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Accounts in Denmark

Every kind of account and pension the planner offers in Denmark: what each one is, when money can come out, how it is taxed, and the pages we read the rules from.

Engine 2026Reviewed

Most Danish retirement savings sit in pension schemes, through work or bought privately, and the kind of scheme decides how the money comes out and how it is taxed. A ratepension pays out in yearly rates taxed as income, a kapitalpension pays a lump at a flat 40% charge, and an aldersopsparing pays out tax free. Outside the pension system, savings sit in an ordinary investment account or a share savings account.

Each kind has its own row in the money step. Your pension company's annual statement, or pensionsinfo.dk, says which kind each of your schemes is. A pension that already pays you an income for life, such as a livrente or ATP, goes in the pension step instead.

Rules as of the 2026 tax year, read from the authorities on 2026-07-29. Each account lists the pages we read it from.

Accounts you can enter

Ordinary investment account

We assume Danish funds of the kind taxed when you sell, which is what most Danish retirees hold. Their payouts and the profit on selling are taxed as share income.

Shares, funds and bonds you hold directly at a bank or broker, outside any pension or share savings account. The plan assumes Danish funds of the kind taxed when you sell, which is what most Danish retirees hold.

How it is taxed, rate by rate, is on the tax page.

In the withdrawal orders
With the ordinary accounts
Pays out
Whenever you like
At the first death
Your partner takes it over as it stands

Share savings account (aktiesparekonto)

Taxed at 17% each year on how much it rose in value, sold or not, and the bank takes the tax from the account. A loss year's tax is carried to the next good year. Withdrawals are never taxed.

A share savings account is a bank account for listed shares and equity funds, one per person, with a cap on what you can pay in over its life. It is not a pension: money can come out at any age, and the 15.3% charge on pension returns never reaches it.

The plan charges the 17% from inside the account each year, and carries a falling year's credit forward to the next rising one, as the bank does.

In the withdrawal orders
With the ordinary accounts
Pays out
Whenever you like
Taxed while you hold it
Yes, paid from inside the account
At the first death
Your partner takes it over as it stands
Where the model simplifies

  • A share savings account (aktiesparekonto) is taxed at a flat 17 percent a year on the change in its value, with nothing further to pay when you take money out, and we model that, including a losing year's credit carried to the next rising one. What we do not check is the cap on what you may pay in, 174,200 over the account's life, so if you send more of your savings into it than that we show less tax than you would pay.

    Your real tax is higher/anyone who sends new savings into a share savings account beyond its deposit cap

The law behind it
aktiesparekontoloven s 13, s 14

Ratepension

Paid out in yearly rates over the number of years you choose, from an age set by when the scheme started. Each rate is personal income. Taking money out any other way costs a 60% charge instead of income tax.

A ratepension is the most common Danish private and workplace pension. Contributions are deducted from your income while you work, so every krone that comes out is taxed as personal income, on the same scale as the state pension.

While it is held, the pension company pays 15.3% of the year's return from inside the account. The plan charges that too, so it shows in your tax but not in your spending.

Before the payments start you choose when they start and over how many years, and the plan pays exactly that schedule: each year, the balance at the start of the year divided by the years left. What you do not need that year moves to your ordinary account.

The earliest age depends on when the scheme was set up: 60 for schemes from before May 2007, five years before your state pension age for schemes from May 2007 to 2017, and three years before it for newer ones. That is why the planner asks for the year.

In the withdrawal orders
With the accounts taxed on the way out
Before the earliest age
Before the age the law sets for it, only by cashing it in at a 60% charge, and only if you allow it
Pays out
In instalments over a term you choose, within the law's limits
Taxed while you hold it
Yes, paid from inside the account
At the first death
Your partner takes it over as it stands
What the planner asks about it
  • Year the scheme started From 1950 to 2026. No default: you answer it.
  • Age the payments start From the earliest age it pays out to 20 years after the earliest age it pays out. We assume your retirement age.
  • Years it pays out over From 10 to 30 years. We assume 10 years.
  • Cash it in early if the plan runs short On unless you turn it off.
Where the model simplifies

  • Every Danish pension account pays 15.3 percent a year on its investment return, and the plan now charges it on the money you place in the pension rows. What it does not do is give the credit Danish law gives for a losing year: the real charge lets a negative year offset future years, and the plan simply charges nothing in the losing year and the full rate afterwards, so over a volatile plan it shows slightly too much of this charge.

    Your real tax is lower/anyone who places savings in the Danish pension rows and lives through negative-return years, which over thirty simulated years is nearly every path

The law behind it
PBL s 11 A, s 20 stk. 1 nr. 2, s 29 stk. 1; PAL-loven s 2

Aldersopsparing

Paid in from taxed money, so the payout is tax free from an age set by when the scheme started. Before it, money comes out only at a 20% charge. Whatever is left 20 years after that age is paid out then.

An aldersopsparing is the pension that replaced the kapitalpension in 2013. Contributions are not deducted from your income, which is why nothing is taxed on the way out and payouts do not reduce your state pension.

It pays 15.3% on its return each year from inside the account, like every pension. The plan draws from it as it needs, which the law allows in a lump or in rates.

