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Companies and foundations etc. distributing dividends must report information about recipients of dividends, distributed dividend and possible withheld dividend tax in E-tax for business (TastSelv Erhverv).

The information should be reported whether or not dividend tax has been withheld.

Declaring and paying dividends and dividend tax

Check tax withholding rate or possible tax exemption card to be used when companies, foundations or associations receive distributed dividend (Link in Danish)

If you want to report dividends or dividend tax in E-tax for businesses (TastSelv Erhverv), it is important to know whether or not the securities are managed by VP Securities (Værdipapircentralen).

If the securities are not managed by VP Securities, you have to report:

  • Danish and non-Danish recipients of dividends
  • received distributed dividends
  • any withheld dividend tax
  • a statement of dividends in E-tax for business (this only applies if the company/association owns own shares, see below).

Next, distributed dividends and any withheld dividend tax are automatically added up for each recipient of dividends. In ‘Oversigt Udbytteskat’ (Overveiw of dividend tax) you can check if the information is correct. Any withheld dividend tax is payable to the Tax Agency (Skattestyrelsen). See deadlines below.

Please note that you should not make a statement of dividends in E-tax for businesses, unless the company/association owns own shares. In that case, you should only make a statement of dividends for the part of the distributed dividends that relates to own shares.

If the securities are managed by VP Securities, you have to:

  • make a statement of dividends in E-tax for businesses including the total distributed dividends and any withheld dividend tax etc. (information about the recipients of dividends will be reported via one of E-capital’s online solutions and the company has to calculate the total dividends and any withheld dividend tax).

  • Any withheld dividend tax is payable to the Tax Agency (Skattestyrelsen). See deadlines below.
  • You can make changes to your reporting until 4 p.m. on the day of reporting under ‘Indberet → Rettelse af udbytteangivelse’ (Reporting → Change of statement of dividends) in E-tax for businesses.
  • Dividends and dividend tax agreed in year 1 can only be reported in E-tax for businesses until 1 November in year 2. If you cannot report in E-tax for businesses, you have to complete form 06.333.(In Danish only)
  • If, exceptionally, the date for when the dividends were adopted is more than 6 months after the end of the accounting period related to the dividends, you cannot report in E-tax. And in this case, you have to complete form 06.033.
  • If you have to correct existing reporting of the company, you have to complete form 06.033 ‘Korrektion til udbytteskat’ (Correction of dividend tax).
  • You should also enter the reported gross dividend (dividend before tax) in E-tax for businesses in field 37 in the company tax return in E-tax for companies for the relevant income year.
  • Please write to us if you have any questions. You go to www.skat.dk/kontakt and select ‘Erhverv’ (Businesses) → ’Selskaber, fonde og foreninger’ (Companies, foundations and associations) → ‘Aktier, anparter, udbytte, royalty mv.’ (Shares, dividends, royalties, etc.) → ‘Udbytteskat’ (Dividend tax) → ‘Spørgsmål til udbytteskat’ (Questions about dividend tax).

Rates applicable to individuals residing in Denmark
Distribution to individuals %

Rate of dividend tax withheld if the company distributes to individuals. 
However, this does not apply to pension schemes exempt from dividend tax.

27%

Rates applicalble to individuals residing outside Denmark
Distributions to individuals %

The recipient of dividend is an individual. This does not apply to individuals residing outside Denmark if the Danish Tax Agency (Skattestyrelsen) has approved net withholding.

 27
The recipient of dividend has principal shares, subsidiary shares or group company shares in the distributing company and is resident for tax purposes or registered in one of the countries stated in section 5H(2) of the Danish Tax Assessment Act (Ligningsloven). 44
   

Rates applicable to companies domiciled in Denmark
Type of company %

The recipient of dividend is a parent company or a group company or the recipient of dividend has a dividend tax exemption card

0%

The recipient of dividend is an investment company or investment undertaking

15%

The recipient of dividend is a company, a foundation or an association subject to tax under section 1 of the Danish Corporation Tax Act (Selskabsskatteloven) or under the Danish Foundation Tax Act (Fondsbeskatningsloven) unless they meet the conditions for withholding 0% or 15% dividend tax.

