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When you need a Danish company that can sign a contract this week, a ready-made shelf company, a “færdigregistreret selskab” or pre-registered anpartsselskab (ApS), is the fastest legal route into the EU’s most digital-first Nordic economy. ShelfCompanies24 maintains a live inventory of clean, never-traded Danish ApS entities registered with the Erhvervsstyrelsen (Danish Business Authority), with paid-up selskabskapital, an active CVR number and a clean SKAT (tax authority) record. Most transfers complete in 3 to 7 working days.
Denmark combines EU single-market access (with euro-pegged kroner under ERM II), 22% corporate income tax, world-leading e-Government infrastructure (Denmark consistently top-3 globally), and reputation for transparency that opens doors with international banks and counterparties. Danish ApS entities suit Nordic-corridor trade, IP-licensing, and Scandinavian banking gateways.
Our service covers ApS, Erhvervsstyrelsen filing, real-owners (Reelle Ejere) registration.
Færdigregistreret ApS + virtual office + Danish banking + statsautoriseret revisor bundled.
Most transfers within 3 to 7 working days. Danish-speaking case manager.
Sign at any Danish consulate, via eIDAS qualified electronic signature, or delegate to our Copenhagen attorney via fuldmagt.
We draft the share-transfer agreement, file Erhvervsstyrelsen amendment, update Reelle Ejere register.
A Danish shelf company, a færdigregistreret selskab (“finished-registered company”) or skuffeselskab (“drawer company”), is a pre-registered, never-traded ApS formed by a professional service provider purely for transfer. From incorporation to sale, the company has:
| Feature | ApS (Anpartsselskab) | A/S (Aktieselskab) |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum selskabskapital | DKK 40,000 | DKK 400,000 |
| Members (anpartshavere / aktionærer) | 1+, any nationality | 1+, registered shares |
| Governance | Direktion + generalforsamling | Bestyrelse + Direktion (dual-tier) |
| Best fit | ~98% of buyers, SMEs, holdings | Listed groups, regulated finance |
Note: the IVS (Iværksætterselskab, entrepreneur company with DKK 1 minimum) was abolished in 2019, existing IVS had until 2021 to convert to ApS. Ready-made inventory consists exclusively of ApS and A/S entities.
Denmark’s e-Government infrastructure is consistently top-ranked globally. Once your ApS is yours, almost all corporate compliance, invoicing, tax filing, payroll, banking, runs through digital interfaces (NemID/MitID for natural-person verification, NemKonto for corporate banking). Denmark’s MitID infrastructure post-2022 is one of the world’s most secure digital-identity systems.
A new Danish ApS via standard formation takes 1 to 3 weeks; a færdigregistreret selskab transfers in 3 to 7 working days.
Every Danish ready-made ApS carries an active CVR-nummer (the universal Danish business identifier) and where pre-registered a moms-registrering for cross-EU VIES trade.
Danske Bank, Nordea Danmark, Jyske Bank, Sydbank, Spar Nord, Arbejdernes Landsbank, plus fintech options serve corporate clients. Denmark participates in SEPA via Nationalbanken’s Kronos2.
There are two ways to acquire a company in Denmark. The first is to buy a business that trades, which means diligence on its contracts, employees, tax filings, disputes and carried forward losses, and a valuation negotiated against its accounts. The second is to take over a company with no history at all, which is what a færdigregistreret ApS is: nothing invoiced, nobody employed, no moms refund ever claimed and no loss carried forward, so what you inherit is the CVR number, the paid up selskabskapital and the incorporation date. The steps below are the acquisition process for the second route, and they are the ones our Danish desk runs for you.
Live inventory: ApS entities of various ages registered in Copenhagen (most), Aarhus, Odense, Aalborg or Esbjerg.
Apostilled passport copies, proof of address, business-purpose note. Danish AML rules under Hvidvaskloven.
Danish ApS share transfers can be effected by simple written agreement (no notary required). We draft the bilingual Danish-English deed.
The outgoing direktør is dismissed and your new direktør appointed by member resolution (generalforsamlingsbeslutning).
Name (navn), registered office (hjemsted), business activity (formål) are amended.
Files submitted electronically via the Erhvervsstyrelsen self-service portal at virk.dk. Processing: typically 1 to 5 working days.
