Moving to Bulgaria: how your Danish tax liability ends

When does full Danish tax liability end when you move to Bulgaria?

When you move to Bulgaria, your Danish home usually decides whether full tax liability ends. Skattestyrelsen (the Danish Tax Agency) looks at whether you still have access to a year-round home in Denmark. Leaving the country is not enough on its own.

As a rule, full tax liability only ends once you have given up the home in one of the ways listed below. A holiday home that can only be used part of the year does not count as a year-round home.

• You sell your owner-occupied home.
• You terminate the lease on your rented home.
• You let the home for at least 3 years on a contract you cannot terminate yourself.

What if you keep your home in Denmark?

If you keep the home without letting it on those terms, you generally remain fully liable to tax in Denmark, even though you live in Bulgaria. If you are also resident in Bulgaria, the double tax treaty decides which country is treated as your country of residence.

This often means reporting obligations in both countries and a more complicated Danish årsopgørelse (annual tax assessment). Decide what to do with the home as part of the decision to move.

Which deadlines and authorities should you remember?

If you will be abroad for more than 6 months, this is registered in CPR (the Danish civil registration system) as emigration. According to borger.dk, you must report the move before you leave, and you do not need to know your Bulgarian address yet.

• Report your departure digitally to your municipality via borger.dk.
• Call Skattestyrelsen on +45 72 22 28 92 once a week has passed after you have been deregistered from the civil registry.
• Make sure you have a NemKonto (the account for Danish public payments). It can be a foreign account.
• Notify Udbetaling Danmark (the Danish public benefits administration) before you move if you receive a pension or other public benefits.
• If you stay in Bulgaria for more than 3 months, as an EU citizen you must apply for a long-term residence document from the migration authority under the Bulgarian Ministry of Interior.

What is taxed when you leave Denmark?

Leaving Denmark can trigger tax in itself. If you hold shares with a market value of DKK 100,000 or more, gains or losses are treated as realised when you move. You can apply for a deferral so the tax is only paid when the gain is actually realised.

Your cryptocurrency holdings are also taxed when you move. If you have Danish pension schemes, you can apply for exemption from pensionsafkastskat (tax on pension returns) using form 07.058.

• Shares: the DKK 100,000 threshold applies per person, and spouses each have their own threshold.
• Receivables and contracts: a similar DKK 100,000 threshold.
• Cryptocurrency: taxed when you move.
• Pension: special rules can trigger additional tax if your employer paid unusually large contributions in a period before you moved.

Which documents should you gather before moving?

Keep documentation of the choices you make along the way. It makes it easier to respond if Skattestyrelsen or the Bulgarian tax authority later asks about your tax status.

• Deed of sale, notice of termination or lease for your Danish home.
• Lease or purchase agreement for your home in Bulgaria.
• Proof of departure from Denmark and registration in Bulgaria.
• A statement of shares, cryptocurrency and pension schemes on the day you move.
• An overview of income from Denmark that continues after the move.