Tax on Renting Out Your Home: What You Need to Know

Last updated September 21, 2026

Short answer: Rental income from your own home is taxable, but you choose between three methods: a fixed 13,800 kr. allowance (2026) plus a 40% deduction on the rest (section 15 Q), the section 15 P allowance if the same tenant stays at least 4 months, or accounts. Let your whole owned home for 12 months or more, and it's business letting.

Mette and her partner have bought a house in Roskilde, but Mette doesn't want to sell her ejerlejlighed (condominium apartment) in Nørrebro – she wants to rent it out. It sounds like a simple decision, but for tax purposes it makes a big difference how long the tenant stays – and whether you own or rent the home yourself. Here's the overview.

Which rules apply to your rental?

The tax rules depend on what you rent out, and for how long:

You rent out	How it's calculated
Rooms, while you live there yourself	Section 15 Q, section 15 P or accounts
The whole home for less than 12 months	Section 15 Q, section 15 P or accounts
Your whole owner-occupied home for 12 months or more	Business letting, with accounts – no allowance
Your whole rented or cooperative home for 12 months or more	Accounts, normally not a business – no allowance

The sections refer to the Danish Tax Assessment Act (ligningsloven). The letting period counts as a whole, even if it spans two calendar years.

If you let your whole year-round home for holidays – via Airbnb, for example – the Act on letting property for holiday purposes (sommerhusloven) also limits how many days a year you may let it: at most 30 days per calendar year, or 70 days if the letting is arranged solely through a platform or agency that reports the rental income (section 5 of sommerhusloven). The municipality can raise the 70-day limit to up to 100 days.

Three ways to calculate rental income

If you rent out rooms, or your whole home for part of the year, you choose between:

The fixed allowance (section 15 Q). The first 13,800 kr. (2026) is tax-free. From the rest you deduct a further 40%, so only 60% is taxed – as capital income (kapitalindkomst). If a platform or agency handles the letting and reports the rent to Skattestyrelsen (the Danish Tax Agency), the allowance is 35,100 kr. (2026). Both amounts are adjusted annually.
The section 15 P allowance. Requires that you let to the same tenant for at least 4 consecutive months. For owners, the allowance is 1⅓% of the full property value (not the 80% tax base), but at least 24,000 kr.; for tenants and cooperative members (andelshavere), it's ⅔ of your own annual rent or housing charge. There's no extra 40% deduction, and the surplus is capital income for owners but personal income (personlig indkomst) for tenants and cooperative members.
Accounts. You declare the full rental income and deduct your actual, documented expenses – for example your share of electricity and heating, advertising and wear on furniture. Maintenance of the property itself and insurance can't be deducted.

Choose carefully: once you've used accounts, you can't later switch to an allowance. Which allowance gives the least tax depends on your figures – see the worked examples in Rental Income Tax Allowance 2026.

Renting out the whole home for 12 months or more?

Then the rules change significantly. If you let your whole owner-occupied home for a continuous period of at least 12 months, it counts as business letting (erhvervsmæssig udlejning): you prepare accounts with deductions for your actual expenses, the surplus is personal income, on which you also pay labour-market contribution (am-bidrag), there's no allowance, and you don't pay property value tax (ejendomsværdiskat) during the letting period. In return, you can deduct things like maintenance, property taxes and interest on your loan, and a loss can be deducted.

If you sublet a rented or cooperative home, it's normally not business letting: the surplus is personal income, and you can deduct the rent or housing charge you pay yourself – but a loss can't be deducted.

If you want the home back afterwards, the contract matters as much as the tax. Read Rent Out Your Home Temporarily – and Get It Back.

What counts as rental income?

If you use an allowance, rental income is the full amount the tenant pays you – including payment for electricity, water, heating and internet. If you own or rent the home together, you normally share one allowance according to ownership share or share of the rent. With an allowance you pay full property value tax; with accounts you don't pay property value tax on the part you let.

VAT? Normally not for a whole home

Letting a whole, self-contained home is exempt from VAT (moms), however short the letting. VAT only becomes relevant if you rent out rooms in your own home for less than a month at a time – see Do You Pay Tax When You Rent Out a Room?.

Remember to report it yourself

Skattestyrelsen is only notified of your rental income automatically if a platform or agency reports it. Otherwise it's your own responsibility to update your forskudsopgørelse (preliminary income assessment) in TastSelv (the tax agency's online self-service system) when you start letting, and to check your årsopgørelse (annual tax assessment). If you don't, you risk back tax with interest.

Renting out via LejLet.nu?

LejLet.nu handles no payments and doesn't report rental income to Skattestyrelsen. If you find your tenant via LejLet.nu, the letting is therefore private for tax purposes: the higher 35,100 kr. allowance doesn't apply, but section 15 Q's 13,800 kr. (2026), section 15 P and accounts are open to you on the same terms as anyone else. If you're unsure, use the calculator on skat.dk or ask an accountant.