Skatteverket asks for names of Sweden-based EBD members
Oct 14, 2020, 3:06 am
#61
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Salacious gossip and other salacious stories is what the Swedish bureaucrats love at fika time and what the tabloid media loves all the time. A Swedish version of "catch & kill" to bury a story almost certainly wouldn't work with this kind of thing in Sweden.
By the way, you left out mister/male paramour. Also, there is some of that stuff going on during the work week too. [Look at what either Scandic or Nordic Choice hotels added as an occupancy restriction for day-room use of the hotel rooms as substitute offices during this period when they are trying to make up for the loss of overnight guest traffic revenue.]
Regardless of being XY or XX, there are definitely some Swedish celebrities of sort who mix business with pleasure and are almost certainly running up and down the frequent flyer program balances in doing so at times.
Whether accrual is banned or not, I know some Swedish government employees who say they don't credit their work trips to any loyalty programs because it could be problematic. I had asked about this back when I was still learning about SJ's program and wondering if the people going to the judge meetings and other government work conferences/meetings/investigations were collecting points for their domestic train trips.
By the way, you left out mister/male paramour. Also, there is some of that stuff going on during the work week too. [Look at what either Scandic or Nordic Choice hotels added as an occupancy restriction for day-room use of the hotel rooms as substitute offices during this period when they are trying to make up for the loss of overnight guest traffic revenue.]
Regardless of being XY or XX, there are definitely some Swedish celebrities of sort who mix business with pleasure and are almost certainly running up and down the frequent flyer program balances in doing so at times.
Whether accrual is banned or not, I know some Swedish government employees who say they don't credit their work trips to any loyalty programs because it could be problematic. I had asked about this back when I was still learning about SJ's program and wondering if the people going to the judge meetings and other government work conferences/meetings/investigations were collecting points for their domestic train trips.
Oct 14, 2020, 4:21 am
#62
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I didn't quit leave out the potential combinations, it could also be taken to understand that a female minister brought the mistress on a weekend trip, or a male minister bringing the lover. Maybe I am just weird as I tend to think of a lover as being of male gender. Certainly any combinations of genders was meant to be included in the options.
Is the Swedish king EBD? Some years back it seemed like much of his family had SK*G status in one form or another, whether it was earned from flying or as part of a brown-nosing effort by SAS. I look forward to seeing how Skatteverket tries to tax rewards as imputed income for his relatives too. It should be interesting to see what kind of snags they hit while trying to place a concrete value on the miles/points earned from whatever constitutes "work".
Last edited by GUWonder; Oct 14, 2020 at 5:00 am
Oct 14, 2020, 5:38 am
#63
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I think the points could count as a bribe if you hold certain important positions.
Oct 14, 2020, 6:23 am
#64
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There is bribing that has gone on with people in important positions in Sweden, but it's way bigger -- and way bigger material value -- than what an airline gives via published charts to its FFP customers. Immovable property sales and art and antique sales are a richer goldmine for hunting down corruption in Sweden than going after airline program miles earned from flying.
Last edited by GUWonder; Oct 14, 2020 at 6:51 am
Oct 14, 2020, 8:33 am
#65
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That would be the easiest solution, but does it actually work? I assume that German programmes such as Miles & More and Bahn Bonus pay tax, but what if someone credits a flight to a foreign programme? The obvious case would be when not flying on a Lufthansa partner airline (like AF or AY), but there are probably some people who prefer Eurobonus for Star Alliance flights.
Oct 14, 2020, 8:46 am
#66
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Oct 14, 2020, 10:56 am
#67
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Oct 14, 2020, 11:11 am
#68
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What do LH and Finanzamt do about LH program members who live in Germany but have their LH account address still on file in the US and actively credit LH flights to such LH accounts with a registered address in the US?
Oct 14, 2020, 1:10 pm
#69
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I suppose LH won’t pay the taxes for those miles. And if ever investigated by the Finanzamt the „cheat“ could be found guilty of tax evasion. But I don’t think they would even seriously look at loyalty programs... not even in Germany where everything goes by „ze rule“
Oct 14, 2020, 2:03 pm
#70
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Oct 14, 2020, 7:26 pm
#71
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I don’t recall hearing about any US program entering into a LH-style deal with Finanzamt over mileage credits for flights. And between the US military and other US government presence in Germany and all the other Americans who get 1-5 year private sector rotations in Germany, I’m sure there are a lot of American frequent flyer program account members who’ve been living in Germany and earning US program miles for work-related flights. It seems to me that Finanzamt went after the biggest fish that wouldn’t immediately set off bigger international ripples while at it.
Oct 14, 2020, 11:44 pm
#72
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Don’t think so. There might one or the other agreement but I wouldn’t think that a lot of non-German programs work with the German tax authorities.
Oct 15, 2020, 4:51 am
#73
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Somewhat irritating that the tax authorities want to milk business travelers using points privately. How about taxing grocery store clerks who don't have to spend large amounts of their time away from the family? Tax us for our trips, and them for their family time.
I remember one year where I spent three nights at home in a five week period. How much is that worth in deductibles?
Sounds fair to me.
I remember one year where I spent three nights at home in a five week period. How much is that worth in deductibles?
Sounds fair to me.
Oct 15, 2020, 6:08 am
#74
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Somewhat irritating that the tax authorities want to milk business travelers using points privately. How about taxing grocery store clerks who don't have to spend large amounts of their time away from the family? Tax us for our trips, and them for their family time.
I remember one year where I spent three nights at home in a five week period. How much is that worth in deductibles?
Sounds fair to me.
I remember one year where I spent three nights at home in a five week period. How much is that worth in deductibles?
Sounds fair to me.
Oct 15, 2020, 6:40 am
#75
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: AGH
Posts: 5,979
Somewhat irritating that the tax authorities want to milk business travelers using points privately. How about taxing grocery store clerks who don't have to spend large amounts of their time away from the family? Tax us for our trips, and them for their family time.
I remember one year where I spent three nights at home in a five week period. How much is that worth in deductibles?
Sounds fair to me.
I remember one year where I spent three nights at home in a five week period. How much is that worth in deductibles?
Sounds fair to me.
The question is, as long as a fair value cannot be determined for points/miles I find it unfair to tax the benefit. Since I never know how much I would be taxed. Assuming they will tell me I have to to tax every mile as 1 SEK in benefit, I would say "Thanks, but I won't credit any miles" and negotiate a higher renumeration instead. If it would be 1 SEK for 1000 miles, I would probably say: "Here have the tax money".