Understand your payslip
A step-by-step guide

Dear reader,

If you’ve ever looked at your Danish payslip and felt completely lost, you’re not alone. Many, Danes and internationals, struggle to make sense of it. That is why I decided to take a closer look myself, and after countless cups of coffee, I am finally ready to share what happens in the lines between gross salary and the amount that lands in your bank account in this article.

Before we start, I want to lay some expectations. I am not an expert, and used information from Danish authority websites, such as borger.dk, and skat.dk. I used two types of payslip –Intega and DataLøn – and used their own explanations as a baseline.

A payslip is a complicated thing, and there are many conditions on which the result depends. I’ll be focusing on the monthly payslips. I will explain the main principles, which are mandatory for everyone – state pension funds, taxes, vacation allowance. I will briefly explain other types of lines you may encounter on your payslip, but this will be more general, as it's individual. This means I cannot explain every line of your individual payslip, but you will be equipped to figure it out yourself.

If you have additional questions, the person responsible for handling salaries at your company is the competent person to ask.

Your and company details

Top of the payslip, you’ll find legal details, like your personal and your company’s. It varies depending on the company and the system used for the payslip, but it usually includes things like address, CPR and CVR numbers, your start date, how many hours a month you’re supposed to work, your bank account, address, etc.

Salary table

First, it’s helpful to understand the structure of the salary table on your payslip. As mentioned, I use Intega and DataLøn payrolls. The layout and level of detail differ between them, with DataLøn being the simpler option.

In both systems, each row describes a specific type of deduction, benefit, or payment, listed in a logical order from top to bottom.

Columns

Intega’s payslip has more columns, while DataLøn presents the same information in a more condensed format. Columns present in both systems are marked in purple, while columns unique to Intega are marked in blue.

1. Description. The column called "Specifikation" in Intega or "beskrivelse" in DataLøn describes what is being calculated in each row, such as hours, pension, taxes and more. Any numbers to the left are internal system codes and can be ignored.

2. Untitled column shows additional amounts the company is paying on your behalf, separate from your direct salary. Examples include pension contributions, company phone, or health insurance. In DataLøn, these values are included in the "Beløb" column.

3. Grundlag (basis) shows the basis for calculating deductions. It is the figure used to determine pension contributions and tax calculations. DataLøn also includes things that are shown in Enheder for Intega.

4. Enheder or antal (units / amount) refers to things like hours worked, vacation days you have earned, or vacation days taken. In DataLøn, these values appear under "Grundlag."

5. Sats (rate) column shows the applicable rate for the row. It could be your hourly wage rate, a tax percentage, or the percentage of your salary going to holiday or pension contributions.

6. Beløb (total) column displays the final amount that is either deducted from or added to your gross salary, such as taxes, pension contributions, or payments for benefits like a canteen or gym. If your payslip does not have an untitled column, all these amounts will be shown here.

The salary calculations

Now the fun part – the actual salary calculations. Here’s a simplified illustration of how the payslip logic works. The first box shows the lines that determine your full taxable salary. From that amount, AM‑bidrag is deducted first. A‑skat is then calculated on what remains. If you have optional schemes through your employer, such as a lunch plan, those are deducted last. The result is your payable (net) salary. Below are more detailed explanations of each step in the figure.

Gross salary

The first row on your payslip is your gross salary. If you are paid by the hour, you will likely see the number of hours worked in the units column and your pre-tax hourly wage in the rate column. The total column should equal the number of hours multiplied by your wage.

Additional things that count toward your salary

In the next few lines, you may see other elements included in your total compensation, like:

Benefits paid by the company, like a company phone, work-related travel expenses, etc.
Health insurance (sundhedssikring or sundhedsforsikring).
Firmapension. Additional contribution towards pension fund, usually divided into company’s share and your share. This usually gets deducted before ATP.
Vacation (afholdt ferie). If your employer pays you during vacation (instead of FerieKonto), and you have taken vacation this month, there will be a row showing how much of your salary is paid as vacation allowance. The untitled or total column shows what the company pays you, and the units column shows how many vacation days you have taken.
Other.

ATP

ATP stands for Arbejdsmarkedets Tillægspension (The Labor Market Supplementary Pension). This is a basic supplementary pension paid alongside your public pension when you retire. The contribution is fixed within working hours and pay schedule brackets (read more in Danish here). Typically, your employer pays two-thirds and you pay one-third, deducted automatically. You can check your contributions and an estimate of your monthly ATP pension at atp.dk/en.

ATP usually appears as two lines: first one is called "ATP A-sats," which is your own contribution and is deducted from your gross salary, usually shown in the total column. The second one is called "ATP firmabidrag," which is your employer’s contribution, will either be shown in the untitled column (in Intega) or in the total column (in DataLøn).

You can read more about ATP in English here.

💡 Can I get my ATP savings before retirement?

