ATP Livslang Pension

ATP Livslang Pension is part of the Danish welfare society to old-age pensioners

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Read more and self-services

Tired of looking for your Danish MitID when using the Danish public self-services? As an EU/EEA citizen you can now ease your future usage by connecting your non-Danish eID to your Danish CPR-number.

This service is now available for the ATP Livslang Pension self-service. Soon other Danish self-services will follow.  

Please note that access is only available with electronic identities from the following countries: Czech Republic, Estonia, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Slovakia, Belgium, Croatia, Luxembourg, Lithuania. Other European countries will follow.

Start Overview of contributions to ATP Livslang Pension

Here you can get an overview of your ATP Livslang Pension:

  • see how much you have contributed and how much you can expect to get in ATP Livslang Pension
  • calculate your pensionpostpone your pension You can at the earliest
  • postpone your pension 11 months before you reach the Danish state retirement age and at the latest 5 months after the payments have begun. It will, however, be a requirement that the paid out pension is repaid
  • register your common-law partner
  • see how much will be paid when you die.

If you do not have a MitID

If you are a citizen in an EU/EEA country, you can use your national electronic ID (eID). Your eID needs to be connected to your Danish Civil Registration Number (CPR number) before you can log in.

Start Overview of contributions to ATP Livslang Pension

Here you can get an overview of your ATP Livslang Pension:

  • see how much you have contributed and how much you can expect to get in ATP Livslang Pension
  • calculate your pension
  • postpone your pension
    You can at the earliest postpone your pension 11 months before you reach the Danish state retirement age and at the latest 5 months after the payments have begun. It will, however, be a requirement that the paid out pension is repaid
  • register your common-law partner
  • see how much will be paid when you die.

If you are a citizen in an EU/EEA country, you can use your national eID. Your national eID has to be connected to your Danish Civil Registration Number (CPR number) before you can log in.
Start ATP-pension abroad

Here you can:

  • start the payment of your ATP Livslang Pension (Lifelong Pension). You can start the payment once you have reached the Danish state retirement age
  • register or change your address
  • register of change your bank details. Please note that if ATP needs to transfer money to a foreign account, there will be deducted a fee of up to DKK 4.95 per payment. ATP does not charge fees for transfers to Danish banks. Please also note that your bank abroad may also charge a fee.

If you do not have a MitID

If you are a citizen in an EU/EEA country, you can use your national electronic ID (eID). Your eID needs to be connected to your Danish Civil Registration Number (CPR number) before you can log in.

Start ATP-pension abroad

Here you can:

  • start the payment of your ATP Livslang Pension (Lifelong Pension). You can start the payment once you have reached the Danish state retirement age
  • register or change your address
  • register of change your bank details. Please note that if ATP needs to transfer money to a foreign account, there will be deducted a fee of up to DKK 4.95 per payment. ATP does not charge fees for transfers to Danish banks. Please also note that your bank abroad may also charge a fee.
If you are a citizen in an EU/EEA country, you can use your national eID. Your national eID has to be connected to your Danish Civil Registration Number (CPR number) before you can log in.

Your ATP Livslang Pension will be paid out when you reach the Danish retirement age. Your retirement age depends on the date you were born.

As a pensioner living abroad, your ATP Livslang Pension is transferred to your bank account either each month or as a lump sum depending on how much money you have accrued.

Below, you can see the Danish retirement age:

Date of birth Danish retirement age
31 December 1953 or before 65 years
1 January 1954 - 30 June 1954 65½ years
1 July 1954 - 31 December 1954 66 years
1 January 1955 - 30 June 1955 66½ years
1 July 1955 - 31 December 1962 67 years
1 January 1963 - 31 December 1966 68 years
 1 January 1967 or later  69 years 

The Danish retirement age may be changed by the Danish Parliament with a 15 years notice prior to the present retirement age.

Your ATP Livslang Pension will be paid out when you reach the Danish retirement age. Your retirement age depends on the date you were born.

It is not possible to have the ATP Livslang Pension paid out before reaching the Danish retirement age.This also applies if, for example, you awarded a disability pension, have a life-threatening illness or move to a another country than Denmark. The Danish retirement age depends on which year you were born in.

ATP Livslang Pension is payable when you have reached the Danish retirement age even though  you are leaving Denmark. You cannot have your ATP Livslang Pension paid out earlier because of for instance: living abroad, disablement, earlier retirement age in another country or transferred to another pension scheme ect.

If you are staying outside Denmark by the time you reach the Danish retirement age we advise you to contact us in order for you to benefit from the rights and savings you have accrued.

