Excise duties

Excise duties are domestic consumer charges that are added to specific goods or services. Contrary to VAT, the charges are unitary taxes which means that the duty is only collected once on the goods’ way from producer/importer to consumer, i.e. in the producer, wholesaler or retailer stage.

Excise duties that are charged for environmental reasons are also called environmental taxes, energy taxes or green taxes. Fees under the Environmental Protection Act are also excise duties, and are imposed by SKAT.

Registration with the Danish Commerce and Companies Agency

Enterprises, that import, manufacture or sell goods with excise duties must be registered with the Danish Commerce and Companies Agency. The notification must be made on a form that is available electronically through www.webreg.dk.

The enterprise registers either as storage holder or receiver of the goods depending on the rules in the relevant Excise Duties Act. Upon registration the enterprise receives a new registration certificate listing the excise duties.

The following goods are covered by an excise duty:

Batteries (closed NiCd batteries);
Carrier bags;
Chocolate and sugar products;
Cigarettes, cheroots, cigarillos, cigarette paper, chewing tobacco, cigarettes and smoking tobacco;
Electricity;
Packaging for some beverages (duty per unit);
Packaging for some other commodities (weight duty);
Disposable tableware (cutlery, plates, mugs etc.);
Gas (LPG and natural gas);
Incandescent lamps (electric light bulbs etc.) and fuses;
Coffee and tea;
Consumption ice-cream;
Almonds, nuts, seeds etc. (raw material duty);
Mineral water (soft drinks etc.);
Solvents, chlorinated;
PVC foil;
Spirits;
Wine and fruit wine;
Beer.

If you have any doubts as to whether a product is subject to duties, you can obtain detailed information from SKAT who can also tell you about rates of duties and changes in the area of duties.