Denmark Tax Relief for Work Abroad (§33A): the rule, how days are counted, examples

Summary

If you stay fully tax liable in Denmark while you work abroad for at least six months, section 33A of the Tax Assessment Act can remove all or half of the Danish tax on that pay. The price is a strict day limit: you may be in Denmark for at most 42 days within any six-month period, and only for holiday or for necessary work tied to the job abroad. On the 43rd day the stay abroad counts as interrupted from the start of that visit. The Danish Tax Agency (Skattestyrelsen) checks the days, and you must be able to prove them.

Limit: 42 days in Denmark
Period: Any 6-month period during the stay abroad
A day counts when: You are in Denmark for any part of it
Stay abroad must last: At least 6 months
Law: Tax Assessment Act (Ligningsloven), section 33A
Run by: The Danish Tax Agency (Skattestyrelsen)

Who it applies to

Employees sent abroad by their employer for six months or more who keep their home in Denmark.
Engineers, offshore workers and consultants on long foreign contracts who fly home for weekends and holidays.
People whose family stays in Denmark while they work in another country.
People on rotation schedules who want to know how many days at home they can afford.

The rule

Section 33A of the Tax Assessment Act (Ligningsloven) is for people who are fully tax liable in Denmark, usually because they keep a home there. If you stay outside Denmark for at least six months and earn pay for work there, Denmark reduces its tax on that pay. The stay abroad must be connected to your job. A person who simply chooses to live abroad, with no link to the employer's needs, does not qualify.

The relief is full when the other country has the right to tax the pay under the tax treaty, or when there is no treaty. It is half when the treaty gives Denmark the right to tax the pay (section 33A subsection 3). Pay from the Danish state or another public employer follows different rules. You can choose the treaty instead of section 33A when the treaty is better for you.

The six months abroad may be interrupted only by necessary work in Denmark that is directly tied to the stay abroad, or by holiday or a similar reason, and all such stays together may be at most 42 days within any six-month period. This is the 42-day rule. The Tax Agency's legal guidance (Den juridiske vejledning, section C.F.4.2.2.4) reads necessary work narrowly: reporting to the board, receiving instructions, or a course that is directly needed for the job abroad. Ordinary work in Denmark interrupts the stay even on the first day, and pay for necessary work in Denmark is not covered by the relief.

Parts of days count as whole days. The guidance gives this case: arrive in Denmark on Friday at noon and leave on Monday at noon, and you have used four days. The travel days at the very start and the very end of the whole stay abroad are not counted in the 42.

When you pass 42 days, the stay abroad counts as interrupted at the start of the visit in which the limit is passed. Relief for the time before that visit is kept, but only if that earlier period on its own lasted at least six months and kept the limit. For a later period you must start a new stay abroad of at least six months.

Why it exists

Denmark does not want to tax pay that is earned during a real, long working stay in another country, where the person normally pays local tax and local living costs. But the relief is meant for people who are truly away. The 42-day limit and the narrow list of allowed reasons stop a person from living and working mainly in Denmark while calling the job foreign.

Counting the days

You count days in Denmark, not days abroad. Every day with any time in Denmark is one day, and the total is checked for every six-month period inside the stay abroad.

Write down the first day of your stay abroad and the day it ends or will end.
List every visit to Denmark with the arrival day and the departure day. Count both of them.
For each visit, look back six months from its last day and add up all days in Denmark in that time.
Check that no six-month period holds more than 42 days.
Check the reason for every visit: holiday or a similar reason, or necessary work directly tied to the job abroad. Nothing else is allowed.
Keep proof: tickets, boarding passes, a travel log, your contract and payslips.

How Countr counts it. Countr counts every day with any presence in Denmark as a full day, so the day you arrive and the day you leave both count, in the same way as the Tax Agency counts them. It adds up the days in the six months that end today and compares the total with 42. Past times when you went over stay on the tracker's record. The app counts days only. It does not know why you were in Denmark, so it cannot tell you that a day of ordinary work has already interrupted your stay. It also does not check that the stay abroad lasts at least six months. Because it counts every day in Denmark, it also counts the travel days at the very start and end of the stay abroad, which the Tax Agency leaves out, so the app can show slightly more days than the official count, never fewer.

