You're studying in Denmark
If you have moved to Denmark to study, the so-called student rule may apply to you. If you meet certain conditions, the rule allows for the full tax liability to take effect only after you have been in Denmark for 365 days within a 2 year period. This also applies if you have a home in Denmark.
You can read more about the conditions below. If you think the student rule applies to you, please call us on (+45) 72 22 28 92 so we can help you.
The special student rule apply to you when:
- You have moved to Denmark to study.
- You are subject to income tax in your home country.
- You are registered for studies up to and including master's degrees.
- You don't run your own business while you are in Denmark.
If you're covered by the student rule, you don't become subject to full tax liability until you have stayed in Denmark for 365 days within a period of 2 years. This is also so, if you have a home in Denmark. Your full tax liability takes effect on the day you have been in Denmark for 366 days.
If you have income that is taxed in Denmark during the 365 days, it could be your salary or student grant, you are subject to limited tax liability on that income. As of day 366 of your stay in Denmark, you also have to report non-Danish income and assets/property.
How to find out the number of days you have stayed in Denmark
When you figure out the number of days in Denmark, you exclude days you were not in Denmark. However, you include full days and possible travel days.
Example: Days of staying in Denmark and tax liability
You came to Denmark on 15 September 2024.
- During your first 365 days in Denmark, you spent 6 weeks outside Denmark.
- 6 weeks x 7 weekdays = 42 days.
- 365 days + 42 days = 407 days
- Count 407 days from 15 September 2022 when you moved to Denmark.
As a result, your full tax liability to Denmark takes effect on 27 October 2025.
You're subject to full tax liability to Denmark if you're no longer subject to tax in your home country or if you have stayed in Denmark more than 365 days.
You can read more about full tax liabiliy at Moving to Denmark.
If you have more than one type of tax liability in Denmark in a year, you can't report information in E-tax (TastSelv - our self-service system). In stead, you complete and submit tax return form 04.076 no later than 1 July the year after you moved to Denmark.
When the special student rule applies to you, your full tax liability only takes effect on day 366 within 2 years of your stay in Denmark. This also applies even if you have a home in Denmark. Days you have been outside Denmark in connection with holidays and so on don't count as days in Denmark. Please note that possible travel days are considered days you lived in Denmark.
Your full tax liability starts on day 366 of your stay in Denmark
If you have income to be taxed in Denmark within the first 365 days, it could be your salary or student grant, you are subject to limited tax liability on that income. From day 366 of your stay in Denmark, you also have to report non-Danish income and assets/property.
In tax return form 04.076 you have to calculate and split your total income into the 2 periods of tax liability.
Income that you earned while you were subject to limited tax liability should be reported in the column for limited tax liability. Income that you earned while you were subject to full tax liability should be reported in the column for full tax liability.
Information on salary, the state education grant, deductions and allowances, etc.
In your service letter you find your information about salary, state education grant, deductions and allowances, etc. that your employer, provider or bank, etc. has reported on you. You find your service letter in E-tax and select See tax assessment notice and then Select document. You also got your service letter by regular post in late May/early June. In the service letter, you find the numbers of the boxes that corresponds to those in form 04.076.
Don't forget to claim and split your deductions in the 2 periods of different tax liability. This could be relevant if, for example, you were entitled to a deduction for non-Danish students.
Non-Danish income and assets/property
If you have non-Danish income and non-Danish assets in the period of full tax liability, you have to complete other forms to be submitted with form 04.076. Read more at Declaring non-Danish income.
When you have completed the form, you save it on your computer before you submit it. You can do so via E-tax by clicking Contact > Write to us > 'Indsend oplysningsskema' (submit tax return) > Select 'Oplysningsskema for udlandsforhold' (Tax return for non-Danish tax matters) > Select '04.076 Oplysningsskema for to skattepligtsperioder' (04.076 Tax return for 2 types of tax liability).
If you have more than one tax return, you can submit them at the same time.
Please see the video below on how to complete the tax return:
(Duration: 8:57)
You can choose English subtitles by clicking 'CC'.
Full screen is available by clicking the 2 arrows.
As a student in Denmark, you are generally subject to full tax liability to Denmark. This means that you are subject to the global income principle and as a result you have to report all income from outside Denmark. Special rules may apply depending on double taxation rules on students, which may mean that Denmark can't tax certain benefits and scholarships from your home country.
Please call us on (+45) 72 22 28 92 for guidance.
Students from certain countries may be eligible for an additional tax deduction. Please read more in Danish and see if your country is on the list.
If these rules apply to you, please submit form 04.062 - Application for tax deduction for Faroese, Greenlandic and international students or business apprentices in Denmark to the Danish Tax Agency (Skattestyrelsen) including documentation that you are registered with the school/university here in Denmark.
If your application is approved and your deduction is accepted in your preliminary income assessment, you must remember to enter your deduction on your tax return.
If you are a student from Greenland or the Faroe Islands who started your studies after 1 January 2011 and are entitled to a tax deduction for foreign students, you may be entitled to a tax deduction of DKK 36,000 in addition to your personal allowance.
To apply for this deduction, please complete form 04.062 - Application for tax deduction for Faroese, Greenlandic and international students or business apprentices in Denmark and submit it to us.
Tell us if you get a scholarship or grant from a Danish university, an academy of professional higher education or other educational institutions.
You do so by logging on to E-tax (our self-service system and entering the amount in field 304 of your preliminary income assessment (forskudsopgørelse).
Please note that tax has already been withheld when you receive the scholarship or grant.
Log on to E-tax and select Preliminary income assessment field 304.
Scholarships you get while studying in Denmark may be taxable in Denmark. This also applies to non-Danish scholarships or grants, including Erasmus grants.
For us to assess whether your scholarship/grant is taxable in Denmark, we need to find out if you are subject to the special student rule and as a result not subject to full tax liability your first 365 days in Denmark.
You can read more in Danish about the special student rule in section 8(2) of the Danish Withholding Tax Act 'Kildeskatteloven' (retsinformation.dk).
If you're not subject to the special student rule and the relevant the double taxation agreement has an article on student, it may be that the grant is not taxable in Denmark.
Scholarships are exempt from income tax when they are given to a student who
- stays temporarily in Denmark and
- is a citizen and resident in a developing country at the time the studies in Denmark began.
Based on section 7 K(5) of the Danish Tax Assessment Act (Ligningsloven) (retsinformation.dk), the National Tax Board determines what countries should be considered developing countries in this context.
For further legal information in Danish see our legal guide .