Do You Pay Tax When You Rent Out a Room?
Short answer: Yes, but rarely on the whole amount. Rent out a room in your own home and 13,800 kr. a year (2026) is tax-free, with only 60% of the rest taxed. If the tenant stays at least 4 months and you rent the home yourself, you can instead deduct ⅔ of your own annual rent – often far better.
Sofie rents a three-room flat for 7,500 kr. a month and has a room to spare. She rents it to a student for 4,000 kr. a month – 48,000 kr. a year. Does she have to pay tax on it? With the right choice: none at all.
Which allowance can you use?
It depends on how long the tenant stays, and whether you own or rent your home:
| Rule | Allowance |
|---|---|
| Section 15 Q, everyone | 13,800 kr. (2026) + 40% of the rest |
| Section 15 P, owner | 1⅓% of the property value, at least 24,000 kr. |
| Section 15 P, tenant or co-op member | ⅔ of your own annual rent or housing charge |
The sections refer to the Danish Tax Assessment Act (ligningsloven). Under section 15 Q, and as an owner under section 15 P, the surplus is capital income; as a tenant or cooperative member under section 15 P, it's personal income. Section 15 P requires the same tenant to live with you for at least 4 consecutive months. If you let for shorter periods at a time, only section 15 Q or accounts apply. The 13,800 kr. is adjusted annually, and rental income includes what the tenant pays for electricity, water, heating and internet.
Renting yourself? Then the ⅔ rule is often best
For Sofie, the numbers look like this:
| Section 15 Q | Section 15 P | |
|---|---|---|
| Rental income | 48,000 kr. | 48,000 kr. |
| Allowance | 13,800 kr. | 60,000 kr. (⅔ of 90,000 kr.) |
| 40% deduction | 13,680 kr. | – |
| Taxable | 20,520 kr. | 0 kr. |
The allowance can't exceed the rental income, so the 12,000 kr. by which it exceeds the rent is simply lost – but Sofie pays no tax on the room either. Two things must be in order: the tenant must stay at least 4 consecutive months, which you must be able to document, for example with the lease, and you must be allowed to sublet the room. Also remember that the rent for a room in your own home mustn't be unreasonable – in regulated municipalities, the tenant can ask huslejenævnet (the local rent tribunal) to assess it (section 34 of the Danish Rent Act, lejeloven). We cover that in How to Rent Out a Room in Your Home.
If you own the home, 1⅓% of the property value only beats section 15 Q at high property values or low rental income. See the worked examples in Rental Income Tax Allowance 2026.
The higher platform allowance requires actual reporting
The 35,100 kr. (2026) allowance instead of 13,800 kr. only applies when a platform or agency reports the rental income. From the 2026 income year onwards, the higher allowance requires that the rental income has actually been reported to Skattestyrelsen (the Danish Tax Agency) or received from a foreign tax authority. Only for 2023–2025 was it enough that the platform was obliged to report. If you let both via a platform and privately, the allowance is used on the platform income first.
Do you have to pay VAT?
Only on short lets. If you rent out a room in your own home for less than a month at a time – to tourists, for example – the letting is subject to VAT (moms), and once your turnover exceeds 50,000 kr. in a calendar year, you must register for VAT. If the tenant stays with you for more than a month, the letting is VAT-exempt; you must be able to document this, for example with a lease.
What about 12 months or more?
If you rent out a room while living in the home yourself, the letting can last more than 12 months without the tax rules changing. The 12-month limit applies when you let the whole home: if you let your whole owner-occupied home for a continuous period of at least 12 months, it's business letting, with accounts, personal income and no allowance. If you sublet a whole rented or cooperative home, it's normally not business letting – the surplus is personal income, and a loss can't be deducted. Read more in Tax on Renting Out Your Home.
Remember to report the rental income yourself
Update your forskudsopgørelse (preliminary income assessment) in TastSelv (the tax agency's online self-service system) as soon as you start letting. Under section 15 Q, and as an owner under section 15 P, you enter the amount in box 37 (capital income); as a tenant or cooperative member under section 15 P, in box 20 (personal income). Keep the lease and bank statements so you can document both the amounts and the letting period.
Renting out a room 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 private for tax purposes, so the fixed allowance is 13,800 kr. (2026) – not 35,100 kr. The ⅔ rule and the 1⅓% rule in section 15 P apply on the usual terms, because they don't depend on how you found your tenant.
Sources
- Skattestyrelsen: Renting out a room or a home you live in yourself (in Danish) (opens in a new tab)
- Skattestyrelsen: VAT on renting out rooms and homes (in Danish) (opens in a new tab)
- Den juridiske vejledning (the tax agency's legal guide): section 15 P (in Danish) (opens in a new tab)
- The Danish Tax Assessment Act (ligningsloven) on retsinformation.dk (opens in a new tab)