Årsopgørelse Explained: How to Read Your Danish Tax Assessment

Your Danish tax year ends on 31 December. A few months later, Skattestyrelsen publishes your årsopgørelse: a full accounting of what you earned, what was deducted, and whether the withholding from your payslips throughout the year actually matched what you owed.

For most expats, the document appears in TastSelv sometime in March. You don’t do anything to trigger it, and for straightforward situations you don’t need to do anything after it arrives except check it. That’s the whole point of this article: understanding what you’re looking at when it lands.

What the Årsopgørelse Actually Is (and Isn’t)

It’s worth being clear on what this document does and doesn’t require from you.

The årsopgørelse is not a tax return in the sense that many countries use the term. You are not filing anything. Skattestyrelsen already has the data: from your employer via e-Indkomst, from your bank, from your pension provider. The årsopgørelse is the result of their calculation, not an invitation for you to calculate it yourself.

What it does require is that you read it, check it, and (if something looks wrong) correct it. Errors do happen. A pension contribution might be missing. A bank interest figure might be wrong. A deduction you’re entitled to might not have been applied. These aren’t Skattestyrelsen errors in the adversarial sense; they’re data gaps, usually because a third party reported something late or incorrectly.

You have a window to make corrections after the årsopgørelse is issued. Missing that window doesn’t mean you’ve permanently waived the right to correct something, but it does create extra steps.

Where to Find It

Log in to TastSelv at skat.dk using your MitID. From the main menu, navigate to “Årsopgørelse,” usually listed under your personal tax overview. The document is available as a PDF download and as an on-screen summary.

If you’re new to Denmark, note that TastSelv is entirely in Danish. Google Translate handles it reasonably well, but this article will walk you through the key sections so you know what you’re looking at without relying on translation.

A Note on This Guide

The sections below explain what each part of the årsopgørelse means. They don’t tell you whether your figures are correct. That depends entirely on your specific situation. If you’re uncertain whether a figure is right, the correct move is to check the underlying source (your payslips, pension statements, bank records) and contact Skattestyrelsen or a tax adviser if there’s a discrepancy.

This guide uses a fictional worked example throughout: Maria, a software developer in Copenhagen with one employer, no foreign income, and a standard pension arrangement. Her numbers are illustrative. They exist to make the structure legible, not to suggest that your numbers should match.

The Main Sections of the Årsopgørelse

Section 1: Indkomst (Income)

This section totals your taxable income for the year. For most employed expats, the dominant figure here is A-indkomst: salary and other income reported directly by your employer and taxed at source.

AM-bidrag comes off the top, before any other tax is calculated. The rate is 8%. This is one of the most common points of confusion for expats: Denmark’s income tax rates are applied to income after AM-bidrag, not to gross salary. If someone tells you the top tax rate is around 55%, that figure already assumes AM-bidrag has been applied first.

If you have B-indkomst (freelance income, rental income, or other income not withheld by an employer), it appears here as a separate line. B-indkomst is taxed differently: no withholding during the year, so any tax due appears in full on your årsopgørelse as restskat.

Section 2: Fradrag (Deductions)

Deductions reduce your taxable income. Some are automatic; others require you to have reported them via TastSelv during the year or they may be pre-populated from third-party data.

The most important automatic deductions for employed expats:

These three apply to virtually every employed person in Denmark and are applied automatically. You shouldn’t need to claim them.

Deductions that are not automatic, and that you may need to check are present:

Pension contributions above the employer minimum, if you contribute personally. Interest paid on a Danish mortgage or consumer debt (subject to caps). A-Kasse (Union membership) fees, up to DKK 7,000. Transport deductions, if you commute more than 24 km each way.

If a deduction you expect to see is missing, that’s the thing to correct.

Section 3: Skattepligtig Indkomst (Taxable Income)

This is the number that determines your income tax. It’s your income after AM-bidrag, minus all your deductions.

Maria’s calculation:

Income after AM-bidrag: DKK 598,000. Minus personfradrag: DKK 54,100. Minus beskæftigelsesfradrag: DKK 63,300. Minus jobfradrag: DKK 3,100. Taxable income: approximately DKK 477,500.

Section 4: Beregnet Skat (Calculated Tax)

Here the årsopgørelse shows the tax calculated on your taxable income, broken down by component. The Danish tax system layers several taxes on top of each other.

For Maria, with taxable income of approximately DKK 477,500, she pays bundskat and kommuneskat but not mellemskat or topskat: her income sits below the mellemskat threshold of DKK 641,200.

Kirkeskat (church tax) is listed separately. If you’re not a member of the Church of Denmark (Folkekirken), you won’t pay it. This is worth checking if you’re an expat who never explicitly opted in. Most won’t be members, so this line should either be zero or absent.

