How to get a tax card and understand Danish tax

What is a tax card, and do you need one?

A tax card (skattekort) tells your employer how much tax to take from your pay. It is not a physical card. It is digital information you find in E-tax (TastSelv) at the top of your preliminary income assessment, the forskudsopgørelse skat.dk.

There are three kinds of tax card. You give your primary tax card (hovedkort) to the employer you earn most from, use the secondary tax card (bikort) for any other job, and get a tax-exemption card (frikort) while your income stays under the amount you may earn tax-free skat.dk.

If you are not Danish and you get a job in Denmark, you need a tax card and a personal tax number. You only need a personal tax number issued once, because the same number is reused whenever you are in Denmark; if you become a resident it becomes your CPR number. If you do not have a CPR number or a personal tax number, Skattestyrelsen can issue a tax number when it generates your tax card skat.dk.

If you are in Denmark for three months or less (six months for EU/EEA and Swiss citizens), you get a personal tax number instead of a CPR number skat.dk.

What happens if you do not have a tax card?

Your employer deducts 55% tax from your salary skat.dk. That is the single most expensive mistake a new arrival makes, and it is avoidable in about ten minutes online.

How do you get a tax card?

You can do it yourself, or you can ask.

1. Get your CPR number or personal tax number first skat.dk.
2. Log on to skat.dk/tastselv with MitID skat.dk.
3. Open Forskudsopgørelsen (your preliminary income assessment) skat.dk.
4. Select Nyt job (New job), enter your expected gross salary for the rest of the year under Lønindkomst (earned income), and enter your first working day skat.dk.
5. Press Beregn (Calculate), check the figures, then Godkend (Approve). Your tax card is generated and your employer is told automatically skat.dk.

If that does not fit your situation, you can complete form 04.063 and let the tax agency generate the card for you, or get help at an International Citizen Service centre skat.dk. ICS centres give tax guidance but do not issue tax cards themselves Life in Denmark.

The tax agency also recommends that you call Skattestyrelsen on (+45) 72 22 27 80 once you have moved to Denmark and registered with the national register. They will then generate a tax card for you based on what you expect to earn skat.dk.

How much tax will you pay in 2026?

Everyone may earn a certain amount before paying income tax. In 2026 the amount is generally DKK 54,100, up from DKK 51,600 in 2025. But the 8% labour market contribution is still taken from your entire salary, from the first krone skat.dk.

The main pieces of the 2026 system are skat.dk:

• Labour market contribution (AM-bidrag): 8%, taken off gross income first.
• Bottom-bracket tax (bundskat): 12.01%.
• Personal allowance (personfradrag): DKK 54,100.
• Employment allowance (beskæftigelsesfradrag): 12.75% of employment income, capped at DKK 63,300.
• Job allowance (jobfradrag): 4.50%, capped at DKK 3,100.
• Middle-bracket tax: 7.5% on personal income above DKK 641,200.
• Top-bracket tax: 7.5% on personal income above DKK 777,900.
• Additional top-bracket tax: 5% on personal income above DKK 2,592,700.
• Tax ceiling (skatteloft): 44.57%. If the bottom-bracket rate, the middle-bracket rate and your municipal tax rate add up to more than that, the middle-bracket rate is reduced so the total stays at 44.57%. The ceiling does not cover the top-bracket or additional top-bracket tax, which come on top, and the 8% labour market contribution and any church tax are also outside it skat.dk Retsinformation.

Personal income here is your salary after the 8% labour market contribution has been deducted, not your gross salary skat.dk.

You also pay municipal tax (kommuneskat), normally the largest single part of your income tax: in 2026 the rates range from about 23.4% to 26.3%, depending on your kommune. If you are a member of the Danish National Church you also pay church tax (kirkeskat), usually under 1.5% Skatteministeriet. The state rates above are the ones the tax agency publishes in its annual table skat.dk.

One small change worth knowing: from 2026 onwards you only start paying labour market contribution in the year you turn 18 skat.dk.

What deductions and allowances can you claim?

Deductions (fradrag) reduce the tax you pay, but most are not automatic money in your pocket. You claim them by entering them in your forskudsopgørelse so they spread across your monthly pay skat.dk.

The two most relevant for newcomers are the employment allowance and the commuting deduction.