Especially if you’re not planning to stay in Denmark until retirement age, you might be wondering whether you must pay ATP and if you can get the money back. Since this isn’t the focus of the newsletter, here’s the short version: you can’t opt out, and you’ll only receive the funds at Danish retirement age, paid out monthly and taxed at around 40%.

Total Salary Line

Starting July 2026, you may see an additional line on your payslip probably called “samlede løn” (total salary). This line will add up your basic salary and all major pay elements such as pension contributions, holiday pay, and the flexible choice (fritvalg) scheme before taxes and deductions. This information is often already available on the payslip, but this line will sum it all up.

The goal is to give you a clearer overview of your full compensation, including payments that may not be paid out immediately. This line is not a legal requirement, so your company can choose whether to display it or not.

More about it in Danish.

AM bidrag

Arbejdsmarkedsbidrag (the labour market contribution) is a fixed 8% tax on your taxable salary (grundlag column) deducted before any other taxes. This amount finances Denmark’s social security and labour market schemes, such as unemployment benefits, SU, sick and parental leaves, and other schemes related to the workforce.

The taxable amount for AM-bidrag includes:

Gross salary
Benefits paid by the company, like free phone, usually health insurance, etc.
Minus your share of the retirement contribution(s).
Vacation pay for days taken, if paid as salary (not FerieKonto).

Not included is the company’s share of the retirement contributions.

A-skat

A-skat is the income tax paid to the Danish Tax Agency on your behalf. The amount of A-skat depends on your personal tax card and will vary from person to person. Your specific withholding rate (trækprocent) is shown in the rate column on your payslip.

It consists of:

National tax (bundskat), which 12,01% in 2026, and is the same for everyone. It goes to the national government.

Municipal tax (kommuneskat), which varies by municipality and goes to your local area. Note that you pay municipal tax to the municipality where you are registered on September 5 of the previous year. You can see different municipality tax rates here.

💡 Should I move to a municipality with lowest taxes?

Choosing a municipality with a lower tax rate might seem appealing, but taxes don’t tell the whole story. Property taxes also vary significantly, and while lower-income-tax areas often have lower other taxes, there are many exceptions. You can’t pick the “cheapest” option based on one rate alone. Beyond taxes, factors like salary levels, housing costs, job opportunities, commute time, and quality of public services, and cost of services all play an important role.

Other possible taxes:

Church tax (kirkeskat), which applies only if you are a member of the Danish National Church. You indicate your church membership status when you first register for residence in Denmark. The rate varies by municipality, and can be found in the same link as municipality tax rates.
Income brackets. Middle, top and top-top bracket tax apply if your income exceeds a certain threshold. If your salary is close to a tax bracket limit, be especially careful when filling in your preliminary income assessment, to avoid significantly under- or over-paying tax.

Your total trækprocent is rounded up to the nearest whole number. You may pay slightly more in tax during the year, but any excess is refunded after your annual tax assessment (årsopgørelsen). For example, if your calculated rate is 37.2%, you will pay 38% throughout the year, and get any surplus back after årsopgørelsen in April.

Additionally, there are certain tax-free allowances, and tax deductions that may apply to you. Everyone is entitled to a personal allowance (personfradrag), which is a tax-free amount of 54,100 kr. per year in 2026. This means that only the income you earn above this amount is subject to tax. On your payslip, you may see a line called “Skattefradrag” (Tax deductions), which shows the portion of your salary that is not taxed each month. This line includes not only your personal allowance but also any other individual deductions you are eligible for, such as a deduction for transportation (kørselsfradrag).

💡 You can see your withholding rate and monthly deductions on your preliminary income assessment (forskudsopgørelse) at skat.dk/en-us/individuals. You can also update this information at any time if something doesn’t look right.

If you have any questions, you can always contact the Danish Tax Agency or join our free Tax Q&A webinar webinar with experts from the agency on 12 November.

Other expenses

After A-skat is deducted, you may see additional lines for things you have opted into, such as a lunch scheme, workplace associations, special gym deals, and similar benefits.

Feriepenge

If your vacation pay is managed via FerieKonto, your employer will pay an extra amount equal to 12.5% of your monthly salary into FerieKonto. Equally to your gross salary, AM-bidrag and A-skat are deducted from this amount, and what remains is transferred into FerieKonto. This saves up for your paid vacation and usually equals 2.08 vacation days per month.

Accumulated annual amounts

At the bottom of the payslip, you’ll see year‑to‑date (år-til-dato) totals. These usually cover 1 January up to the date of the payslip, but some companies use customised year-to-date (YTD) periods.

Main lines in short:

AM-grundlag: The total amount of your salary YTD that is subject to the 8% labour market contribution (AM‑bidrag).
AM-bidrag and A-skat: Show the total AM-bidrag and income tax (A-skat) you have paid YTD.
ATP eget: The amount you have paid into ATP (the supplementary pension scheme) YTD.
ATP firma:The amount your employer has paid into ATP YTD.
Ferieberettiget løn: The total earnings YTD that qualify for holiday pay.
Timer år/dato: The number of hours you have worked YTD.