On 21st November 2019, the 2020 preliminary tax assessment (”Forskudsopgørelse”) is available for individuals with tax liabilities to Denmark. This also means it is possible to change it to reflect your actual expectations for 2020.

What role does the preliminary assessment play in income taxation?

Mainly, the preliminary assessment controls how much tax an employer withholds from your salary every month. Getting it right means that when 2020 taxes are settled in March 2021 there will be no outstanding payments or reimbursements.

How does it work?

1. You provide details of your expected income and expenses for 2020
2. The system generates a tax calculation to assess the full year taxes
3. An electronic “tax card” is generated for your employer (or anyone else, who is required to do withholding when paying you)
4. Monthly withheld tax are reported and paid to the tax authorities (and visible in your tax folder (“skattemappe”)
5. When the year is over all the reported information and withheld taxes are reconciled in a final calculation – any surplus is paid out, any deficit is claimed back

What happens if my situation changes?

You should always keep your preliminary assessment up-to-date in order to secure correct withholding. You are able to change it whenever it suits you, but be careful when applying income earned to date and the effective time from when the new assessment is in function. The typical time to consider changes are:

• If your salary has changed
• If you have purchased/sold a house/apartment
• If you changed mortgages or refinanced (and thereby interest levels)
• If you have gotten a job or lost your current job

How will my employer know about my new tax situation?

Employers are required to retrieve tax cards every month, so if you change your preliminary assessment prior to the payroll being processed your employer should already know.

Should I always be accurate in my assessment?

Yes, more and more special calculations and related services depend on the details provided, so we encourage to keep the details as accurate as possible.

There is already information in my 2020 (first edition)?

Yes, the first edition of the preliminary assessment is populated on basis of details from the final assessment from two years back (2017). There is a likelihood that these figures are not accurate.

Where do I change the preliminary assessment?

You logon at www.skat.dk and you can read more (in Danish) here: https://skat.dk/skat.aspx?oid=2234502&ik_navn=transport