In the withdrawal orders
With the tax-free accounts
Before the earliest age
Before the age the law sets for it, only by cashing it in at a 20% charge, and only if you allow it
Pays out
Must be paid out by an age the law sets
Taxed while you hold it
Yes, paid from inside the account
At the first death
Your partner takes it over as it stands
What the planner asks about it
  • Year the scheme started From 1950 to 2026. No default: you answer it.
  • Cash it in early if the plan runs short On unless you turn it off.
Where the model simplifies

  • Every Danish pension account pays 15.3 percent a year on its investment return, and the plan now charges it on the money you place in the pension rows. What it does not do is give the credit Danish law gives for a losing year: the real charge lets a negative year offset future years, and the plan simply charges nothing in the losing year and the full rate afterwards, so over a volatile plan it shows slightly too much of this charge.

    Your real tax is lower/anyone who places savings in the Danish pension rows and lives through negative-return years, which over thirty simulated years is nearly every path

The law behind it
PBL s 10 A, s 12, s 25 A, s 28 stk. 2

Kapitalpension

Paid out as a lump sum from an age set by when the scheme started, at a 40% charge instead of income tax. Before that age the charge is 52%. Contributions you could not deduct come out first, tax free.

A kapitalpension paid out a single lump. No new money has been accepted since 2013, but schemes set up before then still run, and many people now near retirement have one.

The lump is charged a flat 40% instead of income tax, so it does not push your other income into a higher band. Before the payout age it can only come out at 52%. If anything is left 20 years after the payout age, it is paid out and charged 40% then. Like a ratepension, it pays 15.3% on its return each year from inside the account.

In the withdrawal orders
With the accounts taxed on the way out
Before the earliest age
Before the age the law sets for it, only by cashing it in at a 52% charge, and only if you allow it
Pays out
Must be paid out by an age the law sets
Taxed while you hold it
Yes, paid from inside the account
At the first death
Your partner takes it over as it stands
What the planner asks about it
  • Year the scheme started From 1950 to 2026. No default: you answer it.
  • Cash it in early if the plan runs short On unless you turn it off.
Where the model simplifies

  • A kapitalpension set up before 1980 pays 25 percent instead of 40 percent on what it was worth at the end of 1979. We charge 40 percent on all of it, so for those old schemes we show too much tax on that part.

    Your real tax is lower/anyone with a kapitalpension set up before 1980

  • Every Danish pension account pays 15.3 percent a year on its investment return, and the plan now charges it on the money you place in the pension rows. What it does not do is give the credit Danish law gives for a losing year: the real charge lets a negative year offset future years, and the plan simply charges nothing in the losing year and the full rate afterwards, so over a volatile plan it shows slightly too much of this charge.

    Your real tax is lower/anyone who places savings in the Danish pension rows and lives through negative-return years, which over thirty simulated years is nearly every path

The law behind it
PBL s 10, s 25 stk. 1 nr. 1 and nr. 7, s 28 stk. 1, s 32 stk. 1

Kinds of pension

A pension paid to you as an income goes in the pension step, not here. Choose its kind there and the plan taxes it by that kind's rules; leave it on standard and it is taxed like a state or workplace pension.

Life annuity (livsvarig livrente)

Taxed in full as income for as long as it pays.

A small one, paying at most 13,400 a year in 2026, may be cashed in as a lump when it starts. The lump is charged a flat 40% instead of income tax. Cashing in a larger one costs 60%.

The law behind it
PBL (LBK 1243 af 26/11/2024) § 2 stk. 1 nr. 4 litra a; § 20 stk. 1 nr. 1; § 29 stk. 1 and 3 (commutation)

Fixed-term pension (ophørende alderspension)

Taxed in full as income, paid for a set number of years.

It must run for at least ten years, so the planner refuses a shorter term.

The law behind it
PBL (LBK 1243 af 26/11/2024) § 2 stk. 1 nr. 4 litra b; § 20 stk. 1 nr. 1; § 16 stk. 2 (shared contribution cap)

ATP Livslang Pension

Taxed in full as income.

ATP is the supplementary pension every employee pays into, separate from the state pension. A small ATP pension is paid as a lump instead, charged a flat 40%: enter the lump in the pension step when it applies to you.

The law behind it
PBL (LBK 1243 af 26/11/2024) § 2 stk. 1 nr. 3 (ATP is a pension with løbende udbetalinger, 'jf. dog § 29 B'); § 20 stk. 1 nr. 1; § 29 B nr. 1 (capitalisation); lov om ATP § 9 stk. 1

Where other things you hold go

Livsvarig livrente, ATP and other pensions for life
Enter them in the pension step as an income, with their kind. They are taxed as income for as long as they pay.
Tjenestemandspension (civil servant pension)
Enter it in the pension step as a standard pension. It is taxed in full as income.
Frozen holiday pay (feriemidler) and LD
Enter what was paid out to you as a one-off lump in the year it came, after tax.

New rules not in the model yet

A larger share savings account
The government proposed in June 2026 to raise the cap on what you can pay into a share savings account to 500,000. It is not law, so the plan uses today's rules.