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TAXES

Five essential words you need when paying taxes in Denmark

The annual tax return, årsopgørelse is released on Monday so here is a reminder of Denmark’s important tax terminology.

The headquarters of the Danish Tax Agency in Copenhagen. A few key vocab items can help you better understand your tax return.
The headquarters of the Danish Tax Agency in Copenhagen. A few key vocab items can help you better understand your tax return. Photo: Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix

We hope our brief guide to essential Danish tax vocabulary will give you a little help.

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Self-employed and employed people alike can adjust their tax returns by logging in to the skat.dk website and entering the deductions on their preliminary tax return or annual return.

These are calculated and displayed on the website of the national tax authority, SKAT. As such, a good grasp of the necessary technical terms will help you to fill out your paperwork correctly, including things like any deductions to which you might be entitled.

Forskudsopgørelse, årsopgørelse

Forskudsopgørelse (preliminary tax return) and årsopgørelse (annual return, calculated and displayed on the SKAT website at the beginning of March) are possibly the most important Danish tax terms.

Accessing the annual tax return is a yearly event for taxpayers. Within a set deadline which falls at the beginning of May, taxpayers can edit their tax information, such as by changing income or tax exemption information.

Around three out of four taxpayers in Denmark get refunds after the yearly annual return. The amount refunded varies from person to person, but 2019 saw 3.4 million people paid an average refund of 4,700 kroner, according to official data. Many others have to pay money back to the tax authority, however.

Prior to the publication of the annual return, you can check how much tax you’ve paid or are due to pay during the course of the year and edit your income and deductions details on the preliminary version of the return, the forskudsopgørelse. 

Fradrag

A fradrag or deduction can reduce your tax bill just like in many other national tax systems. These can be entered into your tax returns, as described above.

Various types of deduction are available. These include kørselsfradrag (travel deduction) and håndværkerfradrag and servicefradrag (literally, builder’s deduction and service deduction), given for making improvements to homes or holiday homes.

Various other costs relating to work can be deducted from income tax, including kost og logi (food and accommodation); dobbelt husførelse for housing costs if living away from home temporarily due to work; and A-kasse og fagforening (unemployment insurance and trade union membership).

READ ALSO: Four ways to (legally) lower your tax bill in Denmark

AMbidrag

AM-bidrag or arbejdsmarkedsbidrag, literally ‘labour market contribution’ is a taxation amounting to 8 percent of your wages. Grammar lovers will note use of the antonym word to fradrag.

The tax is paid directly to SKAT by your employer (for those who are not self-employed or freelance), and will be displayed on your tax returns.

If you are not self-employed or freelance, the wage slip you are issued by your employer will tell you the amount to which this 8 percent taxation is applied: some parts of your gross income are not applicable to the AM-bidrag.

Feriepenge 

Feriepenge (holiday money) is a monthly contribution paid into a special fund, depending on how much you earn.

You can claim back the money once per year, provided you actually take holiday from work.

You will be notified when the money can be paid out around May, and directed to the borger.dk website, from where you claim it back from national administrator Udbetaling Danmark.

Brutto, netto 

Your income before tax is brutto (gross), i.e. the amount prior to calculation and payment of tax and application of deductions. Netto is not usually a supermarket when talking about tax, but is the amount you receive after paying all levies.

EXPLAINED: How to understand your Danish payslip

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For members

LEARNING DANISH

The essential vocabulary for talking about the weather with Danes

Denmark’s climate can give you a taste of all four seasons in the space of an afternoon, so it’s worth knowing the vocabulary you need to describe it.

The essential vocabulary for talking about the weather with Danes

Denmark-based readers have probably heard the saying der finds ikke dårligt vejr, kun dårlig påkældning(there’s no bad weather, only bad clothes) more times than they’ve receive a bicycle-related soaking.

But there are plenty of other weather phrases in the Danish language that describe all situations from strandvejr (beach weather) to ruskregn (cold rain with wind).

Let’s start with the four seasons (årstider): forår (spring), sommer (summer), efterår (autumn) and vinter (winter).

In summer, you’re probably hoping for lækkert vejr (beautiful weather), with solskin (sunshine) and grillvejr (barbecue weather) on those lune (balmy) evenings. Gennemsnitstemperaturen (the average daily temperature) will rise thanks to the højtryk (high pressure), causing you to feel a bit svedig (sweaty), and the country will experience lyse nætter (“light nights”, when the sun sets late dusk sometimes doesn’t fall until 11pm).

You might go through a varmebølge or hedebølge – both essentially meaning a heatwave but with a subtle yet important difference.

In sensommeren (late summer), there may be some torden (thunder) and lyn (lightning), but if you are lucky you might see a regnbue (rainbow).

READ ALSO: Five Danish phrases you only hear in summer

Come autumn the weather will turn grå og trist (grey and dull), overskyet (overcast) with skydækning (cloud cover), and blæsende (windy). It’s time to get your paraply (umbrella) out, and maybe even your regnjakke (rain coat) and gummistøvler (wellies).

Low-lying tåge or dise (fog or mist) over fields can elicit warnings about visibility for early-morning drivers and cyclists.

There are several words for nedbør (precipitation), including støvregn (drizzle, literally “dust rain”), byge (shower), styrtregn (downpour) or skybrud (heavy rain or cloudburst).

If it’s raining cats and dogs you say det regner skomagerdrenge (literally, “it’s raining shoemaker boys”).

November will be here sooner than you think, and it might prompt you to exclaim Sikke et vejr (“What miserable weather!”) or even Sikke noget skodvejr! (literally “what cigarette-butt weather!”).

If mange agern spar en hård vinter, this means that if many acorns fall from the trees, a cold winter awaits.

Finally, it’s winter and snefnug (snowflakes) will start to fall.

There are a number of similar-sounding but distinct words about snow (sne): snefog, snedynge and snedrive (all snow drift) and snefri, which can mean “free of snow”, but also when kids are given the day off school due to the snow.

The most unique is possibly the noun snefygning, when the wind kicks up and fresh snow is blown into the air, dancing momentarily in the winter cold before falling back to the ground.

Tøsne (thawing snow) could be a sign that temperatures are starting to become mild as the end of winter nears.

When it’s finally forår again, you might hear people talking up the welcome return of tocifrede grader (temperatures in double digits) and finally being able to remove their vintertøj (winter clothing).

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