Holiday-home benefit base shifts to 1 January valuation

Employees who have a holiday home made available by their employer pay tax on the benefit. Skattestyrelsen fixes the value as a percentage of the ejendomsværdi as of 1 January of the year before the availability year (rådighedsåret)Skat. Until this change the basis was the public assessment (offentlige vurdering) as of 1 October of the year before the year of use (brugsåret)Skat. For practitioners the operative consequence is concrete: when computing the taxable benefit for a given availability year, look up the ejendomsværdi of 1 January of the preceding year, not the 1 October assessment. The shift in date and terminology follows the current property-valuation regime, under which ejendomsværdi replaces the old assessment reference.

The rates are unchanged: in weeks 22–34 the charge is 0.5 per cent per week of the holiday-home value; in the remaining weeks 0.25 per cent per week — including for a ski cabin abroad. A fritidsbolig can be a sommerhus, a ferielejlighed, a fjeldhytte or similar. Where no public assessment exists, for example for a property abroad, the value is fixed by an estimate of the home's value at the start of the year.

Where the employee pays rent for the holiday home, tax is due on the difference between the computed amount and the rent paid: a computed value of 4,000 kr. against rent of 3,000 kr. leaves 1,000 kr. taxable.

The employer must report availability to Skattestyrelsen; the employee need not self-report but should check the årsopgørelse. Separately, an employer-provided yacht (lystbåd) is taxed at 2 per cent of the purchase price including VAT and delivery for each week of availability — or, for a rented or leased boat, on the price the employer would have paid on purchase — reported in rubrik 12 of the årsopgørelse.

Legal basis: Skattestyrelsen's guidance "Fritidsbolig og lystbåd" applying the ejendomsværdi of 1 January of the year before the rådighedsår, with weekly rates of 0.5 and 0.25 per cent.