Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK
For members

WHAT CHANGES IN DENMARK

KEY POINTS: What changes about life in Denmark in March 2024?

Tax returns released, new cash rules, clocks change and Easter holidays. Here are the changes and events upcoming in Denmark in March.

Published: 28 February 2024 10:59 CET
Updated: 1 March 2024 16:13 CET
KEY POINTS: What changes about life in Denmark in March 2024?
March will bring the first spring events to Denmark. Photo: Ida Guldbæk Arentsen/Ritzau Scanpix

Annual tax returns to be released

The release of the årsopgørelse (annual tax return, calculated and displayed on the SKAT website) is possibly the most important event on the Danish tax calendar. All taxpayers in Denmark will be able to access their 2023 returns on the Skat.dk website from March 11th 2024.

Within a set deadline which falls at the beginning of May, taxpayers can edit the tax information on their annual returns, for example if they need to update income or tax exemption information from the relevant tax year (2023 in this case).

Around three out of four taxpayers in Denmark get refunds after the yearly annual return, although others have to pay money back to the tax authority.

While a tax year is ongoing, you can also check how much tax you’ve paid or are due to pay during the course of the year and edit your income and deductions on the preliminary version of the return, the forskudsopgørelse. The preliminary returns for 2024 are already available on the Skat website.

READ ALSO: Årsopgørelse: What you need to know about Denmark’s annual tax return

New limit for cash payments 

New rules on the use of cash, first announced late last year by the National Bank, take effect on March 1st.

The change in rules means the limit to cash payments which can be accepted by businesses, currently 20,000 kroner, will be reduced to 15,000 kroner.

Cash is currently used in around 10 percent of payments in stores in Denmark, with 90 percent of these payments being 500 kroner or less.

The reduction to the cash limit is part of a longer-term process in which the 1,000-krone note will be removed from circulation in a measure to fight money laundering.

Ukrainians should apply for child support by end of month

Eligible Ukrainian nationals resident in Denmark under the special “Ukrainian law” for persons who have fled the war in Ukraine should apply for child support payments by March 31st, the Danish Agency for International Recruitment and Integration (SIRI) has advised.

The advice applies if you are married and live alone with your child in Denmark, and your spouse is in Ukraine.

A proposed change to the Ukrainian law, tabled in January, will mean that a person granted residency in Denmark under the law and who is married and lives with their children but without their partner, because the partner is in Ukraine, can be consider a de facto sole provider and receive the relevant social welfare benefit.

Applying for the benefit before the end of March will ensure you can receive it from the date the change takes effect, expected to be April 1st. Further information and the application portal can be found on SIRI’s website.

READ ALSO: Ukrainians in Denmark: Eight out of ten in jobs after fleeing war

Switch to summertime means light evenings are back

The change to GMT+2 or summertime on Sunday, March 31st means an end to dark evenings for another season. Clocks go forward by one hour at 3am on the 31st, meaning one hour less of sleep that weekend to offset the change.

Politicians in Denmark and the EU have in the past discussed scrapping the twice-yearly changing of the clocks for daylight saving, but there have been no recent developments on this front.

Tivoli Gardens opens for its spring/summer season

As the winter days start to fade, Tivoli in Copenhagen reopens. This year’s spring season begins on March 22nd with the park’s Easter week, complete with lambs and flowers, until April 1st. Tivoli will remain open throughout the summer until September 22nd.

Easter holidays

Speaking of Easter, the Easter holidays fall at the end of March this year, meaning the beginning of a run of spring public holidays is just around the corner.

READ ALSO: Påskefrokost: What are the essentials of a Danish Easter lunch?

The Easter period in Denmark includes Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter Sunday, and Easter Monday, which are designated national holidays. Schools are closed from the beginning of the Easter week from the Monday after Palm Sunday. It’s also common for people to use annual leave from work, and some workplaces might close for the Easter week.

Easter dates for 2024 are as follows:

  • Palm Sunday: March 24th (Sunday)
  • Maundy Thursday: March 28th (Thursday)
  • Good Friday: March 29th (Friday)
  • Easter: March 31st (Sunday)
  • Easter Monday: April 1st (Monday)

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.
For members

WHAT CHANGES IN DENMARK

KEY POINTS: What changes about life in Denmark in May 2024?

Sirens (including on smart phones) to be tested, deadline for tax returns, national holidays and a Copenhagen Marathon enjoying record popularity are among events and changes coming this month in Denmark.

