How much you can pay by withholding of income

The amount we may withhold depends on your income and whether you have dependent children. If some of your income is withheld, you automatically pay off your debt. We call this withholding of pay.

Elementer i beregning af lønindeholdelse: indkomst, forsørgerpligt, lovpligtig afdragsprocent, trækprocent og skattefradrag.

Income and children determine your withholding rate

We calculate how much you can pay based on what we know about your finances:

1
Your income
For example, pay, pension, cash benefits, state education grant (SU) and company car
2
Children you must support
Dependent children under the age of 18.
3
A statutory repayment rate
The repayment rate is linked to your income
4
Your withholding rate
The part of your income which you must pay in tax
5
Your annual tax deduction
The amounts you can deduct in tax

How much of my income can be withheld?

You can use the indicative debt calculator to get an idea of how much income can be withheld.

Calculate your withholding rate (in Danish)

What is withholding of pay?

We withhold part of, for example, your pay, unemployment, sickness or maternity/paternity benefits (dagpenge), state education grant (SU) or pension. You will therefore get less paid out.

Watch the video and read more about withholding of pay

Is some of your income already withheld?

Get answers to what you can do when you are paying off your debt by withholding of income.

Active income withholding

View and pay your debt

You can get an overview of your debt and pay off your debt at Overview of my debt (Mit gældsoverblik - in Danish). You may have debt that you cannot see there. Contact us for a full debt overview.

Log on at Overview of my debt

How we calculate the withholding rate

You can see how your withholding rate is calculated in the letter we have sent you. You can also see what you have to pay per month – both as an amount and as a percentage. There are two percentage rates in the letter. The withholding rate applied will depend on your income. Both withholding rates may be applied if, for example, you receive both state education grant (SU) and a salary.

If your income changes, your payment will also change

If any of the amounts change, we will change the withholding rate. For example, a higher amount may be withheld if your income is higher. If your income changes significantly, it is a good idea to contact us.

Three things you can do

Please let us know if you have any comments that may change how much you have to pay. For example, your income may have changed, or you may have high medicine expenses.

If you have received a letter stating that your income may be withheld, you have 30 days to give us your comments, if we are to take them into account as from the first time your income is withheld.

You can also send your comments even if you are currently paying off your debt by withholding of income.

Call or write to us

The Danish Debt Collection Agency (Gældsstyrelsen) does not offer debt counselling. Instead, we advise you to find 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 Danish website of Vidensfunktionen (the Danish national knowledge centre for free, voluntary financial and debt counselling services):

Find debt counselling services

FAQ

When we calculate what you can pay, we use a statutory repayment rate 2024 (statutory repayment rate 2025) to calculate a pay withholding rate. We add the pay withholding rate to your normal withholding rate. The total withholding rate will appear on your payslip or payment summary and on your preliminary income assessment .

We convert the repayment rate to a pay withholding rate as follows:

We calculate two percentage rates:

A withholding rate for, for example, state education grant (SU), cash benefits or resource-building benefit.
A withholding rate for, for example, salary, state pension and unemployment, sickness or maternity/paternity benefits (dagpenge).

The withholding rate applied will depend on your income. Both withholding rates may be applied if, for example, you receive both state education grant (SU) and a salary.

We round the applicable withholding rate down to the nearest whole number. Some of your income exceeding your tax deduction will be withheld to pay your tax and repay your debt.

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

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

Income and children determine your withholding rate

How much of my income can be withheld?

What is withholding of pay?

Is some of your income already withheld?

View and pay your debt

How we calculate the withholding rate

If your income changes, your payment will also change

Three things you can do

Let us know about any changes in your finances

Get help to work out what you can pay

Get debt counselling

FAQ

How the rate is calculated

Will you have money left to live on when some of your income is withheld?

Can I see what you have withheld from my income?

You no longer withhold part of my income. Does this mean my debt has been cleared?