Beneficial owners filed in the Danish UBO register (Reelle Ejere) within 14 days. Filing is via virk.dk.
| Tax | Rate | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| CIT, selskabsskat | 22% | Standard rate, stable since 2016 |
| VAT (moms) | 25% standard, no reduced rate | One of the highest standard VATs in the EU; zero-rated for newspapers and certain sectors |
| Withholding tax on dividends | 27% standard; 0% under EU Parent-Subsidiary Directive | 22% domestic corporate; reduced under treaty network |
| R&D super-deduction | 108% (2026) | Enhanced deduction for qualifying R&D expenditure |
| Tonnage tax regime | Available | For qualifying shipping operations |
Setting up a company in Denmark from scratch means drafting the vedtægter, funding the capital account, waiting for the Erhvervsstyrelsen to process the filing and then waiting again for the tax registrations. A ready made ApS moves all of that to the period before you arrived. The entity is already on the CVR register with DKK 40,000 paid in, so what remains is the share transfer, the appointment of your direktør, the amendment of name, hjemsted and purpose, and the Reelle Ejere update. That sequence completes in 3 to 7 working days, and the company can sign in its own name from the moment the transfer deed is executed.
Right for Denmark. Neither the shareholders of an ApS nor the members of its management or board need Danish, EU or EEA residency or citizenship; the residence requirement that once applied was removed with the modern Companies Act. The company itself needs a registered address in Denmark. In practice the management will also need Danish digital identification in order to sign and file with the Business Authority, which is the step that catches most non-resident owners out.
Færdigregistreret selskab (“finished-registered company”) or skuffeselskab (“drawer company”). Pre-registered, never-traded ApS held in reserve.
3 to 7 working days from KYC sign off to the completed Erhvervsstyrelsen amendment. The share transfer agreement, the change of direktør and the amended vedtægter are drafted while your identity documents are being checked, then filed together through virk.dk, where processing usually takes 1 to 5 working days. The Reelle Ejere update follows. You can sign in the company’s name from the moment the transfer deed is executed.
DKK 40,000 since 2019, fully paid in cash at formation. The DKK 1 IVS form was abolished in 2019.
No. You sign at any Danish consulate, with an eIDAS qualified electronic signature, or by delegating to our Copenhagen attorney through a fuldmagt. Documents that need certification or apostille are handled in your own country and couriered. Bank onboarding is the only stage where a video meeting, and occasionally an in person meeting, may be asked for, and we confirm the bank’s policy before the introduction.
22% selskabsskat. moms (VAT) 25% standard, one of the highest in the EU. 0% withholding to EU corporate parents.
Yes. There is no nationality or residency test on the anpartshavere or the direktør of an ApS, and no approval is needed to transfer shares to a foreign buyer. What is required is a complete KYC pack under the Danish anti money laundering act, apostilled passport copies, proof of address and a note on the intended business purpose, and a Reelle Ejere filing recording you as beneficial owner.
Start with the public record: every Danish company is searchable at cvr.dk, which shows the incorporation date, the registered hjemsted, the current management, the filed accounts and the registered capital. We supply a fresh CVR-udskrift with each entity, together with a dormancy declaration covering the whole period it sat in our stock, so you can see that the company has never invoiced, employed or filed anything but nil returns.
Want today’s Danish inventory? Contact our Danish desk.
Denmark is one of several jurisdictions where ShelfCompanies24 maintains pre-formed entities and active formation services. Why pick Denmark for your ApS specifically? Nordic gateway, digital-first registration is the headline reason, but it pays to understand the trade-offs against the alternatives. Below are concrete differentiators that matter when you are weighing a structure decision against the actual operating profile of your business.
Cross-border corporate structuring in 2026 is governed by a tighter web of rules than in any previous decade. Three forces shape every decision:
For Denmark specifically: 22% CIT / 25% VAT; ApS DKK 40,000 minimum; virk.dk e-portal; IVS abolished 2019.
Issues we routinely see when prospects come to us after attempting the process directly with local providers in Denmark:
Yes. A name change is filed with the CVR via a directors’ resolution and a routine filing, typically clears in 48 hours. We include up to one name change as standard for both shelf-company purchase and new formation.
Yes. A Danish tax resident ApS is inside the EU Parent-Subsidiary Directive and the Interest and Royalties Directive, and it can use Denmark’s own network of roughly 75 comprehensive double taxation agreements. One gap is worth knowing about: Denmark has had no treaty with Spain since it was terminated with effect from 2009. Treaty relief is conditional on the principal purpose test and on Danish beneficial ownership case law, which is unusually demanding on conduit structures.
Client information is held under contractual non-disclosure plus the professional-secrecy obligations applicable to corporate-service providers in our home jurisdiction. We do not share client identity or transaction details with third parties beyond what is statutorily required (KYC reporting, beneficial-owner-register filings, AML/CTF reporting where triggered). Our internal access to client files is logged and access-restricted by need-to-know.