22%

Dividend on portfolio shares not subject to tax, see section 13(2) of the Danish Corporation Tax Act (Selskabsskatteloven).

15.4%

Other companies

27%

Rates applicable to companies domiciled outside Denmark
Type of company %

The recipient of dividend is a parent company or a group company subject to EU directives or a double taxation agreement with Denmark.

0%

Other companies

27%

Find the tax withholding rate

If you are unsure of which tax withholding rate to apply, you can call us on (+45) 72 22 28 82 or by writing to us by means of the contact form at www.skat.dk/english

You can also search the tax withholding rate for the relevant conmapny, foundation or association to receive dividend.

Search withholding tax rate (click top right-hand corner for English).

Companies and associations etc. distributing dividends should not withhold dividend tax if the shareholder provides a valid dividend tax-exemption card or is registered in the database of the Tax Agency.

If the shares are registered with VP Securities (Værdipapircentralen) via a custody account in a Danish bank, the dividend tax-exemption card should be presented to the custodian bank. In other cases, the dividend tax-exemption card should be presented to the company or association distributing the dividend.

Shareholders may apply for a dividend tax-exemption card with the Tax Agency. The tax-exemption card is valid for a maximum of 10 years. If the situation of a shareholder changes, the dividend tax-exemption card must be returned to us.

The following recipients of dividends can apply for a dividend tax-exemption card via the contact form:

  • Danish tax-exempt institutions etc. according to section 3(1), paras 8, 9, 13 and 18 of the Corporation Tax Act (Selskabsskatteloven)
  • Non-Danish states and international organisations entitled to tax immunity that are exempt from Danish income tax (however, this does not apply to non-Danish pension funds and similar).
  • Non-Danish members of the royal family in Denmark who are exempt from Danish income tax.

The application for a dividend tax-exemption card should be submitted to the Tax Agency:
Online via www.skat.dk → Log on → ‘Erhverv’ (Businesses) → ‘Selskaber, fonde og foreninger’ (Companies, funds and associations) → ‘Aktier, anparter, udbytte-, royalty-, rente- og kursgevinstskat’ (Shares, tax on dividends, royalties, interest and capital gains)  → Complete the contact form and submit.

Or by letter to:

Skattestyrelsen
Nykøbingvej 76 D
4990 Sakskøbing
Denmark
The contact form tells you which information to include.

The following recipients of dividends can apply for a dividend tax-exemption card via form 06.036

  • Danish associations, cooperation units, foundations, institutions and self-governing institutions subject to tax according to section 1(1) para (6) of the Corporation Tax Act.
  • Danish tax-exempt institutions etc. according to section 3(1) of the Corporation Tax Act  (however, this does not apply to tax-exempt institutions etc. according to section 3(1), paras 8, 9, 13, 18 and 19 of the Corporation Tax Act.

Applications for a dividend tax-exemption card should be submitted digitally via www.skat.dk. Please complete and submit form no. 06.036 (form is currently only in Danish).

Companies, associations etc., distributing dividends and custodian banks may check the validity of a tax-exemption card if it was issued on 1 January 2014 or later.

Search dividend tax rate in Danish 

Companies and associations etc. distributing dividends should not withhold dividend tax if the shareholder has a dividend tax exemption card. If the shares are registered with VP Securities (Værdipapircentralen) via a custody account in a Danish bank, the dividend tax exemption card should be presented to the custodian bank. In other cases, the dividend tax exemption card should be presented to the company or association distributing the dividend.

Principal shareholders subject to limited tax liability may be granted net withholding on dividend tax when they receive their dividends, see Executive Order no. 1442 of 20 December 2005 and guideline SKM 2012.117.SKAT.

The distributing company may apply for net withholding via the contact form at www.skat.dk/english where it should attach information about the company, including CVR no. (Business registration no.), the ownership interest of the principal shareholder and place of residence statement from the country where the principal shareholder is resident for tax purposes.

According to section 210 of the Danish Companies Act (Selskabsloven), a company may provide loans to shareholders. This applies to loans to shareholders and members of management established on 1 January 2017 or later.