Track Denmark Tax Relief for Work Abroad (§33A) on your phone.

Countr finds your past trips in your photos and keeps counting from there.

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Examples

A year in Singapore with three visits home

Your employer posts you to Singapore from 1 January to 31 December 2026. You visit Denmark for 10 days in March, 14 days in July and 12 days in October, each time on holiday. The fullest six-month period holds the July and October visits, 26 days in total. You stay under 42 days in every six-month period, so the 42-day rule is kept for the whole year.

The 43rd day

Same posting. You are in Denmark from 1 to 20 April (20 days) and from 1 to 15 July (15 days). On 20 September you arrive again for a 10-day visit. In the six months before, you already used 35 days, so 27 September is your 43rd day. The stay abroad counts as interrupted from 20 September, the start of that visit. The relief for 1 January to 19 September is kept, because that period is longer than six months. For the rest of the year you would need a new stay abroad of at least six months.

Long weekends add up fast

You work in Norway and fly home for long weekends. Each time you land on Friday at noon and leave on Monday at noon. That is four days per visit, not three, because parts of days count as whole days. Ten such weekends in six months use 40 days. One more weekend would bring you to 44 days and interrupt the stay.

Exceptions

Ordinary work in Denmark interrupts the stay abroad even when you are far below 42 days. Only necessary work directly tied to the foreign job is allowed.
Board meetings in Denmark normally interrupt the stay, under the Tax Agency's guidance.
The travel days at the start and the end of the whole stay abroad are not counted in the 42 days.
People who commute every day from Denmark to a job in a neighbouring country cannot use section 33A, because they are in Denmark for more than 42 days in six months. The tax treaty applies to them.
The relief is only half when the tax treaty gives Denmark the right to tax the pay.
Employees sent abroad by a Danish public employer fall under different rules.

Common misconceptions

“I have 42 days per calendar year.”: The limit is 42 days within any six-month period, and the period moves with you. Over a full year abroad you can be in Denmark for more than 42 days in total, as long as no six-month period holds more than 42.
“A weekend from Friday to Monday is three days.”: It is four. Any part of a day in Denmark counts as a whole day, so Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday all count.
“I can answer some work at the Danish office while I am home, as long as I stay under 42 days.”: The 42 days are only for holiday and for necessary work directly tied to the job abroad. Ordinary work in Denmark interrupts the stay, whatever the number of days.
“If I go over the limit, I lose the relief for the whole stay.”: The stay is interrupted from the start of the visit in which you pass 42 days. Relief earned before that is kept when the earlier period lasted at least six months and kept the limit.

Questions and answers

Do the arrival day and the departure day both count?

Yes. Any part of a day in Denmark counts as a whole day. The only travel days left out are the ones at the very start and the very end of the whole stay abroad.

Does a transit at Copenhagen Airport count as a day in Denmark?

The rule counts stays in Denmark, and parts of days count as whole days. The official guidance we read gives no separate rule for airport transits, so the careful choice is to count the day or to ask the Tax Agency before you rely on it.

Do holidays in a third country break my stay abroad?

No. The stay must be outside Denmark, not in one country. A holiday in Thailand during a posting to Singapore is still time abroad and uses none of the 42 days.

What proof does the Tax Agency ask for?

You must be able to show that you met the six months and the 42 days. The Tax Agency names the employment contract, payslips, proof of foreign tax and a travel or stay log. Keep tickets and boarding passes for every trip to Denmark.

Is section 33A the same as leaving Danish tax residence?

No. Section 33A is for people who stay fully tax liable in Denmark, for example because they keep their home there. It lowers Danish tax on the foreign pay. Whether you are fully liable at all is a different question, covered by Denmark Tax Residence.

Does the stay abroad have to be a full six months before the relief starts?

The relief covers the pay from the first day abroad, but only when the stay lasts at least six months in the end. If you return early, or pass the 42 days before six months are complete, there is no relief for that period.

Sources

Other rules for Denmark

Denmark Tax Residence 180 days in one visit

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This page explains the rule and how the days are counted. It is not legal or tax advice. The authority decides each case on its own facts.