A Danish anpartsselskab (ApS) takes on its accounting obligations on the day it appears in the CVR register, not on the day it sends its first invoice. The bookkeeping duty, the official Digital Post mailbox, VAT and employer registrations and the annual-report clock all start at registration.
This checklist is for non-Danish founders running a newly registered ApS. It covers what the Danish Bookkeeping Act requires, when VAT and payroll registrations become mandatory, how the annual report works and whether you need an auditor. It is general information, not accounting or tax advice — confirm current thresholds and deadlines with the Danish Business Authority and the Danish Tax Agency before acting on them.
Which obligations start on the day of registration?
Registration through Virk gives the company a CVR number, and three things follow immediately. First, the company receives mandatory Digital Post, the official mailbox used by the authorities and the courts; someone must be able to open it with MitID Erhverv from day one, because deadlines run whether or not the mail is read. Second, the bookkeeping duty applies from the first transaction. Third, the financial year is fixed in the articles of association.
The first financial year deserves an actual decision: Danish law allows the first period to run for up to eighteen months, so a September registration can close its first accounts on 31 December of the following year. Whether that helps depends on group reporting, tax planning and cost — decide it at formation.
What does the Danish Bookkeeping Act require in practice?
The Bookkeeping Act (bogføringsloven) requires transactions to be recorded accurately and as soon as possible after they occur, supported by vouchers, with regular reconciliation of cash and bank balances. Records and supporting documents must be kept for five years from the end of the financial year they relate to.
Denmark has also moved to mandatory digital bookkeeping. Companies with an annual-report duty must keep their books in a digital bookkeeping system that stores records and vouchers with a backup — either a standard system registered with the Business Authority or a custom setup meeting the same requirements. For a small first-year ApS the pragmatic answer is almost always a registered Danish standard system from the Authority's public list; a foreign group ledger or a spreadsheet rarely satisfies the rules on its own.
When do VAT and employer registrations become mandatory?
VAT (moms) registration is mandatory once taxable turnover exceeds DKK 50,000 within a twelve-month period, and a company expecting to cross that line should register before it does. The Tax Agency assigns a filing frequency; new and small businesses typically start with half-yearly returns. Cross-border activity adds its own layer — EU purchases generally involve reverse-charge reporting, and sales into other EU countries can create obligations there — so map the VAT flows before the first invoice.
Hiring the first employee — including a founder who takes a salary — requires registering the company as an employer for A-tax (withheld income tax) and the 8% labour-market contribution (AM-bidrag) before the first payroll run. Salaries are reported monthly to the eIndkomst system, so decide early who runs payroll.
How does the first annual report work?
Every ApS files an annual report (årsrapport) with the Business Authority under the Financial Statements Act, even if it has had no activity. A typical new ApS falls into reporting class B, where the filing deadline is six months after the end of the financial year; confirm the current deadline for your class before planning the close. The report must be approved by the general meeting before it is submitted digitally.
The first report covers the entire first financial period — up to eighteen months if you chose a long first year — which is exactly why early bookkeeping discipline matters.
Does a new ApS need an auditor?
Not necessarily. A small company can opt out of statutory audit if, over two consecutive financial years, it does not exceed two of these three limits: a balance-sheet total of DKK 4 million, net revenue of DKK 8 million and an average of 12 full-time employees. A newly formed company can generally deselect audit from the start if it realistically expects to stay under the limits. Danish assurance rules have been tightened in recent years for larger companies and some risk sectors, so verify the current thresholds.
Separate law from practice, though: banks and investors often ask for audited figures even where the law does not — raise it before deselecting the auditor.
Which tax deadlines matter in year one?
The corporate income tax rate is 22%. The company files an annual corporate tax return digitally with the Tax Agency after the income year ends and pays on-account tax (acontoskat) during the year, with a settlement after the return. First-year instalments are often low or zero because they build on prior-year figures, so a profitable first year can end in a significant residual payment — budget a tax accrual for it.
Two founder traps: taking money out of the company informally can create a taxable shareholder loan even if repaid, and dividends may only be distributed from approved reserves under the statutory procedure.
Which first-year mistakes are most common?
- Digital Post that nobody opens, so warning letters and deadline notices go unread.
- VAT registration filed only after the DKK 50,000 threshold has been crossed.
- Private and company spending mixed without documentation, creating shareholder-loan issues.
- The annual-report deadline treated casually: late filing triggers fees charged personally to management, and continued failure can send the company into compulsory dissolution.
Danish first-year compliance is a calendar problem before it is an accounting problem. Corpenza sets up the registrations, the bookkeeping stack and the filing calendar for foreign-owned Danish companies and keeps them aligned as the business grows. Talk to Corpenza before your first deadlines are set for you.
Sources: Danish Business Authority (Erhvervsstyrelsen); Danish Tax Agency (Skattestyrelsen).
