VAT Registration for Small Danish Businesses: A Plain Guide

If you have just started selling something in Denmark, moms is one of the first bits of admin you meet. It sounds official. It is not complicated once it is explained in plain terms.

Here is what moms actually is, the ordinary registration threshold for an eligible business established in Denmark, and what changes in your day-to-day paperwork once you register. Exempt activities and cross-border transactions can follow different rules.

What moms actually is

Moms is the Danish word for VAT. It is a tax on sales, and you are simply the one who collects it.

If your business is VAT registered and makes an ordinary taxable domestic sale, you normally add 25% moms to the price. You account for that output VAT to Skattestyrelsen. You may also deduct eligible input VAT paid on business purchases. The VAT return brings together the amounts you must account for and the deductions you are entitled to claim.

So the job is not "paying VAT". It is keeping the two sides apart, what you charged and what you were charged, so the difference is right.

When you need to register

Under the ordinary Danish small-business threshold, you must register when your taxable domestic turnover exceeds DKK 50,000 in a calendar year. The sale that takes you over the threshold is taxable too. Arrange registration in good time rather than waiting until after a sale that requires VAT.

Two things are worth knowing about that line:

• The current threshold uses a calendar year, not a rolling 12-month period. Exceeding the threshold in the previous calendar year can also prevent use of the small-business exemption this year.
• Below the threshold, eligible businesses can choose voluntary registration. This brings VAT reporting duties as well as the possibility of deducting qualifying input VAT; it does not make every purchase deductible.

Register through Virk: choose Start virksomhed if you do not yet have a CVR number, or Ændre virksomhed if you already have one, and approve with MitID. Watch your taxable turnover and check the correct start date with Skattestyrelsen when needed. Foreign businesses, exempt activities and special schemes can have different requirements.

If you are not sure whether your sales count, treat that as a question to check, not to guess.

What changes once you are registered

Registering switches on three practical things.

You apply the correct VAT treatment to your invoices. For an ordinary taxable domestic sale at the standard rate, show the taxable price, 25% VAT and total, with your VAT registration number and the other required invoice details. Exempt and cross-border sales may need different treatment.

You can deduct qualifying input VAT on your costs. This normally requires a proper invoice, VAT registration of both buyer and seller, and use in the business's taxable activities. Private use, exempt activities and categories such as meals or vehicles can restrict deductions. Keep the supporting documents and check the rules for each purchase.

You have to report and settle VAT on your assigned schedule, including a nil return for a period with no activity. Keeping a rough idea of your moms in your head is not enough; set aside enough money for the VAT you will owe.

You will also start seeing two terms in your paperwork, and it helps to know them. Udgående moms, also called salgsmoms, is the VAT you account for on sales. Indgående moms, or købsmoms, concerns purchases. Your settlement generally takes output VAT less the input VAT you are entitled to deduct, with any other required adjustments.

The deadlines, in plain terms

Your VAT period is assigned by Skattestyrelsen. Newly registered businesses normally report quarterly. Many established businesses below DKK 5 million annual taxable turnover report half-yearly if they meet the conditions; businesses in the DKK 5-50 million band normally report quarterly, and those above DKK 50 million normally report monthly. Check your actual period in TastSelv Erhverv.

For a business assigned quarterly reporting, the published deadlines for the four quarters of 2026 are:

• January to March 2026: due by 1 June 2026
• April to June 2026: due by 1 September 2026
• July to September 2026: due by 1 December 2026
• October to December 2026: due by 1 March 2027

Check Skattestyrelsen's current deadline calendar rather than reusing dates from an old article. Missing a deadline can lead to charges or an estimated assessment, so keep the numbers up to date as you go.

Where Kaupify fits

Moms is easy to understand and easy to get wrong, mostly because the numbers live in too many places: a pile of invoices, a shoebox of receipts, a bank statement, a note on your phone.

Kaupify brings invoices, bills and receipts into one place and supports VAT calculations from those records. Review the VAT treatment and supporting documents before reporting: an entry in software does not by itself establish a right to deduct VAT.

You can manage routine records yourself, with professional help when a transaction or filing needs it. Keep the paperwork together and review what the figures mean before you submit them.

The short version

• Moms is VAT. The standard Danish rate is 25%, but registration, exemptions and cross-border rules affect how it applies.
• The ordinary small-business threshold is DKK 50,000 of taxable domestic turnover in a calendar year, subject to eligibility conditions.
• Registration brings correct VAT treatment on invoices, eligible input-VAT deductions and regular returns to Skattestyrelsen, including nil returns.
• Reporting may be monthly, quarterly or half-yearly. Use the period and deadlines assigned to your business.
• Keep output VAT, deductible input VAT and their supporting records organised, and review the return before submitting it.

To see the workflow, book a Kaupify demo at book a Kaupify demo.

Your business, in clear view.

Sources

• SKAT: VAT registration and nil returns
• European Commission: Denmark's small-business VAT rules
• SKAT: conditions for input-VAT deduction
• SKAT: current VAT deadlines and reporting periods