Shipping from the UK to Denmark: VAT, Duty and Landed Cost Explained

Two things about Denmark catch UK sellers out. The first is the VAT rate: a flat 25%, near the top of the EU table, which makes the on-delivery charge a Danish customer faces notably higher than in most other EU countries for the same order. The second is geography — "Denmark" on an address label may mean Greenland or the Faroe Islands, which are outside the EU customs union entirely. Both are covered below.

Post-Brexit: how the UK-Denmark border works now

Every parcel from the UK is a third-country import: a customs declaration is required, duty may be assessed, and VAT is charged. The hidden costs that surprise many UK sellers shipping to EU customers apply fully in Denmark.

Denmark's VAT rate

Denmark applies a single flat VAT rate of 25% — there is no reduced rate for most consumer goods. Denmark shares that rate with Sweden and Croatia; only Finland (25.5%) and Hungary (27%) charge more. The practical effect is that a Danish customer buying from a UK seller faces a VAT bill roughly a third larger than a German customer buying the same item.

VAT is charged on the total customs value — the product price plus the shipping cost. On a £100 product with £14 shipping, the VAT bill is £28.50 (25% on £114). That comes on top of whatever your customer paid at checkout.

Import duty on UK goods

The UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement gives 0% import duty to goods that genuinely originate in the UK. Most handmade products, crafts, clothing made from UK materials, and other small business goods qualify. Goods manufactured outside the UK and resold without significant UK processing may not qualify and could face standard EU import duty rates.

The €150 rule in practice — updated for July 2026

IOSS is optional, and that choice decides where the VAT gets paid. If you're IOSS-registered, or you sell on a platform that handles IOSS for you (Etsy, for example), Danish VAT is collected at the point of sale for consignments with an intrinsic value — goods only, excluding shipping — of up to €150 (approximately £130), and the parcel arrives with no on-delivery charge. Without IOSS, 25% import VAT is collected from your customer on delivery at any order value, plus a carrier handling fee — exactly the scenario in the worked example below.

The other half of the old €150 rule is gone: the EU abolished the customs duty exemption for low-value consignments on 1 July 2026. IOSS and postal consignments now carry a temporary flat duty of €3 per item until 1 July 2028, levied on the seller or platform side rather than billed at the door. Consignments outside IOSS owe standard tariff duty at any value — unless the goods are UK-originating and you claim TCA preference with a statement on origin, which keeps duty at 0%.

A practical example

A UK craft seller ships a set of handmade greeting cards and stationery worth £90 to a customer in Copenhagen.

For an order of this size, a £32 surprise at the door on a £90 purchase is a 36% surcharge. Even for orders technically eligible for IOSS treatment, if the seller isn't registered and the platform doesn't handle it, the charge lands at delivery. Know your IOSS status before shipping to Danish customers. Delivery refusals from EU customers often trace back exactly to this scenario.

A critical geographic note: Denmark is not just Denmark

The Kingdom of Denmark includes Greenland and the Faroe Islands — but neither is a member of the EU or the EU customs union. They have entirely separate customs rules from mainland Denmark.

A parcel addressed to Nuuk (Greenland) or Tórshavn (Faroe Islands) is not an EU shipment. It follows the rules of a shipment to a non-EU territory. EU import duty does not apply, but local import taxes do. Always check whether your customer's address is in mainland Denmark, Greenland, or the Faroe Islands before processing the shipment — and make sure your customs declaration destination is filled in correctly.

Within Denmark proper, one smaller quirk: carriers apply remote-area surcharges for islands without a bridge connection — Bornholm is the usual example. Check your carrier's remote-area list before quoting flat Danish shipping rates.

What to do before you ship

Calculate your full landed cost including Denmark's 25% VAT rate. ClearShip handles this automatically — enter the product value, weight, and Danish destination address, and it returns the complete cost your customer will face. If you're not IOSS-covered, add a note to your shop for Danish customers explaining that import VAT will be charged on delivery. The transparency prevents the refusal.