Hire and pay employees in

Denmark, hassle-free

Hire and pay employees in Denmark, hassle-free

With Deel, your business can easily hire employees in Denmark. No more worrying about local laws, complex tax systems, or managing international payroll. Deel takes care of everything in 150+ countries.

The average onboarding time frame in Denmark is 2 days with Deel.

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Currency

Danish Krone (DKK)

Capital

Copenhagen

Official Language

Danish

Payroll Cycle

Monthly

Onboard, pay and manage employees in Denmark with Deel.

Usually, to hire in Denmark, your business needs an entity. That means a local office, an address registered as a subsidiary, and an account with a local bank. All of this, plus navigating regional benefits, payroll, tax, and HR laws, can take months.

Deel lets you hire employees in Denmark quickly, easily, and compliantly. We even automate tax document collection, payroll, benefits, and more. For your existing direct employees, we can manage your entire payroll operation from end-to-end.

Download the Guide

All the necessary benefits for Denmark
built right in

Deel allows you to provide localized benefits for employees in Denmark within minutes. All in one manageable online dashboard.

  • Holiday Allowance
  • Labor Market Supplementary
  • Salary Guarantee Fund
  • Workers Compensation Insurance
  • Private pension, healthcare, dental, life, disability, and critical illness insurance - Soderberg & Partners
  • Private Healthcare - Allianz (optional)

Our quickstart guide to hiring in Denmark

Navigate the tabs below to learn everything you need to know about hiring an employee in Denmark

Pay & Tax Leave Policy Termination Statutory time off Onboarding Additional info

Minimum Wage Requirements

There are no provisions regarding the minimum salary stipulated in the law. 

Individual Income Tax

Income tax in Denmark is complex. The individual income tax ranges from 8% to 56.5%. Income tax is calculated according to progressive rates. Multiple additional factors may impact overall rates, such as the household status, the number of children, and the employee's location. Local, Church and state taxes may also apply.

Gross Annual Income Tax Rate (%)
Up to DKK 50,761 8%
Up to DKK 544,800 42.83%
Over DKK 544,800 56.5%

Payroll Cost

The employer cost is generally estimated at 1% of the employee salary.

Monthly costs
- AES (labour market insurance) - DKK 33
- ATP (Labour Market Supplementary Pension) - DKK 189.35
- Financing contribution (FIB) - DKK 47.58
- Compulsory occupational injury insurance - 273.60 kr
- Maternity contribution - DKK 112.50
- AUB (Education contribution) - DKK 267.75
- AFU (Labor Market Fund for Secondary Persons) - DKK 0.58
- Administration of holiday fund - DKK 10.20
- Administration of frozen holiday pay - DKK 1.58
- Compulsory Occupational Injury Insurance - DKK 273.60
- Ferietillæg - 1% of the employee's gross salary

Annual and conditional costs
- 5th Week Vacation - Salary for up to 5 days of vacation for employees with unused vacation by the end of the spending year
- Vacation and Holiday Allowance - Salary for the unused vacation, up to 12.5% of the employee's annual base salary, accrued monthly.

Mandatory for terminated employees with unused vacation and paid to Feriekonto.

Overtime Pay & Maximum Hours

Standard working hours are 7 hours per day, 37 hours per week. The standard workweek is from Monday to Friday.

Maternity Leave

Maternity leave in Denmark is complex. 

Pregnant employees who have worked for 160 hours in the last 4 months are entitled to 18 weeks of paid leave. 4 weeks can be taken before the child's birth. After 14 weeks, an additional 32 weeks can be divided between the mother and father. 

The employee will receive 50%, of their average salary during this period, and Social Security will be responsible for this pay. 

Additional situations and conditions may apply

Paternity Leave

Paternity leave in Denmark can be complex. 

Employees who have worked for at least 160 hours within the last 4 whole months are entitled to 2 weeks of paid paternity leave. The 2 weeks must be taken before the child reaches 14 weeks. 

The employee will receive 50% of the salary during this period, and Social Security will be responsible for this pay.

Parental Leave

Parental leave in Denmark is complex. Parents are entitled to choose an additional 8 or 14 weeks of parental leave between them. Both parents can decide how to distribute the time off, which should be taken after the initial 52 weeks of maternity and paternity leave are used. This leave is unpaid.

One of the parents is also entitled to use between 8 and 13 weeks of the parental leave to be taken before the child is 9 years old.

Additional situations and conditions may apply

Sick Leave

Employees are entitled to paid sick leave for up to 26 weeks. This leave is paid at different rates and by different payers depending upon length:

Period Pay Payer
0 - 30 days 100% Employer
31 - 154 days DKK 4,405 per week or the employee's regular salary if that is lower. Social Security

Termination Requirements

Terminations must respect complex rules and the rules of an employee’s employment country. The off-boarding is always handled by the Employer with the primary stakeholders. It may include ad-hoc fees as well as required or recommended steps on specific termination cases.

Terminations in Denmark can be complex. There is no at-will termination in Denmark for employers. Terminations can be done for just cause subject to certain conditions.

Compliant terminations include:

  • Voluntarily by the employee
  • By mutual agreement
  • Unilaterally by the employer based on:
    • Probation period
    • Objective grounds
    • Disciplinary dismissal
    • Performance due to unsuitability for the job
  • By the expiration of the contract

Notice Period

The minimum notice period is 2 weeks and will be increased according to the length of the employment.

  • Up to 3 months of employment - 2 weeks’ notice
  • Up to 6 months of employment - 1 month’s notice
  • Up to 3 years of employment - 3 months’ notice
  • Up to 6 years of employment - 4 months’ notice
  • Up to 9 years of employment - 5 months’ notice
  • Over 9 years of employment - 6 months’ notice

Severance for Employees

In Denmark, generally, there are no statutory requirements on severance pay. Employees who have been in continuous employment for between 12 to 17 years are entitled to a severance payment of between one to three months. 

Paid Time Off

Full-time employees in Denmark who work five days per week are entitled to a minimum of 25 paid business days per year. This leaves accrues at a rate of 2.08 days per month. Part-time employees are entitled to the same number of vacation days. If an employee is given more than 25 days, the accrual rate per month is their annual vacation allowance divided by 12. Employees are required to take a minimum of 20 days off annually.

Public Holidays

Denmark celebrates 11 national holidays:

  1. New Year’s Day
  2. Palm Sunday
  3. Maundy Thursday
  4. Good Friday
  5. Easter Monday
  6. General Prayer Day
  7. Ascension Day
  8. Pentecost Sunday
  9. Whit Monday
  10. Christmas Day
  11. Boxing Day

Onboarding

Onboarding takes 2 business days after the client signs the SOW.

Employment Contract Details

There are no specific rules governing the language for employment contracts as long as the employee understands the contract language. They must be in writing and signed by both parties.

A contract must include:

  • Name
  • Start date
  • Length of the employment
  • Job description
  • Termination conditions

Probation Period

Probation periods are not mandatory. The maximum probation period is 90 days. 
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Hiring in Denmark, hassle-free

With Deel, your business can easily hire employees in Denmark with our EOR solution. If you have an entity, our Global Payroll solution takes care of payroll and compliance for your direct employees. Our 250+ in-house experts handle everything from managing local laws, complex tax systems, or your payroll in Denmark and 150+ countries.

Group (8)

599 USD

Management fee

Group (9)

1%

Estimate Employer Cost

*of employee salary

Want to learn the cost of hiring an employee in Denmark?

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