Material tax changes (rate moves, new minimum-tax regimes, treaty amendments) get communicated to active clients with our analysis of impact. Where the change is structural, for example the OECD Pillar Two implementation in Denmark or a domestic tax-base reform, we proactively flag clients whose structures may need restructuring and offer a defined remedial path. The client is not left to discover material regulatory change from their accountant or from media reports.
No, and you should not engage anyone who claims otherwise. The Det Centrale Virksomhedsregister (CVR) records the actual incorporation date, which is publicly searchable and immutable. The shelf ApSs we offer have honest incorporation dates ranging from a few months to several years old; for buyers who want a longer corporate trading history, we recommend purchase rather than fabrication, since fabricated history would expose you to fraud, tax-evasion, and money-laundering charges in any reputable jurisdiction.
Engaging us for your Danish shelf ApS purchase covers the following deliverables under one service:
The deliverable scope is identical regardless of whether you are based in the EU, the US, the UK, the Middle East, or APAC, we operate the same service globally for Danish corporate setup. Optional add-ons (virtual office, accounting retainer, payroll, sector licences, transfer-pricing documentation) are scoped separately, so the incorporation or transfer work stays exactly as agreed.
Different jurisdictions are stronger for different commercial activities. Denmark consistently performs well for international operators in:
None of these are exclusive, a Danish ApS can engage in any lawful commercial activity, but choosing a jurisdiction where the activity has a deep operating ecosystem (talent pool, regulatory familiarity, banking and supplier networks) materially shortens the time from incorporation to first revenue. Tell us your activity profile and we will confirm whether Denmark is the right fit before we begin.
A Danish ApS sits within the EU treaty framework, automatic access to the EU Parent-Subsidiary Directive (zero withholding on intra-EU dividends meeting the holding test), the Interest and Royalties Directive, and Denmark’s bilateral double-tax treaties with non-EU partners. The treaty network is shaped by the OECD Multilateral Instrument since 2017, which embedded a Principal Purpose Test (PPT) into existing treaties to deny benefits where a structure was set up primarily for tax advantage rather than genuine commercial purpose.
Common Danish ApS patterns we see: EU-wide trading hub with VAT one-stop-shop, IP holding with treaty-protected royalty flows, regional headquarters serving CEE/Western EU subsidiaries, and licensing-and-distribution structures using EU passport rights. Each pattern has its own substance and transfer-pricing implications which your consultant will map before structuring.
The 2026 corporate-law and tax landscape in Denmark: 22% headline corporate tax. 22% CIT / 25% VAT; ApS DKK 40,000 minimum; virk.dk e-portal; IVS abolished 2019.
Beyond the headline number, three regulatory currents shape every Danish structuring decision in 2026: OECD Pillar Two and the local Qualified Domestic Minimum Top-up Tax (QDMTT) for groups above €750 million consolidated revenue; the EU’s progressive AML/CTF tightening (AMLD6 and AMLR transitioning into the Anti-Money-Laundering Authority’s direct supervision); and the CVR’s ongoing migration toward digital-only filing and real-time beneficial-owner reconciliation. Smaller entities below the Pillar Two threshold continue under the regular Danish tax regime, but reporting obligations to the CVR apply to every entity regardless of size.
We track these regulatory currents continuously and flag anything material to active clients within working days of the change being announced. You do not need to monitor Denmark regulatory news yourself, that is part of what we provide for the annual retainer.
Three deadline buckets: CVR confirmation/return (typically annual, on the company’s accounting reference date), corporate tax return (filed via the Denmark tax authority following the financial year-end, usually 6-12 months after period close), and VAT/sales-tax returns (monthly or quarterly cadence depending on turnover, where applicable). Beneficial-owner-register updates are event-triggered (filing required when ownership changes) rather than calendar-based.
Penalty consequences vary by jurisdiction but typically follow a pattern: small late-filing fee for short delays, larger automatic penalty for sustained non-filing, and ultimately strike-off from the CVR for prolonged non-compliance. Strike-off voids the company and may require court application to restore. Our retainer service handles the full filing calendar so this never happens to a client on our books.
Three layers determine the after-tax dividend: Denmark corporate tax already paid at the ApS level on profits (22%); Denmark withholding tax on outbound dividends, which is the variable that depends on where the recipient sits, zero under the EU Parent-Subsidiary Directive for qualifying EU/EEA corporate holders meeting the minimum holding test, reduced rates under bilateral treaties for non-EU recipients, default Danish statutory rate where no treaty applies; and recipient-country tax on the dividend in the parent’s hands (often subject to participation exemption at the recipient level). Your consultant maps this end-to-end in the initial scoping so the after-tax economics are clear before incorporation.