gifts of about 500-700 kroner. And when you go on a hunt in a closed group, paid for by a company, that is a gift that is taxable. Ministers should be particularly aware of this,” Nielsen tells B.T.

Conservative Party Press Spokeswoman Rikke Egelund tells B.T. that ministers are not encompassed by normal tax laws in this connection, as ministers are exempt as they add glamour to an event. Tax experts disagree.