Tax on shares if you leave Denmark

You must include all shares, shares in private limited companies, investment fund shares and other securities, where gains and losses are treated according to the rules of the Capital Gains Tax Act when you calculate whether the market value of your shares amounts to DKK 100,000 or more. Shares that you can sell tax-free must also be included.

These rules normally only apply if you have been liable to pay tax in Denmark on capital gains on shares for a total of minimum 7 years before leaving Denmark or if you were subrogated to the transferor’s tax position when you acquired the shares.

You can't have your tax postponed on gains on shares and investment fund shares that have been issued by an investment company and are therefore subject to taxation of unrealised capital gains.

If you want to pay tax on unrealised capital gains when you leave Denmark, you can state that in  Calculate shares in E-tax - Change tax assessment/tax return.

If you move to a country outside the Nordic region and the EU, you must provide adequate collateral for the deferred tax payment. If you move to a country within the Nordic region or the EU, however, you don't need to provide any collateral.

You're not charged interest on the deferred tax payment.

If you own shares with a market value of DKK 100,000 or more or own shares with a negative acquisition cost, you have to report your securities in Calculate shares in E-tax - Change your tax assessment notice/tax return.

You have to report all your shares and investment fund units that you own at the time you leave Denmark. You must include shares that can be sold tax-free and shares for which you can calculate a loss when leaving Denmark. However, shares for which the calculated tax is paid at the time you leave Denmark must not be included.

If you previously moved abroad or to the Faroe Islands or Greenland and were granted a deferral of tax on the capital gain on shares you could have realised if you had sold the shares on the day you left Denmark, you also have to include these in your report.

You can also see our video:

Deferral of tax payments in the year of departure

The tax you have had postponed (been granted a deferral on) has been assessed on a so-called postponed tax payments balance. The postponed tax payments balance is the amount which you are liable to pay in tax on the gain on your shares, but which you have been allowed to postpone.

As long as there is an amount on the postponed tax payments balance, you have to report your securities each year no later than 1 July. You do so in Calculate shares in E-tax - Change your tax assessment notice/tax return.

You can also see our video:

Deferral of tax payments while you live away from Denmark

When you sell shares that form part of the portfolio overview at the time of departure, you must calculate the gain or loss on the sale. The gain or loss is included together with your dividends, distributions and other transactions in a total assessment of income from the shares. We calculate the amount that you are liable to pay based on your information.

Tax-free shares

Gains and losses on shares which you can sell tax-free and which are contained in your portfolio overview must not be included in the assessment of the total income. If you receive a dividend on these shares, you must pay an instalment on the postponed tax payments balance, and as a result you have to report the dividends in Calculate shares in E-tax Change your tax assessment notice/tax return.

When you calculate gains on the shares, you must use the actual consideration and, as acquisition cost, you must use the acquisition cost that you also used for calculating the emigration tax.

If the consideration for the sale of your shares etc. is lower than the acquisition cost, you have incurred a loss on the sale of the shares. However, the loss can amount to maximum the value on the emigration date less the sales value.

We'll send you a demand for payment when it's time to pay tax

If the calculated Danish tax on the securities exceeds the tax that you may have paid in Denmark or abroad, we'll send you a demand for payment for the tax that you are liable to pay.

If you're liable to pay tax, it will always be calculated according to the rules on income from shares'.

You'll get a deduction for the tax you have paid abroad, on the Faroe Islands or in Greenland.

The payment deadline is 1 September in the year following the income year. The last due payment date is 20 September. If it's a Saturday or Sunday, the payment deadline is extended to the following weekday.

If you move back to Denmark, you use the market value of the shares at the time you return to Denmark as the acquisition cost for the shares. If you still have a postponed tax payments balance, the market value must, however, be reduced according to special rules. 

If you return to Denmark and have losses on your shares that you could not utilise when you left Denmark, you may, in certain cases, have the market value increased when you move back to Denmark, thus allowing you to utilise the loss for tax purposes after all. You can only increase the market value of shares that you owned both when leaving and when returning to Denmark. 

You can also watch our video (currently in Danish)

Deferred tax payment in the year of return

If you report your shares too late, your postponed tax payments balance becomes outstanding tax payable by you according to the same deadlines as for all other outstanding tax. However, you may apply to us to disregard your failure to meet the deadline.

If you receive dividend after leaving Denmark

You must pay an instalment on the postponed tax payments balance if you receive dividend on shares contained in your portfolio. This applies to both Danish and non-Danish shares.

When you leave Denmark, you must continue to pay Danish tax on Danish dividends. This applies regardless of whether or not you have a postponed tax payments balance. If Denmark has a double taxation agreement with the country in question, the tax may, however, be lower.

If you borrow money from the company in which you have shares

As long as you have deferred tax on a postponed tax payments balance, we'll charge an amount equal to the amount you borrow in a company in which you have shares. This also applies if you raise a loan with a company owned by a company in which you have shares. If the loan is from a company owned by a company in which you have shares, tax is only payable on the loan equal to the company’s ownership interest. When you have paid the amount to us, your postponed tax payments balance will be written down by this amount. However, you're not obliged to pay an instalment on the postponed tax payments balance if the lending company is a bank and you own less than 5% cent of the share capital.

Tax paid outside Denmark

If you have paid tax outside Denmark on the income that you declare in your tax return, the tax will be deducted from the assessment of whether you are liable to pay part of the postponed tax payments balance. However, this doesn't apply if the tax concerns the sale of shares that can be sold tax-free under the transitional rule for minor holdings of listed shares. However, you may only deduct tax paid abroad up to maximum the amount that corresponds to the share of the total Danish tax levied that is proportionally attributable to the income taxed abroad. This means that you are not entitled to a greater setoff against a Danish tax levied than the tax you have actually paid abroad.