Welcome to the top-top tax

In the Danish tax practice, there are a number of rates and thresholds subject to adjustments each year. The new rates are published annually around this time by the Ministry of Taxation, and normally this does not attract much attention. Generally, it concerns the new top tax threshold and the salary requirement related to researcher taxation – both are typically just adjusted in small figures.

For 2026, however, it is and will be a lot different. As of January 2026, the Government’s new tax reform will be fully implemented. At the same time, there will be a new (and lower) salary requirement for researcher’s taxation as part of the entrepreneur package adopted last year. 

Researcher’s Tax Scheme
The salary requirement for taxation within the researcher scheme has gradually increased over many years. Currently (in 2025), the salary requirement is DKK 78,000/month subject to AM-tax (i.e., after e.g., ATP).

As part of the government’s entrepreneur package, the salary requirement is significantly reduced. Specifically, the base rate (which is adjusted annually) is reduced from DKK 59,500 to DKK 47,600.

The change takes effect from 1 January 2026, when the new rate will be DKK 65,400 effective from January 2026. In other words, this is a substantial reduction, which – all else being equal - means that significantly more people will be able to meet the salary requirement and thus be covered by the more favourable taxation of 8% AM-tax and 27% tax (flat tax of 32.84 %). The usual requirements and conditions for the researcher scheme remain unchanged. Also, bear in mind that this adjustment will not have any retroactive effect.

The Tax Reform
The tax reform means a return of the “middle-tax” and at the same time introduces the well-discussed top-top tax.

This does lead to a number of changes.

A new intermediate tax of 7.5% is introduced for income above the “old” top tax threshold (which in 2025 was DKK 611,800 after AM-tax). The top tax will be 7.5% – instead of the previous 15% – and will be applied to income above the “new” top tax threshold (stated in the ordinary bill as DKK 750,000 before AM-tax). In addition, a top-top tax of 5% will apply to incomes above DKK 2,500,000 (according to the ordinary bill).

The Final Rates
Middle-tax threshold will be DKK 641,200
Top tax threshold will be DKK 777,900
Top-top tax threshold will be DKK 2,592,700

All amounts are after AM-tax, so the actual new top tax threshold is DKK 845,543 before AM-tax (DKK 70,461 per month).

This means that for incomes up to DKK 641,200 (i.e., DKK 696,956 before AM-tax, corresponding to a monthly salary of DKK 58,079), depending on the municipality of residence, approximately 35-38% tax plus AM-tax must be paid.

Income between the middle-tax threshold and the top tax threshold is taxed with an additional 7.5%, and from the top tax threshold with an additional 7.5%.

Income above the new top-top tax threshold will not exceed an incremental rate of approximately 57% plus AM-tax. This means a total marginal tax of about 60,5% for 2026. 

The observant reader will notice that for income below the new top tax threshold, there is a fairly significant tax cut. It amounts to approximately DKK 12,450 (7.5% of the difference between the new and old top tax thresholds).

Other Rates
At the same time, several other rates are adjusted. For example, the taxable amount for a company phone increases from DKK 3,300 to DKK 3,500, and the progression threshold for share income increases from DKK 67,500 to DKK 79,400 (taxed at 27% otherwise 42%). The Christmas gift from the employer can also be a little larger, and one can make a larger contribution to a pension scheme. A complete overview of all rates can be found here.

Below we have outlined the different marginal tax rates, based solely on personal income.