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- What's hiding behind the hedge?
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Danish tax authorities have carried out hundreds of visits to private properties (picture above).
- Facts about undeclared work in Denmark
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A majority of the population is involved in the shadow economy either by buying or selling. Nearly one in four adults have carried out undeclared work in the past year, and just under 30 percent say they are willing to pay for undeclared work.
Danes are against systematic undeclared work for larger sums of money, but are understanding towards small jobs being carried out undeclared.
Undeclared work makes up a considerable part of the Danish economy and is a drain on public resources. The Rockwool Foundation Research Unit estimates the total annual loss in taxes to be some eight billion Danish kroner (€8.07bn). The total value of the shadow economy has remained fairly stable in the past 15 years.
Source: Rockwool Foundation Research Unit and the Danish Economics Councils
- Denmark’s definition of undeclared work
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Productive and legal economic activity which should be subject to taxation, but which illegally is not because purchaser and seller agree not to tell tax authorities about it. This could be real work, e.g. when a car mechanic repairs a broken engine without presenting a written bill, or it could be other exchanges and favours, e.g. when a plumber fixes the painter’s new bathroom in return for the painter giving the plumber’s living room a lick of fresh paint.
It is illegal to perform and to buy undeclared work.
Source: Rockwool Foundation Research Unit
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Work Research Institute
OsloMet – Oslo Metropolitan University,
Postboks 4 St. Olavs plass, NO-0130 Oslo
The Nordic Council of Ministers is not responsible for the content