The Danish government and Dansk Folkeparti have struck a tax deal that cuts the duty on petrol and diesel by around two kroner per litre from 2027, for one year.
DF leader Morten Messerschmidt confirmed the agreement to the news agency Ritzau on Thursday, November 12, as reported by Kristeligt Dagblad. He described it as a larger growth and tax restructuring, with the fuel duty cut as DF’s central demand.
The reduction is temporary and runs for one year from 2027. The full agreement was due to be presented at 11:30 on Thursday at the Ministry of Taxation and Growth, according to TV 2 Fyn.
What else is in the package
In return for the fuel measure, Dansk Folkeparti will back the government’s wider tax plan. That plan abolishes the middle tax and the so-called top-top tax, and lowers corporate tax from 22 to 19 percent, DR reports.
Ritzau reports that the fuel relief is financed by phasing in the corporate tax and middle tax cuts later than planned. TV 2 put the cost of the fuel cut at more than 2 billion kroner in 2027, offset by slower phase-in of the middle tax, corporate tax and share taxation.
Climate Minister Samira Nawa of Radikale Venstre announced on the evening of November 11 that the deal also extends the tax discount on electric cars priced above 366,000 kroner by another year. In the government’s draft budget for next year, that rebate was set to lapse at the turn of the year. The Copenhagen Post reports the extension as an 800 million kroner item.
Why the deal came together now
Ritzau reports that the government’s support parties Enhedslisten and Alternativet would not back its tax plan. That pushed the government into talks with the right-wing parties, run in two separate tracks: one with Dansk Folkeparti alone, and one with the four other parties together.
It ended with Dansk Folkeparti signing, bringing one of its signature issues into the agreement. During the election campaign in March, Messerschmidt said he wanted fuel below 10 kroner per litre. Ritzau notes that petrol and diesel stand at roughly 16 and 18 kroner per litre, so prices will not fall below that mark.
What the fuel and tax changes mean for foreign residents
Fuel duty in Denmark is an excise tax built into the pump price, so a cut shows up directly at the station rather than in your tax return. The electric car discount concerns registreringsafgift, the registration tax charged when a vehicle is first registered, which is one of the biggest items in the total cost of owning a car in Denmark. Both apply to anyone buying or fuelling a car here, regardless of nationality.
On the income side, the middle tax and top-top tax are brackets introduced in Denmark’s restructured income tax system, and both are set to be abolished under the deal, with the middle tax phased out later than first planned to pay for the fuel cut. Internationals on the researcher scheme or the special expat tax arrangement are taxed under separate rules, and Ritzau’s report does not state how those schemes are affected. The exact dates, amounts and bracket details were due in the full agreement text presented at 11:30 on Thursday, and industry body Mobility Denmark has said the fuel relief helps drivers who have not yet switched to electric.
