Acontoskat: how your company pays tax during the year
Written by Mads Antonsen · bookkeeper at Numina
Updated July 17, 2026
The 22% Danish corporate tax isn't paid once a year but continuously, as acontoskat in two ordinary instalments. If the instalments miss the company's actual profit, it costs a surcharge — or ties up cash unnecessarily. Here are the rules and the dates.
The deadlines: 20 March and 20 November
Acontoskat is paid in two ordinary instalments due by 20 March and 20 November of the income year. Payment goes through the tax account (skattekontoen) in TastSelv Erhverv, and if a deadline falls on a weekend or public holiday, it moves to the next business day.
How the ordinary instalments are calculated
The Tax Agency sets the ordinary instalments at half of the average of the company's actual corporate tax over the last three income years. Newly founded companies are therefore typically not charged ordinary acontoskat in their first years — there's no history to calculate from. That doesn't make the tax free: it just arrives as one large bill later, unless you pay voluntarily.
Voluntary payments: track reality more closely
If the year is turning out better than the historical figures, you can pay voluntary acontoskat on top — at the March and November deadlines, and again by 1 February the following year. Pay in March and you're credited a small premium; pay in November or February and you instead pay a small surcharge. The rates follow interest levels and are set each year.
The maths is simple: residual corporate tax carries a percentage surcharge that is not deductible. If the cash is sitting in the account anyway, a voluntary payment is often the best "interest rate" the company can get.
Lower the instalments if the year disappoints
If profit is coming in below the historical years, you can conversely have the ordinary instalments reduced via TastSelv Erhverv. Be realistic — the Tax Agency can ask for documentation, and if you set the instalments too low you just end up with residual tax plus the surcharge anyway.
With Numina the basis is always ready
The voluntary-payment decision needs one number: the company's expected profit. With continuous bookkeeping at Numina you can see the year-to-date result in the app at any time — so you can judge before the March and November deadlines whether to adjust, instead of guessing.
Stop keeping track of all this yourself
Numina's bookkeepers and AI handle bookkeeping, VAT and deadlines for you — at a fixed price with no lock-in. Accounting software included.
What happens if the company pays no acontoskat at all?
If no ordinary instalments have been set — for example because the company is new — nothing happens during the year. But the whole year's corporate tax is then collected as residual tax with a non-deductible percentage surcharge on top.
Can the company get money back if it paid too much?
Yes. If the payments on account exceed the year's actual corporate tax, the excess is refunded with a small compensation once the company's tax assessment is ready.
Does acontoskat apply to sole proprietorships too?
No. Sole proprietorships pay B-skat on the profit instead — the personal equivalent of the companies' acontoskat.