Section 5: Slutskat (Final Tax)

Slutskat is the total tax Skattestyrelsen has calculated you owe for the year. It’s the figure from Section 4, minus any tax credits you’re entitled to (including the credit arising from the personfradrag).

This is not yet the result. One more comparison is needed.

Section 6: The Result. Restskat or Overskydende Skat

This is the section most people turn to first. It answers the question: did you pay the right amount during the year, or not?

The årsopgørelse compares your slutskat (what you owed) against the A-skat already withheld from your payslips (what you actually paid). The difference is either:

Restskat: you underpaid. You owe Skattestyrelsen the difference.

Overskydende skat: you overpaid. Skattestyrelsen owes you a refund.

For Maria (a simplified illustration): slutskat DKK 187,000, A-skat withheld during the year DKK 181,000, result: restskat of DKK 6,000.

The most common reason for a small restskat is that the preliminary income assessment (forskudsopgørelse) used at the start of the year didn’t perfectly predict your actual income. A bonus, a pay rise, or B-indkomst can all push you into restskat territory.

What Happens With Restskat

If you owe money, how it’s collected depends on how much. Restskat under DKK 25,368 is collected automatically, added to your tax card withholding in the following year and spread across 10 months. No action is required from you.

Restskat above this threshold is paid in instalments. Skattestyrelsen will contact you with a payment schedule.

Either way, interest accrues on restskat from 1 January of the year following the tax year. The day rate is 3.70%. If your årsopgørelse shows a significant restskat and you can pay it off early via TastSelv, it’s usually worth doing: you stop the interest clock immediately.

The surcharge that applies if restskat is left unpaid past the deadline is 5.70%. That’s the number that makes proactive payment worthwhile.

What Happens With Overskydende Skat

Refunds are paid automatically to your NemKonto, usually in April, a few weeks after the årsopgørelse is issued, though exact timing varies. You don’t need to claim it.

If you don’t have a NemKonto registered, the refund can’t be paid out automatically. For expats who arrived recently, confirming your NemKonto is linked to your CPR-number is worth checking before the refund window opens.

What to Check, and What to Do If Something’s Wrong

Before accepting the årsopgørelse as final, run through these:

Does your A-indkomst match what your employer reported? Cross-reference against your final December payslip or your employer’s annual income statement.

Are your deductions present? Specifically: personfradrag, beskæftigelsesfradrag, and jobfradrag should all be there. If you pay into a private pension separately from your employer scheme, confirm it’s reflected. If you have a mortgage, confirm the interest deduction has been applied.

Is kirkeskat present when it shouldn’t be? If you’re not a Folkekirken member, this line should be zero.

Do you have any foreign income that wasn’t reported? If you received income from abroad (rental income, dividends from a foreign account, freelance income from a non-Danish client) and it isn’t on your årsopgørelse, that’s a problem that needs correcting, not ignoring.

If you find an error, you can correct it directly in TastSelv. The system allows amendments for up to three prior years for most adjustments. Changes made before the correction deadline in May are reflected in that year’s final årsopgørelse; changes made after may result in a revised assessment being issued later.

The Correction Deadline

The årsopgørelse becomes final if you don’t amend it before the deadline. For most taxpayers, corrections to the prior year’s assessment can be made until 1 May of the following year via TastSelv. After that date, you need to contact Skattestyrelsen directly to request a change, and the process is more involved.

The deadline is firm enough that it’s worth a calendar reminder the first year you receive an årsopgørelse in Denmark.

Aktiesparekonto, Pension, and Separate Tax Lines

If you hold an aktiesparekonto (ASK) or pension accounts, these appear in separate sections of the årsopgørelse and are taxed differently from your income. ASK gains are taxed at a flat 17% annually under lagerbeskatning: the tax is calculated on the year-end value regardless of whether you sold anything. This appears as a separate line, not mixed into your income tax calculation.

Pension accounts are subject to PAL-skat at 15.30%: this is typically collected directly from the pension provider and may not appear prominently in your personal årsopgørelse at all, depending on how your provider handles reporting.

If you’re an American in Denmark, the ASK and many Danish investment funds carry additional PFIC complications. Before using these accounts, confirm your position with a cross-border tax specialist.

A Word on Complex Situations

This article covers the standard employed-expat scenario. It doesn’t cover:

Foreign pensions or retirement accounts held outside Denmark. Income from a foreign employer where Denmark has limited withholding information. Treaty claims under the US-Denmark or other double taxation agreements. Situations where you were only a Danish tax resident for part of the year.

These all affect how your årsopgørelse looks and whether the automatically calculated figures are correct. If any of these apply to you, treat the årsopgørelse as a starting point for a conversation with a tax professional, not a final answer.