Returning from holiday as new questions arise about husband’s tax status

After a resonating day-long silence, Social Democrat leader Helle Thorning-Schmidt has announced she will return home from holiday to clear up questions about her husband’s tax status.

TV2 News reports that Thorning-Schmidt is en route from her holiday in France, and will arrive in Copenhagen at 5:15 this afternoon.

Thorning-Schmidt’s credibility has taken a beating over the past day after it emerged that she provided government offices with conflicting information about her husband’s residency in Denmark.

In June, she was reported to have informed tax officials that her husband, Stephen Kinnock, who works in Switzerland, spent less than half the year in Denmark, making him exempt from Danish taxes.

However, she admitted yesterday that she made a ‘careless’ mistake when she informed the Justice Ministry in 2009 that Kinnock was in Denmark for more than half the year, making him eligible to own property.

B.T. newspaper, which originally revealed the discrepancy, reported today that Thorning-Schmidt, send subsequent e-mails to the Justice Ministry stating that Kinnock had lived in the country for less than half the year since 2004.

While the Thorning-Schmidt’s opponents in parliament are accusing her of trying to avoid paying taxes, other members of the opposition said they are waiting for her to explain her side of the story.