We do not automatically receive changes of addresses abroad. Remember to inform  ATP Livslang Pension of any new addresses abroad.

The amount of ATP Livslang Pension (Lifelong Pension) you can expect to receive depends on how much you have contributed over the years. When your contributions were made has a major impact on the size of the pension. Generally speaking the earlier a contribution has been made the more pension you will get from it. In other words, the size of the pension does not only depend on how much has been contributed, but also when.

Your pension overview shows how much you have contributed and how much you can expect to receive in pension from ATP.  Regardless of when you check your pension overview, it will always provide the most accurate picture of what you can expect to receive.

If you are receiving ATP Livslang Pension you can see your disbursements here. See disbursements from ATP Livslang Pension.

Differences in the size of pensions

In order to get the highest pension (DKK 27,300 (2023) for people who reach the state retirement age as a 67-year old) you must have paid a full contribution from the age of 18 up to and including when you reach the state retirement age.

There may be various reasons for why your pensions is smaller than the highest pension. For example, if you were:

  • taking an apprenticeship/traineeship before September 1977 when ATP contributions were not paid
  • a public sector employee in periods since 1987, as some collective agreements specified that the highest ATP contribution was not to be paid
  • self-employed, as it is voluntary for self-employed people to pay ATP contributions
  • employed abroad, where as a general rule one does not pay ATP contributions

Check your contributions

You can have any potential errors in your contributions corrected within a subsequent 3-year period. It is therefor a good idea to check your personal information at least once per year. If you believe there are errors in your registered contributions, you must contact ATP. After 3 years, ATP  no longer has the opportunity to correct potential errors in the registered contributions.

You can defer your ATP Livslang Pension.

If you defer your ATP Livslang Pension it may increase each month.

 Year 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Increase  4% 9% 14% 22% 31% 42% 54% 68% 83% 102%

You can maximum defer your ATP Livslang Pension 10 years from your Danish retirement age.

In the table you can see how much your pension may increase when you defer the payment.

If you want to defer your pension, you must notify ATP Livslang Pension before the 5th of the month you reach the Danish retirement age. Your pension will be increased by a percentage. The rate is updated every year based on life expectancy and market interest rates.

The forecast is not a guarantee of the amount of the pension when you receive it.

The size of the contribution depends on various rates.

Private-sector employers always pay A-contributions, which is the highest rate.

Public-sector employers pay A, B, C, D, E or F-contributions, depending on the collective agreement the employee are covered by.

Public-sector employers have paid B, C, D, E and F-contributions for most employees since 1 January 1988. A-contributions may be optional or mandatory (from either transfer income or full-time employment), while contributions based on the other rates always stem from full-time employment.

Since 1993, ATP contributions have been paid on various types of transfer income such as unemployment benefits, sick pay, welfare benefits etc. Certain groups such as early retirement pensioners and recipients of partial pension may choose to pay ATP contributions themselves. These contributions are also shown in the overview.

The contributions shown include the contributions made by the member as well as his/her employer, municipality, Udbetaling Danmark the Public Benefits Administration or unemployment insurance fund. However, self-employed people and recipients of early retirement benefits or benefits under the Danish flexi job scheme pay the full contribution themselves.

Contributions made prior to 1 January 2008 are reported on an annual basis only. See also rates from prior years:

You will be paid an ATP Livslang pension when you reach the retirement age and for as long as you live thereafter. You pay 1/3 of the contributions to ATP while your employer pays 2/3. You accrue a pension for the contributions that you make to ATP Livslang Pension. This pension can be increased if the ATP issues bonuses.

What does the ATP contribution go towards

There will be deducted social security contributions, risk contributions and bonus contributions from your contributions to ATP Livslang Pension(Lifelong Pension). The remaining part of the contribution will be used to purchase a pension at the applicable rate. The rate specifies how much of a guaranteed annual pension you can get for DKK 100.

Risk contribution

The risk contribution goes to your risk covers ensures that your spouse or common-law partner and your children will receive a lump sum from ATP if you die.

Bonus contributions

The bonus contribution amounts to 20 per cent of the paid contributions and the bonus contribution goes to ATP bonus potential. The bonus potential is used to increase the guaranteed lifelong pensions via bonuses and to cover longer than projected life expectancies so that ATP can guarantee lifelong pensions.

