Limitation of claim for damages for omitted payroll tax payment
Supreme Court judgment 9 March 2021, HR-2021-530-A, (case no. 20-115979SIV-HRET)
A (Counsel Audun Lillestølen) v. The State represented by the Ministry of Finance (The Office of the Attorney General represented by Ida Thue)
Justices: Webster, Arntzen, Østensen Berglund, Thyness, Steinsvik
A company subjected to bankruptcy proceedings had failed to calculate and pay considerable amounts in payroll tax. After a tax reassessment, the State requested payment of the missing amount from the company's former chairman of the board, see section 17-1 of the Companies Act. The Supreme Court's majority of three justices found that the claim was time-barred, see section 9 of the Limitation of Claims Act. The trustee's first annual report set out that there would not be assets in the bankruptcy estate to cover non-priority claims. It was assumed that the loss was thus clarified, and that the tax collector acquired knowledge implying that the limitation period started to run shortly after this report had been submitted. This was more than three years before the cut-off date. The minority of two justices found that the limitation period did not start to run until the reassessment decision had been made.