Preliminary income assessment (forskudsopgørelse)
Your preliminary income assessment is kind of your current income and tax budget for the the year. If your personal or financial situation changes, you need to adjust your preliminary income assessment in order to pay the right amount of tax throughout the year.
You can see your preliminary income assessment (forskudsopgørelse) in E-tax.
See and change your preliminary income assessment
Change your preliminary income assessment if your personal or financial situation changes substantially
Such changes include if:
You work more from home (this impacts your deduction for transport between home and work)
Your salary increases or decreases
You get a new job
You lose your job
You buy a home or a holiday home
You sell your home or your holiday home
You close your business
Your business profit has changed
You start your own business
You marry or divorce (link in Danish)
You begin to receive pension or early retirement benefits
You contribute more or less to your pension scheme
You start or stop being entitled to a deduction for transport between home and work
You start or stop having a deduction for interest expenses
You have a deduction for interest expenses
Your preliminary income assessment is available each year in November, and it shows our estimate of your tax for the coming year. If your financial situation changes, you should change your assessment in order to pay the right amount of tax throughout the year.
When you make changes to your preliminary income assessment in E-tax (TastSelv) you also make changes to your tax card which is automatically sent to whoever pays your salary, student grant or pension.
If you want to see your actual earnings, your deductions and allowances and how much you paid in tax last year, you can see this from your tax assessment notice. Read more about your tax assessment notice.
Your preliminary income assessment shows what we expect your income and expenses to be for the coming tax year. It contains the figures that your tax for the coming year is based on.
Your preliminary income assessment - including the information you have entered yourself - is important to your financial situation as it is the basis for:
- Your regular tax payment in 2024, your deductions and your tax card
- Your tax assessment notice for 2024.
In March 2025, you will know if you paid too much tax (and are entitled to a tax refund) or too little tax (and have to pay outstanding tax) or if you paid the correct tax in 2024. The tax assessment notice looks at your income, deductions and tax the past year.
This is why you should correct your preliminary income assessment when your personal or financial situation changes.
Understand your preliminary income assessment and your tax assessment notice
Which is which?
Preliminary income assessment
This is our assessment of your tax budget (income and tax payable for the coming year).
- Budget
- Applies to next year
- May be updated several times during the year
Tax assessment notice
This is our calculation of your final tax accounts for the past year (your actual earnings and tax payment).
- Accounts
- Applies to the past year
- Calculated once a year
When is it happening?
You can see your preliminary income assessment on www.skat.dk/tastselv each year from November.
You can see your tax assessment notice on www.skat.dk/tastselv each year in March.
What should I do?
Preliminary income assessment
Update your preliminary income assessment when it is available or if:
- your income increases/decreases
- you work more days from home than you usually do
- you have received your frozen holiday pay
- you raise a loan
- you start/close a business
Tax assessment notice
Check your tax assessment notice and see if you are entitled to a refund or have to pay outstanding tax:
- Check the information
- Correct information if required
When you make sure to change your preliminary income assessment to reflect the correct figures and information, you will automatically pay the correct tax each month. And if you do so, you avoid having to pay outstanding tax when your tax assessment notice is generated. You may correct your preliminary income assessment as many times as you want to throughout the year.
Be aware that our systems do not automatically receive all relevant information. We are not informed when, for example, your salary increases or decreases, when you retire, have new interest expenses, buy a home, etc.
Remember that when you change your income in your preliminary income assessment, you have to enter the total amount you expect to earn or the total amount of income for the entire year. Also, when, for example, you have six months with a salary and six months with the state education grant (SU) or benefits.
When you change your earned income in your preliminary income assessment, it will have an impact on your tax card and your deductions from the following month at the latest.
Use your primary tax card with one employer/provider only
You use your primary tax card with the employer/provider where you are paid the most. Please note that you can only use your primary tax card with one employer/provider. It is your responsibility to tell your employer/provider which tax card to use. If, for example, you receive the state education grant (SU) or you work for an employer who already uses your primary tax card, you will have to tell other possible providers to use your secondary tax card. This way you pay the correct tax each month.
Read about your preliminary income assessment if your income changes
Use the calculator, Calculate your tax
Read about deductions
Read about pension and early retirement
When you have made one or more corrections or entered new information in your preliminary income assessment, this happens:
- We generate a new preliminary income assessment for you
- You receive a new, adjusted tax card in E-tax (TastSelv)
- Your tax card is automatically sent to your employer/provider
- Your withholding rate and your personal allowance (the amount you may earn each month before tax) is automatically calculated when you change your income
- You will be paying the correct amount of tax each month and may gain an even better balance in your financial situation
- You will get the correct deductions (If you are unsure of the deductions you are entitled to you can always use our Danish-language deductions guide)
- We check your corrections in E-tax, including tax matters that often cause difficulties
- If we can see that your financial situation has changed and you have not made any corrections yourself, we may send you our proposed new preliminary income assessment.
This is how we check figures and information
It is your responsibility to inform us of the correct figures, deductions and other information relevant to your preliminary income assessment and the tax assessment notice
When your financial situation changes, your preliminary income assessment must be corrected so you will be paying the correct amount of tax and the right deductions.
If we can see that your financial situation has changed and you have made no corrections yourself, we may send you our proposed preliminary income assessment. Such information about changes either come from your tax assessment notice or from one or more providers. Our proposed preliminary income assessment is a service we provide to help you pay the right tax each month.
We have implemented some functions in E-tax (TastSelv) to help us find new information and check certain information. By doing so, we prevent mistakes even before you click accept. We also run digital screenings when we receive new information. If something seems to be wrong, we will typically contact you.
If you want to raise your withholding rate, you need to ask your employer to do so. You are not able to do it yourself, and we cannot do it for you either.
Be cautious if you enter a higher income
It is unlikely that raising your withholding rate by entering a higher income in your preliminary income assessment will have any effect. This method is only an option if you pay top-bracket tax.
If your income is less than DKK 423,474 in 2024 (2023: DKK 428.169 DKK), you risk paying too little tax if you enter a higher income. The reason is that if you enter a higher income, you will automatically be granted a higher employment allowance than what you are entitled to.
Alternatively, lower your deductions
You can lower your deductions (such as deduction for interest expenses or deduction for transport between home and work) in order to pay more tax during the year. In this way, you reduce the risk of having to pay outstanding tax the following year.
If your financial situation changes, you can make a calculation to see if you should change your preliminary income assessment. You can calculate your tax for 2024 (in Danish only) and compare the result with your current preliminary income assessment. However, you need to be up-to-date on your financial situation as you need to enter all relevant information.
Has your income, withholding rate or you deductions and allowances changed? If so, you can calculate what that means to your next payment.
Are you getting the deductions that you are entitled to? If you are unsure, you can try our guide to see which deductions may be relevant to you.
The deduction guide primarily focuses on employees. If you are self-employed, please be aware the the results of the guide may not be accurate.
You find your preliminary income assessment (forskudsopgørelse) in E-tax (TastSelv).
Currently, E-tax is only in Danish and as a result we have made som examples so you have an idea what you find in your preliminary income assessment.
Please note that this example is for individuals who are subject to full tax liability to Denmark.
You find your preliminary income assessment in E-tax (TastSelv).
Currently, E-tax is only in Danish and as a result we have made som examples so you have an idea what you find in your preliminary income assessment.
Please note that this example is for individuals who are subject to limited tax liability to Denmark.
For further legal information in Danish see our legal guide .