Privacy policy (the Customs and Tax Administration)

Personal data are any data relating to an individual who can be directly or indirectly identified by data such as name, address, civil registration number, financial situation, family relationship, etc. Personal data may also be data about businesses in the case of sole proprietorships or shareholders of a company. 

Processing of personal data means any form of handling of personal data. Typical processing methods include collection, registration, systematisation, storage, disclosure, combination and erasure.

The Danish Customs and Tax Administration (Skatteforvaltningen) is the data controller for the personal data that we process about you. This means that the Administration is responsible for ensuring that your personal data are processed in accordance with applicable laws and regulations, even if some personal data are processed by the Customs and Tax Administration’s external data processors, for example IT vendors. As data controller, the Administration should also be contacted if you wish to exercise your right of access to your personal data, for example, or wish to have your personal data rectified.

The Tax Agency processes personal data that you have provided to the Tax Agency yourself, for example data submitted in connection with your tax return. The Tax Agency may also process data about you which we receive from other individuals, authorities and businesses, such as payroll data from your employer.

The Tax Agency processes personal data as part of our responsibilities as a public authority.

The Tax Agency is responsible for the tax administration relating to individuals and businesses. Our core responsibilities are assessment and collection of a number of taxes and duties. These include personal, business and corporation taxes, labour market contributions, property value taxes based on the public property assessment, duties, VAT and customs duties. In addition, the Tax Agency is responsible for collecting debt to public authorities. 

The Tax Agency often discloses personal data to other public authorities as part of our normal duties, and in some cases the Tax Agency is required to disclose data. We may disclose data to, for example, the Danish Tax Appeals Agency, the police, the courts and other relevant authorities.

In some situations, the Tax Agency discloses personal data to private entities, such as creditors and foreign authorities.

You have a number of rights when the Tax Agency processes personal data about you. You can read more about the rights below. If you wish to exercise your rights, please contact us.

Right to notification

The Tax Agency is required to notify you when the Tax Agency collects and processes personal data about you. Among other things, you have the right to be notified of the purpose and lawful basis of the processing.

The Tax Agency may in certain situations be exempt from the obligation to notify you, for example if you are already familiar with the data, or your interest in receiving the data is overridden by private or public interests.

Right of access

As a general rule, you have the right to obtain access to the personal data the Tax Agency processes about you. This means that you have the right to obtain confirmation as to whether personal data about you is being processed as well as additional data, such as the period for which the data will be stored or the recipients to whom the personal data will be disclosed to.

Right to rectification

You have the right to have inaccurate data about you rectified.

Right to erasure

In special cases, for example if we no longer need the personal data for the purpose for which it was collected, you have the right to have data about you erased before the time it would normally be erased by us.

Right to restriction of processing

In some cases, you have the right to restrict processing of your personal data. If you exercise this right, we may – with the exception of storage – only process such personal data with your consent, or if we need to protect the rights of another individual.

Right to object

In certain cases, you have the right to object to our legitimate processing of your personal data, for example on grounds relating to your particular situation.

Right to receive or transmit data (data portability)

In certain cases, you have the right to receive your personal data in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format and to transmit those data from one data controller to another without hindrance. 

The data that the Tax Agency collects and processes about you will be processed and stored in the Tax Agency’s IT systems, for example E-tax for individuals.

We erase your personal data when it no longer serves a valid purpose. The specific time of erasure depends on how long the data should be stored to fulfil the purpose of the collection.

The Danish Ministry of Taxation has appointed a Data Protection Officer (DPO) to advise the Department of the Ministry of Taxation, the Danish Customs and Tax Administration (Skatteforvaltningen), the Danish Tax Appeals Agency (Skatteankestyrelsen) and the Gambling Authority (Spillemyndigheden). The Data Protection Officer is responsible for advising the Customs and Tax Administration about processing sensitive personal data and for monitoring that the Administration complies with the relevant rules.

Read more in Danish about the DPO of the Ministry of Taxation at skatteforvaltningen.dk.

The Data Protection Officer is also the point of contact for individuals and businesses in relation to processing sensitive personal data. Please contact the DPO of the Ministry of Taxation if you have any questions about the Customs and Tax Administration’s processing of sensitive personal data or if you need further information about your rights. 

Contact information on the DOP of the Ministry of Taxation

You can contact the DOP in the following ways:

• Email: dop@sktst.dk. We recommend that you don't send CPR numbers or other sensitive personal information via unencrypted email to the DOP. 
• Letter:
  Attn. Databeskyttelsesrådgiveren
  Skattestyrelsen
  Hannemanns Allé 25
  2300 København S

You have right to complain to the Data Protection Agency if you disagree with our processing of your personal data.

The Agency is the central independent authority that supervises compliance with the rules on protection of personal data. 

Data Protection Agency’s contact information.

The processing of personal data is governed by several rules. The rules are intended to protect the fundamental rights and freedoms of individuals with regard to the processing of their personal data.

General rules on the processing of personal data can be found in the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation and the Danish Data Protection Act. In addition, the Tax Agency’s processing of personal data in certain areas is governed by a number of private acts.