Do you acutally have a personally owned small business and not a sole proprietorship?

Be well-informed so you can make the right choice for your business

What's a personally owned small business (also called a PMV in Danish)? What is the difference between such a business and a sole proprietorship? What are the possible advantages and disadvantages you may experience if you make the change?

Find out more on this page and read about how you proceed when you have decided whether you want to change your type of business to a personally owned business or not.

Your revenue is crucial

Your revenue will help you decide if it makes sense changing your type of business to a peronally owned small business.

Do you expect your revenue to remain less than DKK 50,000?

If your revenue is less than DKK 50,000 within a period of 12 months, a personally owned small business may be the right thing for you. If so, you don't have to register for VAT. And as a personally owned small business, you won't have to spend time filing VAT returns.

Do you expect your revenue to exceed DKK 50,000 any time soon?

If your revenue is close to hitting DKK 50,000 within a period of 12 months, we recommend that you continue as a sole proprietorship. The reason is that if your revenue exceeds DKK 50,000, you have to register for VAT and a personally owned small business is then no longer an option.

Further down on this page, you find a step-by-step guide to virk.dk and what you need to pay special attention to if you want to change business type to a personally owned small business.

Do you want to change to a personally owned small business?

Change to a personally owned small business at virk.dk

Advantages and disadvantages:

You keep your CVR no. (business registration number).

You save time as you don't have to keep VAT accounts or file VAT returns.

You don't have to charge VAT on your invoices to private customers.

You can't claim VAT on purchases you make, but you can deduct the total purchase in your tax accounts.

You may have to repay some of the VAT you already claimed. Read more under If you want to change type of business to a personally owned small business.

Consider advantages and disadvantages

When you decide whether a personally owned small business is the right kind of business for you, it's a good idea to consider the time you spend versus how much more you can earn. In other words, how long will it take you to do VAT accounts and file your VAT returns and how much VAT will you be able to claim?

Differences and similarities between the 2 types of businesses

As you can see below, the 2 types of busiensses are very alike. The biggest difference is that a personally owned small busienss isn't registered for VAT or other duties, and that a personally owned small business has to renew its CVR no. every 3 years.

Differences between a personally owned small business and a sole proprietorship

	Sole proprietorship	Personally owned small business
CVR no.
One owner
Bookkeeping, keeping tax accounts, reporting result
Size of revenue	No limit	Less than DKK 50,000 in 12 months
VAT registration	An option
Keeping VAT accounts and filing VAT returns	If registered for VAT
Other duties such as excise duties	An option
Employees	An option
Renewal fo CVR no.		Every 3 years

Take a look at this if you want to change from being a sole proprietorship to a personally owned small business. Here, you can see what you have to do and what you need to be aware of.

Consider the timing when you want to change to a personally owned small business

When you change the type of business to a personally owned small business, your VAT registration is deregistered automatically the day before the change takes effect.

As a result, we recommend that you consider the time of year when you make the change. It's a good idea to do it at the end of at VAT period.

If you make the change on 1 January 2025, you have to file your VAT returns for the entire year and your last one will be 1 March 2026. After that date, you will not have to spend time on VAT accounts or filing VAT returns.

How you change to a personally owned small business:

Go to change of business at virk.dk

Click Start selvbetjening (Start self-service) and log on using MitID.
Then, click Næste (Next) and accept terms and conditions.
Find your busienss by entering CVR no. and click Søg (Search). Then, click Vælg (Select).
Click Ændre virksomhed (Change business).
Click Driftsform (Operating model) and then Rediger (Edit).
Tick-off Skift driftsform til personligt ejet mindre virksomhed (PMV) (Change of operating model to personally owned smal business).
Select the date it takes effect by means of the calendar and then click Fortsæt (Continue).
Check if you need to make any updates under Branche, Overdragelse, Rediger stamdata (Industry, Transfer, Edit master data).
If you need to refund VAT for a pc or a mobile that you bought at an earlier point in time, you have to tick off Ja (Yes) under Overdragelse af aktiver (Transfer of assets). Next, you have to tick off Virksomhedens maskiner og driftsmidler hjemtages til privat brug eller anvendes i min virksomhed, som fremover ikke er momsregistreret (Business machinery and operating assets will be used for private purpises or used in my busines which will no longer be registered for VAT) and then clic Næste (Next).
Check the changes you made.
Click Godkend (Accept).
You will now get a receipt stating that your change has been submitted. You will be notified by email when the change has been processes and your business has been changed to a personally owned small business.

You need to wrap up your VAT accounts when you make the change to a personally owned small business as by doing that you also deregister your business from VAT.

Perhaps you have to refund some of the VAT already claimed

If you already claimed VAT on items such as mobile phones, pcs or your stock, you may have to refund some of the VAT already claimed. You should report this VAT as input VAT when you file your last VAT return. If you continue to use the item as part of your business, you may deduct the amount in your tax accounts.

At Don't forget to file your last VAT return we try to tell you what you need to be aware of when you deregister your business from VAT and file your last VAT return. This could be because you want to change your type of business to a personally owned small business.

File your last VAT return

When you have done your VAT accounts and calculated a possible VAT claim, you are ready to file your very last VAT return.

Log on to E-tax for businesses and file VAT return

You will have to continue to do your bookkeeping and keeping accounts as when your had a sole proprietorship.

This means that:

You have to keep doing your bookkeeping
You have to keep your vouchers and accounts for up to 5 years
You have to report your business result in your tax assessment notice by no later than 1 July.

Our Danish language bookkeeping guide can help you record vouchers correctly and to se see what you can deduct and claim. Please find our guide at skat.dk/bogføringsguide-pmv.

If you want to go on as a sole proprietorship you just keep going as normal.

Remember to file your VAT return

Don't forget to file your VAT return. This also applies if you haven't bought or sold anything in the period - then you enter DKK 0. Otherwise, you risk haveing to pay a penalty of DKK 800.

Have you signed up for a reminder email prior to the VAT deadline?

If we don't already remind you of your VAT deadlines, you can enter your email address in E-tax for businesses (TastSelv Erhverv).

This is what you do:

Log on to E-tax for businesse s.
Select Profile and contact details.
Select Profile details.
Select General contact information.
Enter your email address and click Save.

Remember to check your business digital mailbox (e-Boks)

As E-box is where you get other important information from us and other authorities. The mailbox was set up automatically when you registered your business at Virk.dk. If you link an email address or phone number to this mailbox, you will be notified of any new emails.

Read about and go to your digital mailbox in Danish at Virk.dk

Contact us

Call us on:
72 22 28 27

Your revenue is crucial

Do you expect your revenue to remain less than DKK 50,000?

Do you expect your revenue to exceed DKK 50,000 any time soon?

Do you want to change to a personally owned small business?

Advantages and disadvantages of a personally owned small business

If you want to change to a personally owned small business

If you want to go on as a sole proprietorship

If you want to close your sole proprietorship

Contact us