Preliminary tax returns or forskudsopgørelser for the forthcoming year are released in November, meaning they can carry information over from the preceding tax year (the current year at the time of release). Tax years in Denmark follow calendar years.
If your circumstances changed in 2023, it’s therefore a good idea to update your preliminary tax returns now.
It should be noted that taxpayers who do not pay the right amount of tax in the first month of the year can correct their preliminary returns later in 2024. This means the difference in tax paid in January would be spread across the rest of the year.
But if your circumstances have changed significantly since the last calendar year it makes sense to update as soon as possible so that you are paying the correct amount of tax from the beginning of the new (tax) year.
READ ALSO: Forskudsopgørelse: Why checking your preliminary Danish tax return matters
“It’s never too late to go in and check your preliminary tax return. You can do that every day, all year round. It’s just important to do it now in relation to the paycheck for January,” Danish Tax Authority junior director Jan Møller Mikkelsen told news wire Ritzau in January last year.
Annual tax returns (årsopgørelser) in Denmark cover calendar years. They are released in March and finalised in late spring, meaning you have this period to correct the information on your tax return from the previous calendar year.
If you paid too much tax during the preceding year and didn’t adjust your preliminary return during the course of that year, you could therefore correct the final return the following spring to ensure you still paid the correct tax. Paying too much tax would result in a rebate, but the reverse applies if you pay under the correct rate for your circumstances, meaning you might receive a large bill further down the line.
Both of these scenarios can be avoided by adjusting the forskudsopgørelse during the ongoing tax (calendar) year.
When wages are paid into current accounts at the end of this month, it will be the first wage packet of 2024. That means now is the last chance to correct tax details carried over from last year to make sure deductions of income tax for the first monthly wage of this year are correct.
“We experience increasing numbers of calls from the public in January when people can’t understand why the first payment of the year is wrong,” Mikkelsen said in 2023.
“Now is the time to go in and check the preliminary tax return if you want to ensure the correct wages are paid in January,” he said.
The tax authority advises updating your preliminary return or forskudsopgørelse — a projection of your expected income for the year along with the deductions you’re eligible for — if your circumstances have changed in one or more of the following ways:
- Changed jobs
- Been promoted or received a salary increase
- Taken on a mortgage
- Refinanced your mortgage
- Changed your commute
You can change your preliminary tax return any day of the year by visiting the Skat website and signing in with your MitID. The agency can also be contacted over the phone or in writing for guidance on the preliminary return and other tax matters.
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