SU students in yderkommuner lose mileage deduction on subsidised trips

Recipients of state study support (SU) whose usual residence (sædvanlig bopæl) is in one of the 25 designated yderkommuner or on one of the 10 designated small islands may deduct travel between home and their uddannelsesstedRetsinformation from income year 2026. The deduction covers SU recipients with more than 12 km to their place of studySkat, and it is calculated on the same basis as the ordinary employee commuting deduction: the normal road route by car (normal transportvej) at the Skatterådets kilometertakst.

No deduction is available for travel that formed the basis of a discount or allowance under the student transport rebate legislation (lov om befordringsrabat til uddannelsessøgende i ungdomsuddannelser m.v. and lov om befordringsrabat til studerende ved videregående uddannelser)Retsinformation. In practice a student who uses an ungdomskort for daily travel, or who is paid mileage allowance (kilometerpenge or other godtgørelse) at a per-kilometre rate for the home–study journey — for example where public transport is unavailable or would extend travel time by more than two hours — cannot also claim the deduction for that journey.Retsinformation

The deduction follows ligningslovens § 9 C, stk. 1–4 and 9, so residents of the covered areas get the same favourable computation as employees there: the full kilometertakst for travel above 120 km per day rather than the halved rate, plus a supplement of 10.75 per cent of the full rate for travel above 24 km per day through income year 2027. Standard deductions for crossing the Storebæltsforbindelsen and the Øresundsforbindelsen between home and the uddannelsessted apply on the same terms as for employees. An uddannelsessted is any institution, workplace or other venue where teaching or training forming an integral part of the programme takes place.

A deduction needs taxable income to absorb it: an SU recipient's income must exceed the personfradraget (51,600 kr. for 2025) before the deduction has value in practice, and a student whose only SU in the year is a slutlån cannot use the deduction at all because the slutlån is not taxable income. A resulting deficit can be carried forward to a later income year, or transferred to a spouse with whom the recipient lives at year-end under kildeskattelovens § 4. SU payments themselves do not count toward the low-income supplement (forhøjet befordringsfradrag) base in § 9 C, stk. 4, so a student keeps the supplement on a study job.

Recipients with permanently reduced functional capacity or chronic illness who incur special transport costs between home and their uddannelsessted, and for whom using their own car is necessary, fall outside § 9 C, stk. 10 and instead deduct under the special rules of § 9 D, stk. 2: the normal transport cost above 2,000 kr. plus any actual cost exceeding the normal cost.

Claim the deduction on the forskudsopgørelse under kørselsfradrag (felt 417) in TastSelv, following the calculator through employment period, address and expected travel days per month; count only days actually travelled, excluding home-working days, course days, holidays and sick days. Report the actual deduction on the årsopgørelse when it opens in TastSelv in March. Legal basis: ligningslovens § 9 C, stk. 10 with § 9 D, stk. 2, effective for income year 2026.