Almost everyone makes contributions to ATP Livslang Pension, and it is your employer or the state that makes them for you. You also pay even if you are not working. You will pay contributions to ATP if you:

  • are a wage earner
  • are aged 16 or more
  • work in Denmark are posted by a Danish employer to work in another country on a short-term basis
  • work at least nine hours per week
  • receive a number of social benefits (transfer income)

Pensioners who work

You must pay ATP contributions as long as you are working, no matter how old you are. This means that you and your employer must pay ATP  contributions for you - even if you have also begun receiving your ATP Livslang pension. Your ATP Livslang Pension is adjusted on an ongoing basis as you and your employer make contributions. In other words, the pension that you will receive will be larger if you work after you reach the retirement age.

Voluntary contributions to ATP Livslang Pension
You can choose to make voluntary contributions to ATP Livslang Pension if you:

  • are a self-employed person
  • receive early retirement pension
  • receive transitional benefit
  • receive early retirement allowance under the flexible employment scheme
  • receive disability pension (awarded before 1 January 2003
  • receive partial pension

If you live in Denmark, your ATP Livslang Pension will automatically be paid to your NemKonto when you reach the state retirement age.

If you live abroad, you must request to have your ATP Livslang Pension paid to you and specify to which account you want it transferred.

ATP Livslang Pension is paid in advance and is paid on the last bank day of a month.

Shortly before you reach the Danish retirement age, you will receive a letter from ATP Livslang Pension.

Therefore, make sure that ATP has your address.

Our letter contains a form which you have to fill out with your bank information and return it to ATP.

Digital Post

If you are signed up for Digital Post you will receive your letter(s) in your digital mailbox.

See an English translation of the letter:

If you do not have an address in Denmark, please remember that ATP must have your address abroad in order to pay out your pension.

Choose a Danish or a foreign account

You decide whether you want your ATP Livslang Pension paid out to a Danish or a foreign bank.

If you have a Danish bank account the transfer will have no cost to you.

If you have a foreign account you must pay a fee.

The bank deducts a handling fee

Our banking agreement will charge up to 4,95 DKK per transfer, no matter which foreign country the money is transferred to. Your bank abroad may also charge a fee for receiving the money. Please contact your bank abroad regarding their fee.

Deferring your pension

You can choose to defer your pension. If you wish to do so, please tick the box "I wish to defer my ATP Livslang Pension to" on the form that you have received. Or by using our self-service. Read more in the section "you can defer"

When you live abroad and receive ATP Livslang Pension, you must confirm that you are alive. Therefore, you will receive a letter with a life certificate, which you must fill out and send back by post or answer digitally.

We will send out the life certificates from the end of June 2023.

If you have not received the life certificate during this period, you must contact us on tel. +45 70 12 80 00.

If you do not answer the life certificate, your payment of ATP Livslang Pension will stop.

You will receive the pension amount either as a lump sum or a monthly payment.

The size of your ATP Livslang Pension (Lifelong Pension) determines how you receive ATP Livslang Pension (Lifelong Pension):

  • If your ATP Livslang Pension amounts to more than DKK 3.200 (2023) per year before tax, you will receive your pension monthly for as long as you live.
  • If your ATP Livslang Pension amounts to DKK 3.200 (2023) or less per year before tax, you will receive your pension as a lump sum.

ATP’s Supervisory Board may change the limit of DKK 3.200 in the future. Your payment may change from a lump sum to a monthly payment if you pay in more ATP contributions or postpone your retirement, thus increasing your pension.

You must pay taxes or duties from your ATP Livslang Pension

ATP Livslang Pension (Lifelong Pension) is taxable income. ATP Livslang Pension (Lifelong Pension) will automatically be notified of your tax percentage from the Danish Tax Agency.

If the Danish Tax Agency does not have information on your tax percentage, there will be deducted 55 per cent from your ongoing pension, cf. the Danish Withholding of Tax Act's Section 48(7).

If you are exempt from paying taxes on your ATP Livslang Pension (Lifelong Pension), you must contact the Danish Tax Agency and ask them to make an exemption from paying taxes for ATP Livslang Pension (Lifelong Pension)

There will be deducted 40 per cent in taxes to the state if you receive the money as a lump sum.

If you receive ATP Livslang Pension, payments will stop when you die, i.e. no one can inherit your pension. When you die your spouse and underage children may be entitled to a lump sum payment from ATP Livslang Pension. It is important that your spouse or children contacts ATP as we are not automatically informed about deaths that occur outside of Denmark.

The lump sum can be paid to:

  • Spouses, or
  • Cohabitants, and
  • Biological and/or adopted children under the age of 18 or 21

When did you start to contribute to ATP Livslang Pension?

