Leaving Denmark
If you leave Denmark, your job and your place of residence determine to which country you have to pay tax.
Call us on (+45) 72 22 27 80 once you have left Denmark and deregistered from the Danish National Register (Folkeregisteret). If possible, we will determine your tax liability instantly and let you know which documents you need to submit.
Please make sure that you have a NemKonto when you leave Denmark. Your NemKonto is an ordinary bank account we use to refund overpaid tax.
If you do not have a Danish NemKonto, you can register a non-Danish bank account as your NemKonto.
Register your non-Danish account as your NemKonto at nemkonto.dk
You are subject to full tax liability in Denmark when you have an all-year home (house or apartment) at your disposal in Denmark no matter if you own it or rent it. You must declare your all your income, from Denmark and abroad. If, at the same time, you are also subject to full tax liability in your home country, you will be subject to full tax liability in two countries. This is why you need to submit information to us documenting your full tax liability in your home country so that we can decide who has the right to taxation according to a double taxation agreement.
Dual residence - home country as country of residence
If you work in Denmark an have a home in both Denmark and your home country, the rules of dual residence apply to you. If your personal and financial interests are in your home country, it is a matter of dual residence with your home country as your country of residence. This means that you will only be taxed on your Danish salary and that you will be entitled to a deduction for transport between your home country and your workplace in Denmark.
Dual residence - Denmark as country of residence
If you work in Denmark an have a home in both Denmark and your home country, the rules of dual residence apply to you.If your personal and financial interests are in Denmark, it is a matter of dueal residence with Denmark as your country of residence.This means that you have to declare all your Danish income and that you will not be entitled to a deduction for transport between your home in your home country and your workplace in Denmark.
You are subject to limited tax liability in Denmark when you have Danish income but no all-year home (house or apartment) at your disposal in Denmark. You have to declare your Danish income.
If you commute between you home in your home country, Sweden or Germany for example, and your workplace in Denmark, you will never become subject to full tax liability in Denmark no matter how long you work here. This means that you will have to pay tax to Denmark on your Danish salary and that you are entitled to deduct expenses relating to your Danish salary, such as trade union fees and unemployment insurance contributions, deduction for transport between your home in your home country and your workplace in Denmark and travel expenses (food and accommodation).
If you have neither home nor income in Denmark, you are not liable to pay tax to Denmark. You do not have to declare or pay tax to Denmark.
If you have left Denmark but you still own a home here, (house, summer house or apartment), you will still have to pay property value tax as when you lived in Denmark. However, if you have rented out your home in connection with leaving the country, you do not have to pay property value tax. When you rent out your home, you will be taxed on the profit you make on your rental income.
When you calculate the profit on your rental income, you can complete this statement of rental income from renting real property, form 04.022
If you sell your home or terminate the lease on your rental home
If you sell your home or terminate the lease on your rental home, you will no longer be subject to full tax liability to Denmark. However, if you are a public sector worker, full tax liability may apply in certain cases even if you no longer have a home in Denmark. Please call us, so we can help you find out if your full tax liability will cease or merely be changed to limited tax liability. Please call us on ( 45) 72 22 27 80.
If you rent out your home
If you let your home, the rental agreement has to be non-terminable for at least three years for your full tax liability to cease. And you will then be subject to limited tax liability on your property.
If you keep your home
If you leave Denmark but keep owning a home in Denmark (house, summer house or apartment), you will generally remain subject to full tax liability.We recommend that you contacts us to settle your tax affairs. Please call us on ( 45) 72 22 27 80.
If you do not have a home in Denmark or Danish income
If you have no home in Denmark or Danish income after you have left the country, and we have assessed that your full tax liability no longer apply, you only have to provide information for us until the date you leave Denmark.
It may affect your tax liability, if you run a business in Denmark when you leave.
Will you stop running a business in Denmark?
If you own a non-active business in Denmark, you have to deregister your business at Luk virksomhed (Close business) (Virk.dk).
Are you uncertain if you will keep running your business after you have left Denmark?
If you don’t know if you should keep an active business in Denmark, you can call us for help on ( 45) 72 22 27 80.
If you still own property or have Danish income when you leave the country and we have assessed that your full tax liability no longer apply, you will become subject to limited tax liability to Denmark.
Being subject to limited tax liability means that you need only pay tax on certain income from Denmark. This could be:
- Income from Danish property
- Earned income for work performed in Denmark
- Pension, old-age pension, board member fees, state education grant and other kinds of A-income
- Dividend
- Property value tax based on a holiday home or a second home in Denmark.
Read more about Danish pension when you leave Denmark
If you have assets in Denmark when you leave, such as securities of a value of more than DKK 100,000, you may be subject to emigration tax. Read more in Danish about emigration tax or call us on (+45) 72 22 28 94 if you have any questions.
You will typically be subject to full tax liability to Denmark if:
- you live with your parents before your leave and expect to live with them again when you come back.
- If you live in a rented home or a student all of residence and you sublet your home while you are away for a period of less than three years, you will also remain subject to full tax liability to Denmark.
State education grant
You will have to pay full tax on your state education grant to Denmark - just as if you were studying in Denmark.
You may also have to pay tax on your state education grant in the country where you study. However, Denmark has entered into double taxation agreements with a number of countries and as a result some countries does not tax grants given to Danish students.
Read more about the Danish state education grant (SU) and tax
Tax-free travelling scholarships
If you receive a scholarship to be used for studies outside Denmark, you will not be taxed on it. However, you have to use the scholarship to pay for ordinary expenses such as food, accommodation, minor necessities and documented tuition fees.
You will have to be able to document the expenses by means of the original vouchers and declare the expenses to us so that they will be deducted from your travelling scholarship.
PhD students
If you are employed according to the agreement between AC and the Ministry of Finance and you have been signed up for researcher education outside Denmark throughout, you are employed by the Danish state and thereby subject to full tax liability to Denmark.
Student jobs outside Denmark:
If you have a job besides your studies in the country where you study, the salary is usually taxed by that country. When you are subject to full tax liability to Denmark, you will also have to pay tax to Denmark.
However, Denmark has entered into a number of double taxation agreements deciding which country may charge tax on the salary.
Read more in Danish about double taxation agreements in our legal guide
If you have shares
If you are subject to full tax liability to Denmark and you live outside Denmark for at least six months, you do not have to pay Danish tax on your non-Danish salary under certain conditions.
For further legal information in Danish see our legal guide .