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Withholding tax 2024: 5 tips to avoid tax leakage

Aske Buemann

CEO & Co-founder

Advance statement 2024

In November 2023, the Danish Tax Agency opened access to the tax assessment for 2024. Are you sure that your tax assessment is set correctly?

A study from TaxHelper finds that Danes on average have set their interest rates 50% incorrectly. This applies to consumer loans, mortgages, car loans and student loans. And it's not just interest rates that can be wrong. The same study finds that Danes on average have their income set 10% incorrectly, so if, for example, you earn DKK 500,000 a year, it is DKK 50,000 too high or low.

Therefore, this article will prepare you to hit the bullseye on your 2024 tax return.

Want more money back in taxes?

It only takes 15 minutes to try TaxHelper and you'll get an average of DKK 2,704 extra back in tax
At the same time, you only pay if you get a tax saving.

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Here are the 5 most important points to get your tax return right

1. Review your interest rates

A study from TaxHelper finds that Danes on average have set their interest rates 50% incorrectly. This applies to consumer loans, mortgages, car loans and student loans. Fields 481, 483 and 489 are most often used.

2. Review income

The same study from TaxHelper finds that Danes on average have set their interest rates 10% incorrectly, which can be costly. Remember SU, salary, unemployment benefits all need to be in different fields. There are many fields for income, typically field 201 for salary, 304 for unemployment benefits etc.

‍3.Housing tax↪C_200D↩

The property tax is now shown on your advance statement, both the tax on your land value (land tax) and on the entire home (property value tax). Unlike before, the tax on your land was collected by the municipality, typically through a bill you received twice a year in your e-boks.

You have to do some digging to see the new tax, but if you scroll down the withholding tax statement and click under "Existing properties", you can see both the 'Property Value Tax' and the 'Land Tax' for the year.

4. Driving to and from work

It may sound like one of the deductions most people know about, with over 1 million Danes using it annually. Yet it is one of the biggest culprits when it comes to overlooked deductions. One of the reasons for this is that SKAT's information is not necessarily correct. This often happens in cities, where the fastest route on a highway can be longer than the shortest route through the city.

5. Your expectation for shares

If you have shares etc. there are 4 fields on the tax return to be aware of. Most shares are automatically updated on the annual tax return in March, so this is only if you want to include it during the year. This can be particularly relevant if there have been large gains or dividends.
The following applies to most people if you use a Danish platform such as Saxo and Nordnet and trade in 'normal' listed shares:

  1. Dividends from Danish shares, e.g. Novo Nordisk and Maersk: field 501
  2. Dividends from foreign shares, e.g. Apple and Google: field 509 (if you have paid foreign dividend tax, enter this in field 540)
  3. Gain/loss on Danish shares, e.g. Novo Nordisk and Maersk: field 502 (for losses, put a minus in front of the amount)
  4. Gains/losses on foreign shares, e.g. Apple and Google: field 504 (for losses, put a minus in front of the amount)

Want a free check of your tax return? 

Then TaxHelper+ could be for you! TaxHelper+ works as follows:

  1. You create your TaxHelper+ membership on our platform - first month is free
  2. We check every month if your income, interest etc. is correct on SKAT (on your withholding tax statement)
  3. You can relax and enjoy the fact that your risk of a tax bill next year is much lower

Our more than 1,000 members have already received an average of DKK 4,006 more this year.

You can't just lower your expected income to avoid tax leakage

If you want to be even more sure of avoiding a tax leak, you can also adjust your income. But far from everyone has to set it lower than they expect:

  • If you earn less than DKK 35,300 per month, you need to set your income lower than expected to avoid a tax penalty. This is because your employment deduction (the deduction that is automatically calculated based on your income) will be lower.
  • If you earn between DKK 35,300 and DKK 53,300 per month, it doesn't really matter whether you raise or lower your expected income. The tax is adjusted automatically.
  • If, on the other hand, you earn more than DKK 53,300 per month, you should set your income a little too high if you want to avoid a tax break. This is because you pay top tax and will therefore pay a little more tax during the year than necessary.

See if you can get a tax refund in just 15 minutes.

In TaxHelper, we help you find the deductions you're entitled to. You answer a few simple questions that take just 15 minutes to complete.

Then we report the deductions, and you get an extra DKK 2,704 back in tax. At the same time, you only pay if you get a tax saving.

Start here

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