Holiday pay

Your employees accrue the right to holiday pay. When you report salaries and taxes, you must therefore also pay holiday pay to your employees.

If you have a collective agreement that guarantees holiday pay, you can choose to pay the holiday pay to your employees directly. You can also send the holiday pay to FerieKonto and let FerieKonto process the payment.

If your company does not have a collective agreement that guarantees holiday pay, you must send the holiday pay to FerieKonto who will then process the payments.

It makes no difference whether your employees work full-time or part-time, or whether this is their main work, a second job, or carried out as casual work.

An employee usually accrues 2.08 days of holiday a month. In principle, an employee accrues days of holiday during the entire period of employment. This also applies if the employee works at weekends, on public holidays, if the employee has a sick day, takes the day of, or is on holiday.

If the employee has been employed less than a month, he/she earns 0.07 days of holiday per day of employment.

How to calculate

There are different ways of accruing and calculating paid holidays, depending on whether your employees are salaried employees or hourly paid employees:

Salaried employees paid on a monthly basis

If your employees get paid holidays and holiday supplements, they will receive their usual fixed salary during the holiday period.

Employees are entitled to paid holidays and holiday supplements if they have:

• at least a month’s notice of termination from the employer side

• full pay on Sundays and public holidays

• full pay when taking sick days.

When a salaried employee is dismissed or resigns, the holiday that the person in question has not taken is calculated and reported to FerieKonto.

Employees paid by the hour

Employees who are not entitled to paid holiday are instead entitled to payment in lieu of untaken days of holiday.

The payment in lieu of untaken days of holiday amounts to 12.5 per cent of the salary on which holiday pay is calculated. You must deduct AM (labour market) contributions and A-taxes before you report the net holiday pay to FerieKonto via E-income.

You must report holiday pay in SKAT's register, E-income.

It is also via E-income that you can edit your reported payments in lieu of untaken days of holiday if a mistake has been made. Please note:

• if the money has already been paid to the employee in question, you cannot edit the information and change the payment in lieu of untaken days of holiday to a lower number.

• if the money has already been paid to the employee in question via Feriepengeinfo, you can therefore only report additional payments in lieu of untaken days of holiday and you cannot reduce earlier reported amounts.

If your company has a collective agreement containing holiday pay guarantees and pays holiday pay directly to its employees, pre-tax holiday pay must be reported.

If your company uses another holiday fund to process the payments, post-tax holiday pay must be reported.

How and when to report and pay

From 1 September 2020 there are new deadlines for reporting and payment of holiday pay. The deadline for paying the holiday pay to FerieKonto is the same as the reporting deadline. Due to the new deadlines, FerieKonto will no longer charge you for the holiday pay.

Use a payroll service agency

It is possible to make an agreement with a payroll service agency which can calculate, report and process the holiday pay on your behalf. It is you as an employer that must inform the payroll service agency when they have to settle the holiday pay for a dismissed or resigned salaried employee.

Please note that payroll service agencies may also have deadlines they need to meet in order to have time to report and process payments on time. Contact the payroll service agency for more details.

Please remember that payroll service agencies only pay the holiday pay that they report on your behalf.

You are still responsible

Whatever way you choose to make payments to FerieKonto, it is you as an employer that is responsible for them being reported and paid on time.

Reporting and paying yourself

There are different ways of reporting and paying, depending on whether your employees are salaried employees or hourly paid employees:

Salaried employees paid on a monthly basis

For salaried employees, you are obliged to report and pay holiday pay when the employee resigns. You must report and pay no later than the last bank day of the month where the employee resigns.

Employees paid by the hour

You are obliged to report and pay holiday pay for hourly and weekly paid employees every month ongoing. Your exact deadline depends on when the employee’s pay period ends.

• If the pay period ends between the 1st and the 15th of the month you must report the holiday pay at the latest by the end of that same month.

• If the pay period ends between the 16th and the end of the month, you must report the holiday pay at the latest the 15th of the following month.

If you have a collective agreement that guarantees payments in lieu of untaken days of holiday, you must report the amount with the company designated as the payer. You therefore should not report the amount to FerieKonto. Your employee can see the reported payments in lieu of untaken days of holiday on LifeinDenmark.

Pay directly with NemID

If your company pays holiday pay directly, it is important that you have a Danish NemID so that you can log on to the self-service solution below. Here you can find applications for payments and reports, account balances, etc. are reconciled.

No NemID?

If you do not have a NemID you can use the following BIC/SWIFT and IBAN when paying to Feriekonto:

BIC/SWIFT: DABADKKK IBAN: DK7702164069201598

Remember to state your company’s CVR/SE number.

Overview of payments and reports

In the self-service below you can see an overview of your payments and reports to FerieKonto from the Danish Tax Agency (E-income). You can also see your unique payment line that you must use when transfering holiday pay.

If you or another holiday guarantee scheme pays for the holiday pay, you can view your reports in this self-service:

If you are responsible for the payment of holiday pay, you can see reports with you as the payer in this self-service:

If you do not report and pay holiday pay on time, interest will be added. The interest is currently 1.5 per cent per commenced month and it is calculated from the due date. Your employee will also be notified of the missing payment simultaneously.

Accrual of bonus

An employee can accrue a bonus. The reporting and payment of such bonuses must take place within the normal deadlines. It is therefore possible to report this information using code FK1 in field 68 in eIndkomst with the Danish Tax Agency. That means that the reporting will be exempt from interest in a given period.

Repayment

If the company has paid too much to FerieKonto, it is always possible to have the amount repaid. If you have a NemKonto you must call FerieKonto over the phone and ask for a repayment. If the payment is to be made to a specific or international account, you must send your bank details to FerieKonto.