If you have made contributions to ATP Livslang Pension prior to 1 January 2002, your spouse may be entitled to a lump sum payment in the event of your death. The amount of the lump sum depends on the year of your birth and how much you have contributed to ATP prior to 1 January 2002.

If you started to contribute to ATP after 1 January 2002, your spouse may be entitled to a lump sum of up to DKK 75,000. Your children may be entitled to a lump sump of up to DKK 50,000.

40 percent of the lump sum will be deducted as tax for Skattestyrelsen.

The lump sum decreases by DKK 15,000 each year following the year after you reach the Danish retirement age. Even if you have made contributions to ATP Livslang Pension prior or after 1 January 2002 your spouse or children must make a request for the payment of the lump sum no later than five years after the date of your death. After five years the amount will lapse entirely. 

In addition to the death certificate you also need to send those following documents if you want to request payment of the lump sum: 

  • A copy of your marriage certificate. If there has been a name change in connection with your marriage, we need a certificate issued by a public authority stating the change of name and the date of the change
  • A signed confirmation that you were still married at the time of death
  • A color copy of your passport or other picture ID
  • A copy of the birth certificate for children under the age of 18 or 21
  • Guardian information for any children under the age of 18
  • Bank information

If the child is under the age of 18, the payment will be made to the child's guardian.

If you and your spouse were not resident in Denmark, you need to complete the following form to request payment of the lump sum

If you receive ATP Livslang Pension, payments will stop when you die, i.e. no one can inherit your pension. Your cohabitant may be entitled to a lump sum from ATP Livslang Pension. It is important that your cohabitant contacts ATP as we are not automatically informed about deaths that occur outside of Denmark.

If you die before you reach the Danish retirement age, your cohabitant may be entitled to a lump sum payment of DKK 75,000 before taxes. 40 percent of the lump sum will be deducted as tax for Skattestyrelsen (the Danish State).

The lump sum decreases by DKK 15,000 each year following the year after you reach the Danish retirement age. Your cohabitant must make a request for the payment of the lump sum no later than five years after the date of your death. Five years after you reach the Danish retirement age, the amount will lapse entirely.

Conditions for receiving payment

  • You would have been able to get legally married during the last two years before the death, and you must not be related to one another or separated
  • You have lived in a marriage-like relationship
  • You have shared the same registered address for the last two years before the death
  • The deceased has been a member of ATP Livslang Pension for at least two years after 1 January 2002 and has paid the equivalent of at least two full years of contributions to ATP Livslang Pension.
  • The death occurred no later than five years after the deceased reached the Danish retirement age. Danish retirement age depends on your year of birth.

If you and your cohabitant were not resident in Denmark, you need to complete a form to request payment of the lump sum

In the event that you or your cohabitant have been living in an institutional setting (for example, a nursing home), then the requirement for a shared registered address must have been met for the last two years before the move to the institutional setting.

You must register as cohabitant

The amount will be paid out if you are already registered as cohabitants. If you are not already registered as cohabitants at ATP Livslang Pension, the following form must be completed to request payment of the lump sum: 

 

Which documents does a cohabitant need to send, if you had a shared residence abroad? 

Documentation for joint place of residence in Sweden

You must order a population registration certificate (personbevis) for you and the deceased from the Swedish Tax Agency (Skatteverket).

Documentation for joint place of residence in Norway

You must order the address information from the Norwegian National Registry for you and the deceased from the Norwegian Tax Administration (Skatteetaten).

Documentation for joint place of residence in Finland

You must order the address information for you and the deceased from the Finnish Digital and Population Data Services Agency, Väestörekisterikeskus

Documentation for joint place of residence in Iceland

You must order the address information for you and the deceased from the Icelandic Population Register, Þjóðskrá Íslands.

Documentation for joint place of residence in Germany

You must order the address information for you and the deceased from the local national register office/citizen service centre (Einwohnermeldeämte).

Documentation for joint place of residence in Spain

You must order the address information for you and the deceased from the local national register office.

Documentation for joint place of residence in other countries

You need to contact a competent authority in your country of residence, which will issue a certificate for the address, such as a central or local national register office, for you and the deceased. Please enclose the name and contact details of the authority.

It is important that ATP receives the correct documentation for deaths that have occured outside of Denmark. The documentation is decisive for whether ATP can pay out a possible lump sum.

You must send a copy of the death certificate. There are different requirements for the documentation depending on which country the event of the death occured:

  • If the death occurred in Europe, United States of America, