ATP contributions in Denmark and the other employer levies for 2026

ATP contributions in Denmark are a fixed amount per employee, not a percentage of salary. For a monthly-paid employee on 117 hours or more, the 2026 contribution is DKK 297 a month, with DKK 198 paid by the employer and DKK 99 deducted from the employee. A director on DKK 120,000 a month and a coordinator on DKK 35,000 generate exactly the same ATP.

ATP (Arbejdsmarkedets Tillægspension, the Labour Market Supplementary Pension) is a statutory scheme that the employer and employee fund together. Section 17 of the ATP Act fixes the split: the employer pays two thirds and the employee one third, and the employer deducts the employee’s third from pay and pays the whole sum. The rate table now in use has applied since 1 January 2024, so the amounts are the same in 2026 as they were in the two previous years.

Because ATP is so small next to Danish salaries, foreign employers sometimes mistake it for the whole of Danish pension provision. It is not. It is a basic layer underneath any occupational pension, and it is also the yardstick that several other employer contributions are calculated from.

The amount depends on how many hours the employee works in the pay period and on how often they are paid. For monthly pay in 2026:

• 117 hours or more in the month: the full DKK 297, two thirds of it the employer’s.
• From 78 up to 116 hours: DKK 198, of which DKK 132 is the employer’s.
• Between 39 and 77 hours: DKK 99 in total, with DKK 66 falling on the employer.
• Fewer than 39 hours: nothing is due.

Weekly-paid staff working at least 27 hours pay DKK 78.30 a week, split DKK 52.20 and DKK 26.10. On a 14-day cycle, at least 54 hours brings DKK 156.60, split DKK 104.40 and DKK 52.20. Casual workers paid by the hour are charged DKK 2.13 an hour, of which DKK 1.42 falls on the employer.

Where working hours are not known, the hours are estimated by dividing pay by a fixed hourly rate. For 2026 that rate is DKK 258.69 for men and DKK 233.62 for women. Over a quarter, a full-time employee generates DKK 891 of ATP, a figure that has stayed the same since 2025 and which matters for the Barsel.dk contribution described below.

A worked case shows how the bands bite. An employee on 25 hours a week works about 108 hours in an average month, which falls in the 78 to 116 band. The contribution is DKK 198 a month, the employer covering DKK 132 and the employee’s pay the other DKK 66. Move the same person to 28 hours a week, roughly 121 hours a month, and the full DKK 297 applies.

The rates are published by ATP on virk.dk, where the part-time and weekly tables are set out in full.

ATP travels through two systems. Each month, the employer reports to the income register through eIndkomst, giving for each employee the month’s salary, the A-skat and AM-bidrag withheld, and ATP, on the same deadline as the tax. For small and medium employers that is roughly ten days into the next month, so January 2026 was due by 10 February and September by 12 October; the largest employers settle inside the pay month, by its final banking day. That report is what ATP and the other funds use to calculate what is owed.

Payment then happens quarterly. Samlet Betaling, the joint collection service run by ATP, sends the employer one invoice that bundles ATP with the other fixed contributions. It is delivered to the employer’s Digital Post inbox on virk.dk; foreign companies receive it on paper. One quarterly payment therefore covers several schemes at once.

The employee’s share is withheld from salary every month, so the employee sees DKK 99 deducted on a normal payslip. For the employer, the practical risk lies in the reporting: a wrong hours code in eIndkomst produces the wrong ATP band, and every contribution calculated from ATP goes wrong with it.

Alongside ATP, a private employer pays a set of further contributions for every full-time employee. The 2026 amounts per quarter, with 2025 for comparison, are:

• Arbejdsgivernes Uddannelsesbidrag (AUB): DKK 705.25, down from DKK 897.50. It funds wage refunds for employers whose apprentices are at school or whose staff attend further training.
• Barsel.dk: DKK 550, up from DKK 387.50. It equalises the cost of parental leave between employers by refunding part of the salary paid during leave, on top of the public refund.
• Finansieringsbidrag: DKK 82, down from DKK 99.25. It funds the Employees’ Guarantee Fund (Lønmodtagernes Garantifond), which covers unpaid wages, pension and holiday pay after an employer’s bankruptcy; a share also goes to ATP’s own costs.
• Lønmodtagernes Feriemidler administration: DKK 5, down from DKK 5.50.
• Arbejdsmarkedets Fond for Udstationerede (AFU): nil in both years.

Barsel.dk is worked out from the ATP reported: one full quarterly ATP payment of DKK 891 corresponds to one full quarterly Barsel.dk contribution of DKK 550, so part-time staff with lower ATP trigger less. The new rate was set by law in December 2025 and took effect on 1 January 2026. Every private employer pays it unless all its employees are covered by another approved parental-leave scheme, and no contribution is due for apprentices under 25 registered with AUB. The Barsel.dk amounts for the first and second quarters of 2026 were due by 1 July and 1 October respectively.

Two smaller items depend on the employer’s circumstances. A further DKK 4 per employee per month goes to FerieKonto administration, but only for months in which the employer reports holiday pay to FerieKonto, for example for hourly-paid staff earning 12.5% holiday allowance. And employers that train apprentices may see an extra Læreplads-AUB amount, or a bonus, depending on whether they meet their trainee target; it varies from one employer to the next and appears on AUB’s annual statement.

Every Danish employer also pays for occupational disease cover through AES (Arbejdsmarkedets Erhvervssikring, Labour Market Insurance). It has two parts: an AES contribution, and a work-injury levy (arbejdsskadeafgift) of 17% of the AES contribution plus 12% of accident-compensation costs and DKK 2 per full-time employee. Both are collected with ATP.

Unlike the flat items above, AES depends on what the business does, through its registered branch code. For 2026 the annual rate per full-time employee in branch group 71, finance and business services, is DKK 457, made up of DKK 268 of AES and DKK 189 of levy. Other groups pay more: DKK 539 in wholesale and retail, DKK 961 where the trade is passenger transport, post or telecoms, DKK 1,558 in manufacturing and DKK 2,323 in general construction.

Cover extends to every employee for whom ATP is paid. Directors of an ApS or A/S are not covered, and neither are the self-employed. AES handles occupational disease; accidents at work are covered separately, by the work-injury insurance every employer must take out with a private insurer, as the Work Injury Act requires.

Added up for one full-time salaried employee in 2026, the employer’s statutory contributions come to roughly DKK 8,200 a year: DKK 2,376 of ATP, DKK 2,821 of AUB, DKK 2,200 of Barsel.dk, DKK 328 of Finansieringsbidrag, DKK 20 of holiday-fund administration and DKK 457 of AES in branch group 71. For a DKK 660,000 salary that is about 1.2% of gross pay. Tax, net pay and the rest of the arithmetic are worked through line by line in our DKK 660,000 cost breakdown.

Three things sit outside that figure. The first is an occupational pension: apart from ATP, Danish law requires no employer pension contribution, so any further pension comes from a collective agreement or the employment contract and is priced there. The second is the work-injury insurance premium, which is set by the market. The third is the employee’s 8% AM-bidrag, which is a tax withheld from pay rather than an employer contribution, and which also applies to employer pension contributions paid into an employer-administered scheme.

For part-time staff the picture scales down unevenly. ATP drops by band, Barsel.dk follows the ATP reported, and the other quarterly amounts are set per full-time employee. Below 39 hours a month, no ATP is due at all.

Expect the numbers to move each January. Between 2025 and 2026, AUB fell by almost DKK 200 a quarter while Barsel.dk rose by more than DKK 160, and the financing contribution and administration fees edged down. A budget built on last year’s invoice will be close but not exact, so check the published rates when the year turns.

These contributions belong to the legal employer. With Employer of Record Denmark, that is us: we report ATP and hours through eIndkomst each month, withhold the employee’s ATP share, settle the Samlet Betaling invoice each quarter, and carry the AES and work-injury cover. You see them as part of the monthly cost of each hire, alongside salary and our fee.

Parental leave is where Barsel.dk pays back. Salaried mothers must get no less than half their salary from when maternity leave begins until the end of week 14 after the birth; the employer paying it collects the public parental benefit as a refund, capped at DKK 5,085 weekly this year. Barsel.dk then refunds part of the remaining salary cost. We claim both refunds as the employer, which is the main practical return on the DKK 2,200 a year the scheme costs.

Before the first payroll for any new hire we confirm the contracted hours and pay cycle, because that single choice fixes the ATP band, and the band in turn drives Barsel.dk. Getting it right at the start avoids corrections in eIndkomst later and keeps the quarterly invoice in line with what you budgeted for each person.

If you are new to how the arrangement splits responsibilities, read the EOR model, explained for Danish hires, and the onboarding steps that put a new hire on ATP from the first payroll are in our walkthrough from offer letter to first payslip.

Q01What does ATP cost per employee in 2026?+

A.DKK 297 a month where a monthly-paid employee reaches 117 hours or more, split DKK 198 to the employer and DKK 99 to the employee. Lower bands apply to fewer hours, and nothing is due under 39 hours a month.

Q02Who pays ATP, the employer or the employee?+

A.Both. The employer pays two thirds and the employee one third. The employer withholds the employee’s share from pay and pays the full amount through Samlet Betaling.

Q03What is Samlet Betaling?+

A.The joint collection run by ATP. It sends employers one quarterly invoice covering ATP, AUB, Barsel.dk, AES, Finansieringsbidrag and the holiday-fund administration fee.

Q04How much is Barsel.dk per employee in 2026?+

A.DKK 550 each quarter, so DKK 2,200 over the year, per full-time monthly-paid employee; the 2025 quarterly rate was DKK 387.50. It is calculated from the ATP reported.

Q05Does a Danish employer have to pay into a pension apart from ATP?+

A.Not by statute. ATP is the only pension contribution the law requires. Anything beyond that depends on a collective agreement or the terms of the individual contract.