The commuting deduction (kørselsfradrag or befordringsfradrag) applies if you travel more than 12 km to work each way. For 2026 the rates are: nothing for the first 24 km per day, DKK 3.17 per kilometre for 25 to 120 km, and DKK 1.59 per kilometre above 120 km skat.dk. You find the calculator and rules on skat.dk skat.dk.

If you forget to enter a deduction in your tax budget, you simply do not get it during the year. The assessment notice is where you can see the effect skat.dk.

What is the researcher tax scheme?

The researcher tax scheme (forskerordningen, sections 48 E-F of the Danish Withholding Tax Act) is the big tax break for people recruited from abroad. If you meet all the conditions, your gross earned income is taxed at 32.84% in total: labour market contribution plus 27%, for up to seven years skat.dk. You cannot claim the personal allowance, employment allowance or other deductions against income taxed under the scheme skat.dk.

The scheme covers two groups. Researchers are people who conduct research and hold at least a PhD-level research qualification, and their qualifications must be approved. Highly paid employees are key staff with a guaranteed monthly salary of at least DKK 65,400 as of 2026 skat.dk.

The strictest condition is your history with Denmark: you must not have been fully or partly liable to Danish tax in the ten years before you take up the job info.skat.dk. The scheme runs for a maximum of 84 months, and it is a registration scheme, so the conditions have to hold for the whole period. If they stop being met, you are taxed the ordinary way for that period skat.dk.

You apply using form 01.012, and if you are a researcher in a private company your qualifications go to Independent Research Fund Denmark. Their published deadline is no later than one month after the employment begins, so do not sit on it Independent Research Fund Denmark.

Any income outside the scheme is taxed under the ordinary rules, so you still need a normal tax card for that part skat.dk.

How do you file your tax return, and when?

The Danish tax year is the calendar year. Your tax budget (forskudsopgørelse) is available in E-tax from mid-November each year, and your tax assessment notice (årsopgørelse) from mid-March skat.dk.

The deadlines are simple. If you received a tax assessment notice automatically, the deadline for changing it is 20 May. If you did not receive one automatically, the deadline for completing your tax return is 1 July skat.dk.

Missing that deadline is not usually final. You can normally ask Skattestyrelsen to reopen an earlier year’s assessment if you forgot a deduction or income, as a rule until 1 May in the fourth year after the income year info.skat.dk.

If you have income from outside Denmark, you still report it, and you convert it to Danish kroner skat.dk.

Where can you get help in English?

Skattestyrelsen runs an English version of its guidance and of TastSelv, and its tax assessment notice, contact and payment information are available in English there skat.dk. You can call the tax agency on (+45) 72 22 27 80 with questions about your tax card and preliminary income assessment skat.dk. For the researcher scheme there is a separate line, (+45) 72 22 28 92 skat.dk.

In person, International Citizen Service centres offer general tax guidance, and they are set up for people who do not speak Danish Life in Denmark.

What it costs and how long it takes

• Tax card: free skat.dk.
• Online, through TastSelv: typically generated immediately and your employer is notified automatically skat.dk.
• By form or through a caseworker: allow a few weeks; the tax agency says you will receive a preliminary income assessment within two weeks if the form is complete skat.dk.
• Researcher scheme: free to apply, but you must register in time, within one month of starting work for researchers Independent Research Fund Denmark.

Common mistakes

• Starting work without a tax card, then losing 55% of your first pay skat.dk.
• Leaving a deduction out of the tax budget. Entering it later still helps, but you have lost the monthly benefit skat.dk.
• Letting two employers use your primary tax card. That gives you too little tax, and you may end up owing money skat.dk.
• Assuming the researcher scheme applies automatically. It must be applied for and registered, and the conditions are checked throughout skat.dk.
• Forgetting the 20 May change deadline on an automatic assessment notice, and giving up on a deduction you can still claim. You can usually reopen an earlier year, normally until 1 May in the fourth year after the income year info.skat.dk.
• Ignoring foreign income because it was taxed at home. You still report it in Denmark skat.dk.

If something goes wrong

If your tax card has not reached your employer, check in TastSelv that you approved it and that the first working day is right. Your employer is notified automatically when the card is generated skat.dk.

If you were taxed at 55% before the card was ready, the overpaid tax is normally settled through your annual assessment rather than refunded in the same month. Check your årsopgørelse in E-tax from mid-March skat.dk.

If you are unsure whether you qualify for the researcher scheme, speak to Skattestyrelsen directly on (+45) 72 22 28 92 before you assume you are covered skat.dk.