What is the forskudsopgørelse?

The forskudsopgørelse is Denmark's preliminary tax assessment — your tax budget for the coming year. The Danish Tax Agency (Skattestyrelsen) prepares one for every taxpayer each November, based on your most recent known information. It shows your expected income, deductions, and the tax you're expected to pay.

This document determines your tax card (skattekort), which sets your withholding rate (trækprocent) and monthly personal allowance (månedsfradrag). Your employer uses these figures to deduct the right amount of tax from your salary each month. When you update your forskudsopgørelse, your tax card updates automatically and goes directly to your employer — you don't need to do anything else.

When should you update it?

Update it whenever your financial situation changes. The most common triggers:

New job or salary change: If your expected income is wrong, you'll either pay too little tax (resulting in a tax bill in March) or too much. Make sure the salary figure matches what you actually expect to earn.

Commuting deduction (field 417): If you commute more than 12 km each way to work, you're entitled to a deduction — but it doesn't update automatically when you change jobs. From 2026 the deduction also applies to students in remote municipalities who commute more than 12 km to their place of study.

Mortgage interest: Skattestyrelsen bases the assessment on data from two years ago. If you've remortgaged or your variable interest rate has changed, update it yourself — otherwise your monthly deduction will be wrong and you'll face a tax bill later.

Buying or selling a home: Property taxes (grundskyld and ejendomsværdiskat) are paid via your preliminary assessment. Skattestyrelsen usually helps with grundskyld once the purchase registers, but you must register ejendomsværdiskat yourself — especially important if you took ownership after 1 September.

Private pension contributions: If you contribute privately to a ratepension (rate pension), you can claim the deduction immediately throughout the year — up to a limit of 68,700 DKK in 2026.

New tax system from 1 January 2026: Denmark's tax system changed significantly. The old top-bracket tax has been replaced by three tiers — mellemskat, topskat, and top-topskat. Under-18s are now exempt from labour market contributions (AM-bidrag). Check that your withholding rate reflects these changes, especially if your income sits near the new thresholds.

What if it's wrong?

If you pay too little tax during the year, the difference shows up as restskat (outstanding tax) on your årsopgørelse in March. You pay 3.7% daily interest from 1 January until you settle — rising to a 5.7% surcharge if unpaid after 1 July.

If you pay too much, you receive the overpaid amount back to your NemKonto in April — with no interest for the 2025 tax year.

You can update your forskudsopgørelse as many times as you like throughout the year. Log in to TastSelv at skat.dk using MitID.