Planning to move to Denmark as a freelance translator EN/DE - how does it work there? Thread poster: Caroline Folz-Jorgensen
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Dear all,
my husband and I are thinking of moving to Denmark. I have been working as as freelance translator in the UK for years. I am working as a sole trader. I am trying to get as much information as possible about working as a freelancer in Denmark. One topic I am a bit confused about is whether it would be better for me to continue as a sole trader there or should I set up a company?
Has anyone been in a similar position and might have some information about this for me?... See more Dear all,
my husband and I are thinking of moving to Denmark. I have been working as as freelance translator in the UK for years. I am working as a sole trader. I am trying to get as much information as possible about working as a freelancer in Denmark. One topic I am a bit confused about is whether it would be better for me to continue as a sole trader there or should I set up a company?
Has anyone been in a similar position and might have some information about this for me? Also, any experience as a translator in Denmark would be greatly appreciated. Most of my clients are based in Germany, UK or US.
With many thanks in advance,
Caroline ▲ Collapse
| | | | | You have to register for VAT and set up as a company | May 20, 2022 |
You have to register for VAT as soon as your turnover (not your earnings) come up over DKK 50,000 before VAT - which it will do in a couple of months if you are working anything like full time.
The good news is that it is quick and easy to register an enkeltmandsvirksomhed - or literally a single-person company, aka sole trader.
You have to settle your VAT (moms) every six months and keep accounts. New rules about electronic accounting are coming into force on 1 ... See more You have to register for VAT as soon as your turnover (not your earnings) come up over DKK 50,000 before VAT - which it will do in a couple of months if you are working anything like full time.
The good news is that it is quick and easy to register an enkeltmandsvirksomhed - or literally a single-person company, aka sole trader.
You have to settle your VAT (moms) every six months and keep accounts. New rules about electronic accounting are coming into force on 1 July 2022 if you earn more than DKK 300,000 per year, which will probably apply to you.
If you are moving to Denmark and setting up, you will almost certainly have to comply sooner or later. Get a good accountant to take care of your accounts - many colleagues say they are well worth the expense, which of course is tax deductible. (My husband is an economist and does my accounts, and I am past pension age, so I stay under the critical thresholds!)
Check the rules on the Danish Business Authority website (Erhvervsstyrelsen)
https://danishbusinessauthority.dk/
One small piece of advice - You have to have a mandatory mailbox. You really have to have a personal mandatory mailbox, and I insisted on using this as my business mandatory mailbox too.
When they were first set up, I had a business one automatically, but never used it, so it was closed. Then someone tried to send mail to it, and it cost several hundred kroner and a lot of hassle to get it re-opened, extract the mail, and close the mailbox again... The personal one works fine for both business and private mails.
You need at least one ordinary mail box as well: the mandatory one is only for public services - health, tax, pension, your bank and similar authorities.
When you are registered for moms (VAT), you simply have to state your German clients´ VAT numbers on your invoices, and you need not charge them VAT (or any other clients in the EU). The US and UK are ´third countries´ - so no VAT there either, but you do have to charge any Danish clients 25% VAT, which they can deduct if they are VAT registered.
Anyway, get a competent accountant or someone like that to help you, especially if you cannot read Danish fluently!
The rules can be a bit complicated, but if you keep to them, the system works reasonably smoothly.
Good luck!
[Edited at 2022-05-20 12:25 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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