Send a message to FerieKonto

If your company is sold and the new company will continue paying holiday pay, you must do the following:

• Gather name, civil registration number, any potential employee number and amounts for the salaried employees who you will be keeping.

• Fill out the spreadsheet below if you have any potential reports and corrections. Make sure to fill out the spreadsheet correctly by following the instructions listed below.

• Send al information to Feriepengeinfo via Digital Post.

Rules for the spreadsheet:

• It is not permitted to delete or move columns around

• Data must start in row 2 and there may not be empty rows between rows with data.

• The data must be entered correctly. See the instructions.

You will be notified once the corrections have been registered. Use the self-service to view and download the updated account balances:

If an employee has worked more than 9.5 months during a holiday year (1 September - 31 August), the employee has accrued holiday in excess of 4 weeks (formerly known as ‘the 5th holiday week’). These holidays do not need to be accrued from the same employer. With the new Danish Holiday Act, your employees are entitled to getting holidays in excess of 4 weeks paid out instead of taking the time off.

Hourly paid employees and dismissed/resigned salaried employees

If the holiday pay has already been reported to FerieKonto/Feriepengeinfo, then your employee needs to request payment for the holiday by logging in to the self-service solution ‘Se og bestil feriepenge’ (‘See an order holiday pay’) on borger.dk. This applies to hourly paid employees and dismissed/resigned salaried employees

Employees entitled to paid holidays

If your employees are working full time and have been doing so for the duration of the entire holiday-taking period, you must pay the holiday pay directly to the employee. If your employee is entitled to paid holiday and has not been working full time for the same employer, the employee must apply for payment via a form. You can read more about this in the ‘Payment of holiday in excess of 4 weeks to employees entitled to paid holiday’ section.

Read more

The graphic shows holiday transferred from a holiday-taking period to the next holiday-taking period.

Employees accrue holidays in the ‘holiday year’ which goes from 1 September - 31 August and employees can take their holidays in the ‘holiday-taking period’ from 1 September - 31 December the next year. Holiday is transferred from one holiday-taking period to the next.

Transferring holidays in excess of four weeks

An employer and employee can agree to transfer holidays in excess of four weeks to the next holiday-taking period. However, there may be collective agreement provisions that limit the opportunity to transfer holidays.

The deadline for entering information about transfers of holidays in excess of four weeks in the self-service solution is 31 December, where the holiday-taking period ends.

Before transferring holidays in excess of four weeks, you must sign a written agreement. Your employees are not entitled to transfer holidays if you cannot agree on this.

Requirements for the written agreement

When making an agreement to transfer holidays, the following requirements apply:

• The agreement must be signed before 31 December.

• The employee must be working at the time the agreement is signed.

Transfer of holidays of up to four weeks when prevented from taking the holiday

If an employee for special reasons has not taken his/her holiday in the holiday-taking period, that employee can transfer up to four weeks of holiday due to ‘being prevented from taking the holiday’. The holiday is transferred to the subsequent holiday-taking period.

The deadline for entering information about the transfer of holiday due to being prevented from taking it in the self-service solution is 31 January, i.e. a month after the end of the holiday-taking period.

You must state one of the following reasons for your employee being prevented from taking up to four weeks of holiday in the holiday-taking period:

• Illness, maternity/paternity leave

• Other

Please note that ‘being too busy’ is not considered a valid reason for being prevented from taking holiday. See all causes that are valid reasons under Legislation (in Danish).

If the employee is no longer employed, the employee must independently notify Feriekonto/Feriepengeinfo via borger.dk of the transfer of holiday of up to four weeks due to being prevented from taking it.

Who needs to transfer the holiday?

It is the current employer who transfers the holiday by entering this information in the FerieKonto/Feriepengeinfo’s digital self-service solution. Previously, employees with FerieKonto as the disburser have transferred holidays themselves, but with the new Danish Holiday Act, it is the employer’s responsibility to notify FerieKonto/Feriepengeinfo of a transfer of holidays.

Wage-earners, who are not employed at the time of transfer of holiday, must, however, independently notify FerieKonto/Feriepengeinfo about the transfer of holiday due to being prevented from taking it.

How to proceed - use the new digital self-service solution

You must use the new digital self-service,‘Overførsel af ferie’, (Transfer of holiday’).

1) Before transferring holiday, you must make a written agreement with your employee about the transfer of holiday.

2) Then enter the following information:

• The employee’s civil registration number

• The employer’s SE no. (the SE no. in which the holiday pay has been accrued)

• The disburser’s SE no.

• Employee no. (if used)

• The number of days that are to be transferred

If you do not have this information related to your employee’s previous employments, you must ask your employee for it. The information is on payslips and on borger.dk, where the employee can log in to the self-service solution and go to ‘Se og bestil feriepenge’ (‘See and order holiday pay’).

When you transfer the holiday, you as an employer vouch for the accuracy of the information. If it concerns the transfer of holidays in excess of four weeks, you also vouch for having entered into a written agreement with the relevant employee no later than 31 December in the holiday-taking period.

You will get a confirmation when the transfer is completed. The disburser of the holiday pay will automatically receive a request for transfer of holiday. It is important that the disburser of the holiday pay is aware of this request and ensures that the matching transfer of holiday takes place.

Here you can find legal guidance relevant to holiday pay and read about how we process your personal data.

Legal guidance

How we process personal data

In the following, you can learn more about what data FerieKonto processes, how we process the data and your rights in that connection.

Read about the processing of your personal data