Denmark proposes ending corporate-tax exemption for ports

Ports would enter the ordinary corporate-tax system

Bill L 39 would add a new section 1(1)(2k) to the Corporation Tax Act, making state and municipal ports liable to tax on business income. It would correspondingly narrow the existing public-body exemptions in section 3(1). The proposal covers ports owned by the state or municipalities and is designed to align their treatment more closely with privately organised port businesses.^[1][2]

A de minimis test limits the new charge

Proposed sections 3(10)–(13) would preserve exemption where the port’s economic activity falls within the EU de minimis framework. The explanatory notes translate the general EUR300,000 ceiling over a rolling three-year period into indicative taxable-profit limits of DKK2.24 million, or about DKK10.2 million of revenue at a 22% profit margin. A port exceeding the ceiling would become taxable from the income year in which the limit is breached.^[1][5]

Accounting evidence controls the calculation

Ports could document the de minimis position through ordinary annual accounts or a revenue-minus-direct-expenditure calculation supported by a high level of assurance. The bill also addresses re-entry into exemption: the preceding three years must be tested before exempt status resumes. Groups and operators should therefore separate port economic activities, identify directly attributable expenditure and retain evidence across the full rolling period.^[1]

Transitional rules address infrastructure and reorganisations

A new section 5D(8) would govern the opening tax values of port assets, including infrastructure valued by reference to replacement cost less depreciation and special treatment for real property gains. Related amendments to the Depreciation Act would coordinate tax depreciation. A new section 14h of the Merger Tax Act would allow qualifying transfers between ports and port companies under the proposed restructuring framework.^[1][2][3][4]

The measure remains a proposal

If enacted in its introduced form, the amendments would apply for income years beginning on or after 1 January 2027. Multinational logistics groups, shipping businesses and concessionaires dealing with publicly owned ports should not treat the measure as law yet, but should assess whether contracts, shared assets or reorganisations could be affected by a port’s move into the corporation-tax net.^[1]