Rules regarding employment and private earnings

Your yearly "fribeløb" is calculated from January to December. It is the maximum amount of money you are allowed to earn when also receiving SU. If you earn more, you have to repay all or some of your SU and any SU-loan.

Your yearly "fribeløb" is composed of 12 monthly "fribeløb" – one for each month. Your monthly "fribeløb" can consist of three different rates (lowest, medium and highest monthly "fribeløb"). The rate of the specific "fribeløb" depends on your situation in that particular month. When you calculate your yearly "fribeløb", you have to add up the 12 different monthly "fribeløb".

See the rates for monthly "fribeløb" here

To figure out how much you have earned a year, you must add up all private income you expect to have. It has to be all income that are subject to tax a specific year, e.g. any holiday money, interests or grants, even if it is to be paid out the year after. Your yearly "fribeløb" depends on how many months of SU or loan you receive. Your income cannot go above your yearly "fribeløb", but it is allowed to earn a lot one month and then earn nothing the next, as long as you keep within the yearly amount.

Most recipients of SU can use our calculator to calculate their yearly "fribeløb". 

You should always keep track of your income. If you are close to having earned too much this year, you have the option of not accepting SU for a period. You can also cut down on your working hours.

Cancel SU for a period of time 

There are special rules about your income the year you start or finish your education. The rules are called "periodisering".

Read more about "periodisering" in danish here. 

"Periodisering" of your income

If you have earned too much in the year that you either start or finish your education, you can avoid having to pay back SU, if you fulfill the rules of "periodisering".

"Periodisering" means that you do not have to repay any SU, if your monthly income stay within the limit of your fixed amount during the months you are enrolled in an educational institution.

Conditions of "periodisering"

You fulfill the rules of "periodisering" if: 

• you are not enrolled at an educational institution in January or December, or
• you haven’t been enrolled at an educational institution for at least four months in a year (if for example you finish your education in June and are not enrolled for the months from July till October).

If you fulfill the requirements, you can earn what you like in the months you are not enrolled as a student. In the months you are enrolled as a student you can not. In the months you are enrolled, the standard rules regarding ‘fribeløb and income apply.

No longer enrolled

In order to earn an unlimited amount, it is important that you are not enrolled at any educational institution. It is not sufficient that you are on leave or simply not taking classes or exams. You if you start your master’s degree immediately after your bachelor’s degree, you are still a student in the break between the two.

By the end of the year, we calculate your yearly income. If we can see, that you have to repay SU, and you have had months where you were not listed as a student, we automatically look at your income in the months in which you were enrolled at an educational institution and make a new calculation.
We only use the new calculation if it means you will have to repay a lower amount than with the standard calculations.

How to calculate your "uddannelsesfribeløb"

If you live up to the conditions of "periodisering", you need only to calculate your "fribeløb" for the specific months in which you were enrolled at an educational institution. You are able to calculate your ‘uddannelsesfribeløb’ the same way as you normally calculate your regular ‘årsfribeløb’.

The way we calculate your "periodiserede" personal income

We calculate your "periodiserede" personal income on the same basis as your personal income for the whole year with the following changes: Your "periodiserede" personal income contains the specific part of your income that is registered on Skattestyrelsen’s “eIndkomst”  that lies within the same time as your period of enrollment at an educational institution.

There are different rules as to how employers need to register income on  “eIndkomst”. In your tax file on skat.dk, you are able to see in which period of payment your employer has registered your income.

Contact your employer if you are unsure of the period your income is registered or if you think that your employer has made a mistake when registering your period of payment.

We do not have the possibility to give exemption from the rules if any income is registered wrongly in eIndkomst.

The period of payment is different from the period of enrollment at an educational institution

If you have earned anything besides your SU and a part of your period of payment lies outside of the period of enrollment at an educational institution, we divide and distribute your income equally within the period of payment. Only your income in the days that lie within a period of enrollment at an educational institution count in the calculation of your income if you fulfil the conditions of "periodisering".

Holiday money("feriepenge") is a part of your income the year it is taxed. Your employer register your income and holiday money on Skattestyrelsen’s “eIndkomst” and it is important to know which period your employer uses. There is no possibility to get a dispensation in regards to the SU regulations.

There are different rules concerning the way employers register holiday money on “eIndkomst”. Contact your employer if you are unsure of when they register different types of income, or if you think that, your employer has made a mistake when registering your holiday money.

Income that is not registered on "eIndkomst" (i.e. corporate profits, interest and equity income)

If you have an income that has not been registered on "eIndkomst” we divide and distribute your income equally between months in the year the specific income was taxed. Examples of such incomes are corporate profits, interest and equity income. If you for instance have been enrolled at an educational institution from August until December in a year of receiving SU, we add five twelfths of your income that has been taxed within the same year but not registered on ‘eIndkomst’, to your ‘periodiserede’ personal income.

Exemption

In a few special cases we are able to exempt from the relative distribution of income that is not registered in “eIndkomst”. We can exempt after a concrete assesement in cases where a student has an income that is not registered in “eIndkomst” but still resembles incomes that is normally registered in “eIndkomst” or when solid and strong documentation can prove that the income is solely earned during a time the student has not been enrolled an educational institution.

If you are a parent and entitled to a higher fribeløb, your fribeløb will be increased per month.