Isildur from the tax office
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Since the year 2006 is the Skatteverket – against online poker professionals who live in Sweden, but play poker sites that are located outside the EU – the Swedish tax authority.
According to several Swedish newspapers Viktor “Isildur1″ Blom is currently one of the most important goals. His tax debt has allegedly added to $ 150 million. has a basis of the calculations are the well-documented high-stakes sessions that Blom completed on Full Tilt.
The Swedish colleagues from PokerListings.se spoke now with Dag Hardyson, the manager of the Saktteverket. In the interview he would not confirm that proceedings against Blom is opened.
“We can not comment on individual cases,” said Hardyson. “Neither, if a process is running, even if one intended.”
However, the officials know exactly by whom we are talking.
“I’ve ever been asked by a reporter and replied, as he could even ask a sports journalist whether he ever heard of something Zlatan (Ibrahimovic – the most famous Swedish football player). But maybe I would have never have said, I can not really comment on individuals. ”
The crux lies in the Swedish legislation. Poker is there as a lottery, and all profits that they earned by providers from outside the EU must be taxed at 30%. This is settled each pot individually, ie each obtained corresponds to a small pot (or large) individual lottery prize.
The problem is that you can not deduct losses. Only a small amount of about $ 15 as “operational expenses” deductible.
The Swedish daily newspaper Dagens Industri added together all the pots that Blom has won only at Full Tilt, and so came to an estimated tax liability of $ 150 million
Although Full Tilt is home to at least partly in Ireland, the company is still under Hardyson under the tax laws of either Aruba or Alderney.
“We believe that Full Tilt Poker operates outside the EU,” said Hardyson.
Hardyson added that the Tax Agency is able to make precise estimates when it comes to profits of poker players.
“I can not speak in detail about Full Tilt, but it has become easier overall continue to collect data on sites that locate in tax havens. More and more of these countries give up their positions and try to close with the EU or the U.S. agreement. ”
Blom has officially moved to London to escape the Swedish tax authority, but according to him Hardyson should not help much.
“The years in which he has lived in Sweden, he was still liable to tax, and we plan to collect it if it is possible. If someone moves to England or Spain, for example, we do have enough relationships to access there as well. How exactly this works, I can tell you unfortunately. ”
Skatteverket should actually collect $ 150 million, this will be the biggest coup in the history of the Swedish authorities.
“We do something like that for quite some time, and I would say we are pretty successful,” smiled Hardyson.
“But I must add that many players give their income officially, and in some cases, these are at very considerable sums. In the press is rarely talked about what I feel towards the players not quite fair … However, I do not know if you specify only the net gain or actually every pot.
