The council – the cabinet’s highest advisory body – is writing this in advice that remains confidential to the finance ministry, the insider asserts. After a report from Norwegian Refugee Council. According to the council, so many different political commitments were made regarding compensation that it became “impossible” for the Tax and Customs Administration to comply with them on time and in full. The council also warned of “imbalances” in the compensation programs and of unequal treatment between different categories of victims. As a result, the recovery process has become “legally compromised”.

In doing so, the Council expresses the criticism that has been received for months. With thousands of parents becoming victims of fraud chased by tax authorities, the Cabinet is now unable to repair the damage in an orderly and urgent manner. As a result, a large percentage of affected parents are still not sure if they are entitled to compensation, how high that compensation will be and when it will be paid. Most of the files date from 2007 to 2016 – so many parents have been waiting for clarity for many years. The Cabinet itself is under constant criticism in the House of Representatives because of the situation.

new delay

This is what the House of Representatives and the Council of Ministers proposed to themselves, as the Council points out, in reference to the many promises made by the Council of Ministers during the past year under pressure from the House of Representatives. Most important is the Catshuis scheme from the end of 2020: each parent who is considered a victim after a simple examination, has since received 30 thousand euros. At least that’s the intent, but it’s precisely this arrangement that has led to such an increase in the number of requests being delayed again in processing files.

Moreover, the Catshuis scheme is only a first step. The actual damage to each file still needs to be assessed, but this takes a lot of time. The files are complex. Often the damage is also immaterial and therefore not easy to express in money. Moreover, this requires coordination with third parties, such as creditors, health care institutions, housing associations and municipalities. Meanwhile, Tax and Customs Administration is struggling with staff shortages.

In the meantime, compensation plans are already underway for specific groups of victims, such as ex-partners of aggrieved parents and people who have had problems with other allowances, such as rent or health care allowance. New on the radar Cheeked Babies, Including children who have been evicted from their homes in recent years. But the total group is much larger. According to the latest accounts of the Cabinet, about 70,000 children have been affected to a greater or lesser extent by the fraud pursuit. Foreign Minister Van Hovelen from Finance promised them compensation of between 1,500 and 7,500 euros last summer because they often had to grow up in problematic circumstances. However, this compensation must also be settled on a case-by-case basis.