Accuracy and reliability

Overall accuracy

The overall accuracy is considered to be very good as the data is compiled from administrative registers. Data is checked and validated by both the Danish Tax Agency and Statistics Denmark. If an error is found, it is corrected in collaboration with the Danish Tax Agency.

The process of finalising each companies’ assessed tax is comprehensive, where some companies take longer to finalise than others. Data might not include all companies because some chooses not to report to the tax authorities or if not all subsidiaries or affiliated companies are included. Companies, in general, have great incentive to report on time, as they otherwise have to pay a tax supplement. Missing subsidiaries or affiliated companies only affects the number of liable companies shown in the statistics, but does not affect the tax revenue because of joint taxation. However, the tax can unpredictably either increase or decline, which is impossible to correct for. The unpredictable changes occurs among other things because of errors in either taxable income or a long review time and process. The revision is allocated to the relevant year.

Sampling error

Not relevant for these statistics.

Non-sampling error

The process of finalising each companies’ assessed tax is complex, where some companies take longer to finalise than others. Thus, data might include non-response errors. These errors might occur if companies choose not to report to the tax authorities or if not all subsidiaries or affiliated companies are included in the data. Companies, in general, have great incentive to report on time, as they otherwise have to pay a tax supplement.. Missing subsidiaries or affiliated companies only affects the number of liable companies shown in the statistics, but does not affect the tax revenue because of joint taxation.

The uncertainty regarding measurement error because of the current joint taxation rules. These rules means that all subsidiaries or affiliated companies information of a fiscal nature are reported by their parent or management company. Statistics Denmark receive data for all companies and foundations from the Danish Tax Agency. The received data is then used to compute each parent or management company actual tax payment. Consequently, measurement errors are minimal. The tax can unpredictably either increase or decline, which is impossible to correct for. The unpredictable changes occurs among other things because of errors in either taxable income or a long review time and process. The corrections are allocated to the relevant year, however due to Statistics Denmark’s revision practice corrections are not carried further back than three years. The years beyond that are considered final.

The statistics cover almost every corporation which are liable for taxation in Denmark, which this is why coverage error minimal. The reason behind the minimal coverage error is that data changes can be allocated back to the year that data change actually belongs to. This means that if a notice is not finalized until 2021, even though it pertains corporation taxes in 2019, the change will be allocated back to corporation taxes in 2019 and not affect corporation taxes in 2021. Due to Statistics Denmark’s revision practice corrections are not carried further back than three years. The years beyond that are considered final

Quality management

Statistics Denmark follows the recommendations on organisation and management of quality given in the Code of Practice for European Statistics (CoP) and the implementation guidelines given in the Quality Assurance Framework of the European Statistical System (QAF). A Working Group on Quality and a central quality assurance function have been established to continuously carry through control of products and processes.

Quality assurance

Statistics Denmark follows the principles in the Code of Practice for European Statistics (CoP) and uses the Quality Assurance Framework of the European Statistical System (QAF) for the implementation of the principles. This involves continuous decentralized and central control of products and processes based on documentation following international standards. The central quality assurance function reports to the Working Group on Quality. Reports include suggestions for improvement that are assessed, decided and subsequently implemented.

Quality assessment

The information comes from administrative records and is generally considered to be of a very good quality because of the comprehensive data foundation available for the production of corporation taxes. Data is collected from the Danish Tax Agency’s administrative registers, which is updated on a continuous basis as more corporations and foundations have been assessed and any changes to already finalised assessments are incorporated into the data.

Statistics Denmark uses the data to compute each corporations’ taxable income such that a possible tax payment can be determined. The computation is based on a tax declaration part, an assessed part, a joint taxation part, and a deficit part and takes all tax credits, tax reliefs and tax supplements into account. If an error is found, then it is corrected in collaboration with the Danish Tax Agency. Subsequently, data is validated by comparing the new level of corporation taxes by comparing it to the level of the previous year. The comparison takes both business tendencies and possible tax rate changes into account.

The statistics are published in March year two after the tax year. The finalised corporation taxes are published in March year three after the income year. The publication follows the revision rhythm of national accounts.

The statistics are part of the general economic debate. The statistics often gets a lot of attention in the media and among other professional users.

Data revision - policy

Statistics Denmark revises published figures in accordance with the Revision Policy for Statistics Denmark. The common procedures and principles of the Revision Policy are for some statistics supplemented by a specific revision practice.

Data revision practice

The statistics are published in March year two after the income year. After this, data is revised for the final publication in March year three after the income year.

The numbers are incorporated in the following publication of national accounts, which means that the statistics follow the revision rhythm of national accounts.

Data from any given income year are revised, when next year's data are published. Some tax cases are not concluded until several years after the end of the income year. The Danish tax authorities will thus continually receive corrections to data and as a result the data will never be final from the point of view of the tax authorities. Due to Statistics Denmark’s revision practice corrections are not carried out further back than three years. The years beyond that are considered final.