Starting or changing job: skattekort
In short
There is no such thing as a paper skattekort. A is a record in the SKAT system that your employer pulls electronically themselves. All they need from you is your and a word about which card to take.
If there is no card for you, your employer first takes 8 % and then withholds 55 % of what is left. A little over 41 % of your salary reaches you. This is not a fine and not the bookkeeper's mistake — it is what the law prescribes by default.
the employer does not give back what was over-withheld — it comes back through the årsopgørelse in the spring
Does this apply to me?
Yes, if you are starting a job, changing one, taking a second job, or your salary has changed noticeably. SKAT will not find out by itself — not once.
Steps
Give your employer your CPR — and nothing else
Your employer needs no PDF, no photo, no printout. They log into the eIndkomst system and pull your card themselves. From you: your CPR number and an answer to one question — is this your main job or an extra one.
if someone asks you to "send the skattekort", that is a misunderstanding — there is nothing to send
Work out which card you actually need
There are three cards, and confusing them is the most expensive mistake in this guide.
a second job means a bikort; two hovedkort at once means restskat in the spring
Change your forskudsopgørelse — the card appears by itself
There is no separate action called "order a skattekort". You edit your — the forecast of your income for the year — and SKAT recalculates the rate automatically and sends the new card to your employer.
The green frame marks what to click.
Enter your yearly income — before deductions
Field 201 (Lønindkomst) has to hold the salary you expect for the whole year and before anything is withheld: before AM-bidrag and before tax. Not the monthly figure and not take-home pay.
Field 366 is the date the new card takes effect — so that SKAT spreads your fradrag correctly over the rest of the year.
Check your first lønseddel
The real check is not on skat.dk but on your first payslip. Look at the line with the [[traekprocent|trækprocent]] and the fradrag.
If you see 55 % and fradrag 0, the card did not reach your employer. Tell them to pull it again, and check that your forskudsopgørelse has your new income in it.
The lønseddel, line by line →Left a job — take it out of the forecast
This is the step almost everyone skips. If you do not remove the old job from your forskudsopgørelse, the system still thinks you have two incomes and spreads your fradrag over money that is not there.
the Oftest tilføjede felter list has separate items for this, including Arbejdsløs
What you will need
- MitID on your phone
- CPR number
- Your employment contract, with the salary
- The date of your first working day
- Distance from home to work, km
Danish words you will see
- Skattekort
- Your tax card: the rate and deduction your employer can see.
- Hovedkort
- Your main tax card: it carries your monthly fradrag. It works with one employer only.
- Bikort
- An extra tax card for a second job: no fradrag, but no 55 % either.
- Frikort
- A tax-free card, valid until your yearly income passes your limit. Mostly for school pupils and students.
- Trækprocent
- The rate of tax withheld from your pay. It comes from your skattekort.
- Fradrag
- A deduction: the amount that is not taxed.
- AM-bidrag
- The labour market contribution: 8 % of your pay, taken before tax.
- Forskudsopgørelse
- The preliminary tax assessment for the year. It opens in November.
Common mistakes
- Expecting SKAT to find out about the new job by itself. It will not. Only you change the income forecast.
- Entering take-home pay, or a monthly figure. Field 201 takes the yearly amount, before everything is withheld.
- Giving both employers a hovedkort. The fradrag gets counted twice, and restskat arrives in the spring.
- Thinking a frikort exempts you from everything. AM-bidrag of 8 % is withheld even with a frikort.
- Demanding the 55 % back from your employer. They have no right to do that. SKAT returns what was too much — through the årsopgørelse.
Need to talk to a human?
SKAT answers questions like this quickly and in English — have your CPR to hand. If your employer insists you have to "bring" something, show them the skat.dk page about skattekort.
Where to turn and what to say →Where this information comes from
- Checked against sources: 21.09.2026
- Sources: skat.dk — Tax card, borger.dk — Skattekort og frikort, skat.dk — Your income changes
This is an explanation in plain words, not legal advice. The final word always belongs to the authority. How we check
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