Customs rules in Denmark

There are special rules concerning what you can bring with you duty-free when you move to Denmark, or when you arrive in Denmark from abroad.

If you are moving from an EU country to Denmark, you can freely take your furniture and household effects with you if the items are for personal use. Personal use means that only you, the people in your household or your private guests will use the items.

However, you should be aware that special rules apply to amounts if you are bringing wine, spirits or cigarettes into the country. If you stay within these limits, you can avoid paying customs, VAT and import taxes. If you are bringing more with you than is permitted as duty-free, you must contact the Danish Customs Agency.

You can read more at the Danish Customs Agency’s website.

When, as a private individual, you move to Denmark from a country outside the EU, such as Iceland or Norway, you must as a general rule pay duty and VAT on your personal belongings. However, it is possible to import your personal property both duty-free and VAT-free if they meet a number of requirements.

Personal belongings are ordinary household items, such as furniture, clothes, bicycles, kitchen equipment and white goods. It is a requirement that you have owned and used the items for a minimum of six months in order for you to be able to import them duty-free as personal property.

There are also a number of other conditions, which you can read about at the website of the Danish Customs Agency.

When the goods arrive you must ensure an import declaration is made, for which a ‘single administrative document’ must be used. Your carrier or freight forwarder will usually take care of this. The document is available in Danish at the Danish Customs Agency’s website page entitled “Blanketter, dokumenter og koder” (Forms, documents and codes’).

You must also fill in a declaration form on the personal belongings. The form is used to provide information about the goods and to declare to the customs authorities that they comply with the rules for tariff exemption.