Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Legal certainty in taxation at authorities and courts of law: a nordic view of specialization and unbiasedness

Tjernberg, Mats LU orcid (2016) In Nordic Tax Journal 1(1). p.17-28
Abstract
Legal certainty is central to taxation decisions. This article describes the current legal situation and discussions in four Nordic countries. Sweden and Finland are specialized in dealing with taxation cases in administrative courts. In Denmark and Norway, no specialization exists in taxation cases. I maintain in this article that legal certainty would benefit from explicit signals from the state about the requirement of special knowledge and unbiasedness in authority and court decisions. These signals could well take the form of specialization in the courts. The need for specialized expertise is particularly extensive in tax law. It is also crucial for the agencies’ officials and judges to be aware that a subjective sense of unbiasedness... (More)
Legal certainty is central to taxation decisions. This article describes the current legal situation and discussions in four Nordic countries. Sweden and Finland are specialized in dealing with taxation cases in administrative courts. In Denmark and Norway, no specialization exists in taxation cases. I maintain in this article that legal certainty would benefit from explicit signals from the state about the requirement of special knowledge and unbiasedness in authority and court decisions. These signals could well take the form of specialization in the courts. The need for specialized expertise is particularly extensive in tax law. It is also crucial for the agencies’ officials and judges to be aware that a subjective sense of unbiasedness in decision making does not necessarily mean that the unbiasedness aimed for has been attained. Self-awareness of this kind would ensure that argumentation and grounds for decisions would be made credible and transparent, to the benefit of legal certainty. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
tax law, public law, skatterätt, offentlig rätt
in
Nordic Tax Journal
volume
1
issue
1
pages
12 pages
publisher
De Gruyter Open
ISSN
2246-1809
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
f17f0fe7-1b01-4738-a0a0-9e93127837d9
date added to LUP
2016-06-14 09:50:40
date last changed
2024-02-19 16:08:46
@article{f17f0fe7-1b01-4738-a0a0-9e93127837d9,
  abstract     = {{Legal certainty is central to taxation decisions. This article describes the current legal situation and discussions in four Nordic countries. Sweden and Finland are specialized in dealing with taxation cases in administrative courts. In Denmark and Norway, no specialization exists in taxation cases. I maintain in this article that legal certainty would benefit from explicit signals from the state about the requirement of special knowledge and unbiasedness in authority and court decisions. These signals could well take the form of specialization in the courts. The need for specialized expertise is particularly extensive in tax law. It is also crucial for the agencies’ officials and judges to be aware that a subjective sense of unbiasedness in decision making does not necessarily mean that the unbiasedness aimed for has been attained. Self-awareness of this kind would ensure that argumentation and grounds for decisions would be made credible and transparent, to the benefit of legal certainty.}},
  author       = {{Tjernberg, Mats}},
  issn         = {{2246-1809}},
  keywords     = {{tax law; public law; skatterätt; offentlig rätt}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{05}},
  number       = {{1}},
  pages        = {{17--28}},
  publisher    = {{De Gruyter Open}},
  series       = {{Nordic Tax Journal}},
  title        = {{Legal certainty in taxation at authorities and courts of law: a nordic view of specialization and unbiasedness}},
  volume       = {{1}},
  year         = {{2016}},
}