When a company provides a loan to a shareholder (natural person with a controlling interest in the company) the loan is subject to section 16E of the Danish Tax Assessment Act (Ligningsloven), see section C.B.3.5.3.3. Aktionærlån in Danish in our legal guide at www.skat.dk. This means that the shareholder is taxed on the loan as if it was salary or dividend. Taxation of the loan applies irrespective of whether the loan is legal or illegal according to company law and whether the shareholder repays the loan to the company.

If the loan is taxed as salary (A-income):

  • When the loan is established, the company should report the amount of the loan in E-tax for business →e-Income in field 13 ‘AM-bidragspligtig A-indkomst’ (A-income subject to Labour market contribution).
  • The loan amount may be reported in E-tax for business even if the reporting deadline has expired.

If the loan is taxed as dividend:

  • When the loan is established, the company should withhold dividend tax at a rate of 27%.
  • The company should declare dividends and dividend tax in E-tax for businesses. When the company reports information about the recipient of dividends and declares dividend tax withheld, it should state the date when the shareholder became entitled to take out the loan as the date of approval.
  • See the deadline for declaring and paying dividend tax in connection with loans to shareholders under ‘Payment and deadlines’. The loan amount can be reported in E-tax for business even if the reporting deadline has expired.
  • In E-tax for companies, the company should also report the amount of the loan in field 37 in the tax return along with other possible dividend distributions.  

You can pay dividend tax using online banking. If you choose to do so, you should use the payment ID stated at ‘Oversigt udbytteskat’ (Overview Dividend tax). You can also find the payment ID in your tax account in E-tax for businesses.

Paying from a non-Danish bank account

If you pay from a non-Danish bank account, you should use the following IBAN no., BIC/SWIFT code and account number:

Make a payment to us from a non-Danish account
IBAN no.: DK87 0216 4069 1633 94
SWIFT code: DABADKKK
Account no.: 02164069163394
Account holder: Skattestyrelsen

Please remember to enter your SE no. (VAT no.) in the comment field.

This applies, for example, if your company does not have an address in Denmark or a representative living in Denmark.

Payment deadlines

The deadline for dividend tax payments is the 10th of the month after the month when the distribution was approved.

However, in January the deadline is the 17th.

If the final due date is a Saturday, Sunday or a public holiday, the deadline is the following working day.

If the company’s deadline for payment of A-tax (tax withheld at source) is the last business day of the month, the deadline for declaring and paying dividend tax is the last business day of the month after the month when the distribution was approved.

Shareholders can claim refund of dividend tax if the dividend tax withheld exceeds the final dividend tax according to a double taxation agreement or current Danish tax law.

You can make the claim online. In order to make such a claim, the shareholder must be liable to pay tax abroad or be exempt from tax in Denmark. Shareholders or agents (on behalf of shareholders) can make claims.

Click here for further information and to make a claim for refund of dividend tax

Status on your claim

When you claim refund of Danish dividend tax, you get a receipt to document that you have submitted your claim. This has been the case since 1 January 2016.

We have now sent a letter to everybody who submitted a claim before 31 December 2019 and who has not yet had their claim processed. In the letter, we state the expected processing time to further 18 months.

Please call us on ( 45) 72 38 00 81 between 09.00 - 14.00 if you have not received such a letter. It could be that we do not have all the required information about you to complete the processing of your claim. In order to speed up the processing, please state when you submitted your claim and anything else that may help us identify your application.

Refund of dividend tax from 2015

Since August 2015, all claims for refunds of dividend tax have been put on hold because of the alleged criminal offences related to such claims. Read more about the background to this decision (only available in Danish). 

On 17 March 2016, we resumed payment of refunds of dividend tax, provided supporting documentation is submitted.

Please note that increased case processing time should still be expected. 
 
We regret any inconvenience this may have caused and we apologise for continued delays in the period ahead. According to section 69B of the Danish Withholding Tax Act (Kildeskatteloven), the Danish Tax Agency (Skattestyrelsen) has to pay interest on overdue refunds if case-processing time exceeds six months and the delay is due to circumstances which are not the fault of the recipient of the refund. Th Danish Tax Agency will pay any interest on overdue refunds if the conditions for this are met. You do not have to submit a claim for this interest.

Please see our legal guide (in Danish) for further legal information.