Published: 29 April 2024 17:20 CEST
Updated: 1 May 2024 11:38 CEST
KEY POINTS: What changes about life in Denmark in May 2024?

Sirens and mobile alert to be tested on May 1st

Each May, Denmark tests the sirens that authorities can use to warn the population if there is an emergency situation.

The 2024 test is scheduled to take place as usual at noon on the first Wednesday of the month – which this year also means the first day of the month, Wednesday May 1st.

A test of a digital warning system, first introduced last year, will also be tested in 2024. The digital system allows authorities to send siren sounds and warning messages to smartphones.

Last year’s version of the digital test did not reach everyone due to it only being compatible with certain phone updates. So you may find you receive this year even if you did not in 2023.

Anyone with a smart phone connected to the Danish network can expect to receive the test siren and message on their devices on May 3rd at 12pm.

The physical and digital test sirens are sent out by the Danish Emergency Management Agency (Beredskabsstyrelen or DEMA) and the Danish National Police. More information can be found in English (and 10 other languages) on the DEMA website.

Deadline for finalising tax returns

Denmark’s tax authority SKAT opened access to annual tax returns on March 11th.

Annual tax returns (årsopgørelser) in Denmark cover calendar years. They are released in March and finalised in late spring, meaning taxpayers have this period to correct the information on their tax returns from the previous calendar year.

The tax returns encompass income over the preceding tax year as well as deductions and subsidies.

Normally, around three in four people receive money back from the tax authorities once their return is finalised. The amount paid back varies and depends on individual circumstances, and others may owe money to the tax system.

Rebates from the tax system are sent from mid-April onwards but the final deadline for updating information on the returns is May 1st. This means that, at the time of writing, you still (just about) have time to check whether your return is correct and update any information.

READ ALSO: 

Public holidays and other days off in May

Great Prayer Day or Store Bededag is no longer a national holiday (and fell in April this year anyway) but there are still a few dates to highlight in the diary for time off work.

Ascension Day, Kristi Himmelfartsdag in Danish, is less than two weeks after Great Prayer Day on Thursday May 9th.

Many Danes take the Friday after Ascension Day as annual leave, giving them a four-day weekend at the cost of only one day of leave.

Then there’s Whitsunday and Whitmonday, known in Danish as Pinsedag and 2. Pinsedag. These fall on May 19th and 20th respectively, so that’s another three-day weekend in the middle of the month.

Meanwhile, Labour Day on May 1st is not a public holiday in Denmark – unlike in the other Nordic countries – but many of Denmark’s workers do have the day off (sometimes half a day), provided by their collective bargaining agreements.

READ ALSO: Why isn’t May 1st a public holiday in Denmark but is in Sweden and Norway?

Switch to summer tyres (if you haven’t already)

Alternating between winter and summer tyres is not a legal requirement in Denmark, but is broadly recommended, including by FDM, the Danish membership organisation for motorists.

Neighbouring Sweden, Norway and Germany – where many Danish residents head on skiing and other holidays during the colder months – all have rules requiring winter tyres, meanwhile, meaning the practice is common in Denmark, not least for those who may need to take their cars over the border.

Most people switch back to summer tyres at Easter, which this year fell on April 9th. But the weather was still quite wintry during the early part of April, so some car owners may have held out a little longer.

More about the practice of using winter and summer tyres in Denmark can be found in this article.

Copenhagen Marathon ready to go amid massive spike in interest

The Copenhagen Marathon takes place on Sunday May 7th, so if you’re planning to drive or take a bus through parts of the capital that day you should plan ahead to avoid disruption.

The 42.2-kilometre route through the city includes a start and finish area at Øster Allé near Fælledparken. It will take marathoners past Tivoli, Christiansborg and Kongens Nytorv, as well as the charred remains of the old stock exchange, Børsen.

The marathon takes in each of Copenhagen’s central districts: Vesterbro, the Inner City, Østerbro, Frederiksberg and Nørrebro.

There’s usually a great energy along the route, with Nørrebrogade near Dronning Louises Bro (Bridge) and much of Østerbro, particularly around the Trianglen junction, among good places to lend your support.

This year could be a classic edition of the event: there’s been a surge in interest in the sport in recent years, and this year’s Copenhagen Marathon has been sold out for months – something that has not previously happened in the event’s history.

READ ALSO: Why has the Copenhagen Marathon seen a jump in popularity?

SHOW COMMENTS