We can withhold part of your income

Yes. Even if your debt is low, we can still withhold part of your income to reduce your debt. If your debt is very low, as a general rule this will only take place once or a few times.

We calculate how much you can pay based on our information about your income and a statutory repayment rate. We use the calculation to change the withholding rate on your tax card, so that you will pay more tax in the future. We use the extra amount to reduce your debt.

We calculated a percentage amount withheld from your income. We calculate two percentages. One percentage as the minimum amount we may withhold if your income is, for example, state education grant (SU); and one percentage as the additional amount we may withhold if you have income above the minimum level, such as ordinary earned income. The minimum repayment rate is 3 per cent or 4 per cent, depending on whether you have dependent children. The maximum repayment rate is 60 per cent.

The amount we may withhold is calculated as follows:

We round the percentage down to the nearest whole number.

On skat.dk, you can see the new installment rate rates effective October 1, 2023 (in Danish)

You can find the percentage repayment rates in section G.A.3.1.1.1.2.2 Tabeltræk (Income table calculation), ‘Aktuelle satser’ (Current rates), of our legal guide, which you can find at skat.dk/juridiskvejledning. Please note that the guide is only updated twice a year with the current rates.

Salary, state education grant (SU) and a company car, for example, are included in the calculation of your income. If your employer has provided you with a company car, we include the value of the car in our calculation of your net income. 

You can see an example of how we calculate your income in section G.A.3.1.2.5 of our Danish-language legal guide, which you will find at skat.dk/juridiskvejledning. 

Yes. The repayment rate is determined by law, on the basis of your income, so you have a disposable amount to live on after we have withheld part of your income. The repayment rate takes account of whether you have dependent children.

You can submit a budget if you have significant expenses, e.g. for medicine, that you believe we should take into account. Read more under What can I do if I cannot pay what you have calculated?

We always calculate two withheld income amounts:

• a minimum withheld amount
• a general withheld amount

As a general rule, the more you earn, the more we will withhold. We take whether you have dependent children into consideration.

If your only income is, for example, state education grant (SU) or social assistance benefits (kontanthjælp), we will apply the minimum withheld amount. If your only income is your salary, for example, we will apply the general withheld amount, which will be determined by your salary. If you have both state education grant and salary income, we first calculate how much we can withhold from your state education grant, and then how much we can withhold from your total income.

The withholding amount we state in the letter is based on your total income. However, we can deduct different percentages for, for example, your state education grant and your salary income. The actual amount withheld will therefore often be lower.

You can avoid this by paying off your debt in full. You can use the payment details in the letter you have received from us.

In special cases, you can get an instalment payment plan whereby you pay in the amount yourself, instead of us withholding part of your income. You have to pay the same amount per month, even if you have an instalment payment plan. Read more on the Instalment payment plan page.

Yes, you can always pay off an extra amount. Read more on the Pay your debt page.

Yes, we can collect your debt in several ways at the same time. For example, we can offset your debt against payments from public authorities, e.g. overpaid tax.

• Read more about offsetting.
• Read more about levy execution.

• Give us the correct information
  If you have comments on the information we used to calculate what you can pay, please contact us. If you notify us within 14 days of receiving the first letter that we will withhold part of your income, we will assess whether your comments change our decision on this. If you submit your information after we have commenced withholding part of your income, we will assess whether your comments change how much we withhold.
  
  
• Submit a budget
  If you’re considering submitting a budget, you should make sure that this is financially realistic for you. Read more about this on the Get a calculation of how much you can pay page.
  
  
• Apply for deferral of your payment
  You can apply for deferral of payment for up to six months if something has happened that makes it difficult for you to pay your debt for a period of time. Read more on the You can apply for deferral page.
  
  
• Get debt counselling
  The Debt Collection Agency does not offer debt counselling. Instead, we refer you to finding an independent debt counsellor. If your income is low and you have a low disposable amount, you may be eligible for free debt counselling. Explore the options available on the website of Vidensfunktionen (the Danish national knowledge centre for free, voluntary financial and debt counselling services): Find advice offers

No, your employer cannot see that we withhold part of your salary to reduce your debt. Your employer can only see what your withholding rate is.

Yes, at skat.dk you can see what we have withheld from your salary so far:

1. Log on at tastselv.skat.dk
2. Select ‘Skatteoplysninger’ (Tax info)
3. In the list on the left-hand side, select ‘Søg i Indkomstoplysninger’ (Search income information)
4. Under Withholding of pay, click on ‘Vis evt. Lønindeholdelse for år’ (Show any withholding of pay for the year)
5. Select ‘Hent oplysning’ (Get information).

No, not necessarily. We can only withhold part of your income to pay off certain types of debt. You may also have taken out new debt that has not yet been included in the calculation of your withheld income. You may therefore still have debt even though we no longer withhold part of your income.

You can call or write to us to find out whether you still have debt for collection. See the Contact page.