Taxes and duties
How high is the tax-to-GDP ratio in Denmark? What is the current level of corporate income taxes? The development in taxes and duties has a large impact on the economy of the government sector, since the revenue from taxation is the most important source of finance for public expenditure. Here is a complete overview of the revenue from taxes and duties.
Selected statistics on Taxes and duties
Development in total taxes and duties
Final accounts of central government, municipalities, counties and social security funds. Accounts data for public quasi institutions are still not available in March, why unit data for year t-2the data are used.
Development in Tax-to-GDP ratio
Final accounts of central government, municipalities, counties and social security funds. Accounts data for public quasi institutions are still not available in March, why unit data for year t-2the data are used.
The distribution of average final tax
Data are compiled from the Register of Personal Income Taxation (called System 28 or SKATTELE), which registers all personal incomes, income deductions and income taxes in the income year. The register is a part of the Danish Tax Agency. The system comprises tax assessment notices with breakdowns on all tax concepts as well as income and deductions concepts. The system is updated on a continuing basis as more people are assessed and any changes to already finalized assessment notices are incorporated in the system.
Statistics Denmark collects provisional data for 2022 and 2023 in October 2024. For 2021, the data is collected in November 2023; while data for 2017 - 2020 are based upon data collected in November in year two after the income year have ended. From year 2017, the data is grossed up based on the number of similar persons compared to the total number of personals liable to taxation.
The development in land tax
The foundation for property taxation is given by a collection of registers called the Property Statistics Register. The Register is based on information from two sources: an assessment part from the Danish Property Assessment Agency and a tax part from KMD. Since the parts are not updated at the same time, there may be slight discrepancies in the data between the two parts. Numbers for the most recent year is calculated on the basis of budget information from municipalities to the Ministry of Interior after the adoption of the municipal budgets in the autumn in the year before.
The assessment part consists of the following
- Valuation (public assessment)
- Property value
- Assessed area
- Number of apartments
- Deduction in land value for improvements
Property taxes is levied based on the public assessment from two years prior the collection year. Property taxes for own-occupied dwelling are computed based on the assessment from 1. October 2011 reduced by 2.5 per cent., whereas property taxes for other properties are computed based on the assessment from 1. October 2012. At that time, the public assessments were fixed because of a possible error in the valuation system. The property tax can however still increase until the taxable land value reaches the public assessment for each property.
The tax part consists of the following
- Taxable land value
- Land tax
- Reimbursement duties based on land value for both public and private properties
- Property user code
Development in corporation tax
Data are compiled from the register of Digital Corporate Tax Reporting (DIAS) of The Danish Tax Agency. DIAS consists of four sub-elements (a tax declaration part, an assessed part, a joint taxation part, and a deficit part) and registers all corporations and their tax base. DIAS updates the data on a continuing basis with the recording of new companies, dissolved companies, and changes to already finalised assessments. Some tax cases are not concluded until several years after the end of the income year. The Danish tax authorities will thus continually receive corrections to data.
A yearly delivery from the statistical Business Register is used for the division of income and assessed taxes based on industry and type/owner code.
On the statistics – documentation, sources and method
See the documentation of statistics to learn more:
The purpose of the statistics Corporate taxation is to shed light on trends in companies' taxable income and tax payments. The statistics cover the period from from 1996 and is published yearly in March. The statistics were first published in 1922 and the method used for calculating the corporate tax has not changed since the first publication.
The purpose of the statistics General government finances is to give a overview over expenditure and revenue in the general government sector. The statistics is used to analyze the public economy. Data are available and comparable from 1971 and onward.
General government statistics have undergone a benchmark revision since the last publication. In this benchmark revision, the statistics for public finances have been revised back to 1971. The benchmark revision is a pan-European project that is carried out every 5 years. The purpose of the revision is to incorporate new knowledge and new methods and to ensure uniform calculation methods for all countries.
This main revision of the public finance statistics has had no notable effect on public consumption, while the net lending/borrowing for general government has improved to a lesser extent.
The purpose of Local government personal income taxation and church tax is information on the development in these taxes as they are decided by the local governments by the 15th of October the year before the relevant income year. The Statistics was first time published in 1927, but in its current form the statistics covers and is comparable from 2007.
The purpose of the statistics Personal income taxation is to give information about tax bases, tax calculations and the various tax concepts, and also give a description of provisional and final tax. The statistics cover income taxes from 1994 and is published yearly in September. The statistics were first published in 1903, but in its current form the statistics cover every year from 1994 onwards.
The purpose of the statistics Property Taxation is to show the development in property taxes and their allocation to municipalities. The detailed property tax statistics has existed since 1937. Before 1937, property tax statistics was also published statistics on property taxation, albeit at a more aggregated basis. The current form of the statistics is comparable from 2007 and onwards.