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TAXES

The essential tips to help navigate your Danish tax assessment

Denmark's tax season will get under way on Monday morning, with thousands immediately flocking to the Tax Agency’s website to find out whether they are owed money back or have to pay arrears.

Published: 7 March 2024 17:02 CET
Updated: 11 March 2024 08:45 CET
The essential tips to help navigate your Danish tax assessment
Denmark's tax season begins on March 11th. Photo: Signe Goldmann/Ritzau Scanpix

Denmark’s årsopgørelser or annual tax assessments will be published on Monday March 11th. This year sees the statements available in English, making it easier for foreign nationals and non-Danish speakers to navigate their tax returns.

Annual tax returns (årsopgørelser in Danish) are released in March and finalised by early May, meaning taxpayers have this period to correct the information on their tax returns from the previous calendar year. It is common for taxpayers to make some corrections to their statements, for example in relation to deductions that they qualify for, or if their earnings have changed.

When the annual statement is released annually in March, you can see if you are owed money back or if you paid too little in taxes during the preceding year. In most cases, rebates are automatically deposited into your bank account.

Although parts of the Skat website have been available in English for a number of years, it has not previously been possible to access and view the tax statement in English to make corrections. You can log in to the annual tax assessment in English via the Skat website’s English-language version.

READ ALSO: How you can access (and edit) your 2024 Danish tax return in English

We asked the Danish Tax Agency (Skat) what newcomers to the Danish tax system — who maybe accessing and updating their assessments in English, or for the first time — should keep in mind.

“Being met in a language that is easier to understand than Danish builds trust and increases understanding. The translation of E-tax for individuals [tax assessment portal, ed.] helps more individuals to become more familiar with their tax payments,” Jan Møller Mikkelsen, Deputy Director General at the Danish Tax Agency, told The Local via email.

Mikkelsen added that the tax portal has also been given a design boost that will benefit users.

“At E-tax for individuals, it is possible to view and change your tax assessment notice, authorise an accountant or relatives and pay taxes. Anyone who pays tax in Denmark can use E-tax – also from countries outside Denmark,” he said.

Most of the information you will see on your assessment is provided to the agency automatically by banks and employers, so taxpayers will have either a low number or no changes to their returns. Tax deductions for things like transport or household services are not automatically reported, however.

“The Danish Tax Agency receives most of the information for the tax assessment notice from banks, employers or the student grant provider (so) most taxpayers have no or just a few changes to their tax assessment. Most changes are deductions for transport between home and work and deductions for household services,” Mikkelsen said.

If you are due money return for because you paid a surplus in 2023, you should note the date April 12th — this is the date refunds will start.

Several other dates are also relevant during the tax season, Mikkelsen said.

“The deadline for making changes to your tax assessment notice for 2023 is May 1st 2024. Business owners have to report business profit or loss (the business result) for income year 2023 by no later than July 1st 2024,” he said.

Taxpayers can log on to the E-tax portal here and find further information about their assessment on the Danish Tax Agency website here.

The Danish Tax Agency can also be contacted via telephone in case of queries regarding your annual return. The telephone number to contact the agency is 7222 2828.

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For members

TAXES

Denmark and Sweden simplify tax rules for Öresund commuters

A tax arrangement between Denmark and Sweden for people who commute across the Öresund has been revised in a move the countries say will simplify cross-border working.

Published: 10 June 2024 16:14 CEST
Denmark and Sweden simplify tax rules for Öresund commuters

The new rules, which will take effect from 2025, were confirmed in statements released by the Danish tax ministry and Swedish finance ministry on Monday.

Revised taxation of both Danish and Swedish taxpayers who cross the Öresund will “help make the already-well functioning labour market on both sides of the Öresund even better,” the Danish statement said.

The new version of the tax agreement will mean a lower administrative burden for both commuters and employers, it said.

It also “tidies up” and simplifies existing rules, according to Denmark’s tax ministry.

“An integrated labour market spanning the Öresund is unconditionally benefits both Denmark and Sweden. I’m therefore pleased that the Danish and Swedish governments have agreed on an adjustment of the Öresund agreement which means fewer rules for commuters and employers to navigate,” Danish tax minister Jeppe Bruus said.

In the statement from Sweden’s Ministry of Finance, minister Elisabeth Svantesson called the agreement “good for Swedish growth, the tens of thousands of commuters who commute across the Öresund daily, and all Danish and Swedish businesses who want to invest in our country”.

“Now, for example, public employees will be able to work from home like all other workers without the risk of having to pay tax in their home country,” she said.

The Öresund Agreement, first signed in 2003, primarily regulates taxation of persons who live and work on opposite sides of the Öresund strait which separates Denmark and Sweden, notably the Copenhagen and Malmö regions.

Until now, the agreement has limited the extent to which Öresund commuters can work from home while still paying tax in the country to which the work is registered.

Currently, public sector workers who work partially from home must declare how many days they work at home and how many they work on site – in other words, across the Öresund. That is because taxation is divided according to where the work is filed. This does not apply to the private sector, where the entire income is taxed in the country of employment.

The new agreement will allow both private and public sector staff to work from home while paying full tax in their employment country. Additionally, it scraps rules requiring the home working to take place at the commuters home address – meaning they can, for example, work from a summer house or other location on their side of the Öresund.

“Publicly employed commuters should not have hassle with their annual tax statements when we already have rules which work well in the private sector. We are therefore now unifying the rules,” Bruus said.

Additionally, the revised agreement will introduce unified rules on taxation of Denmark’s state student grant, SU, and on dividends from pension schemes. That means rules will be applied equally regardless of whether the country of residence is Denmark or Sweden.

It also includes a provision for Denmark to compensate Swedish municipalities for municipal income tax not paid by commuters employed in the public sector, under the terms of the agreement.

Some 17,000 people travel from Sweden to Denmark for work annually, and 1,400 travel in the opposite direction according to the Danish tax ministry.

Students living in Sweden and studying in Denmark with Danish student grants (SU) will also pay more tax under the new agreement. Under current rules, SU for these students is not currently taxed, as student grants are not taxed in Sweden.

According to the new agreement, Denmark will gain “the opportunity to tax people receiving Danish SU, whether they live in Denmark or Sweden”.

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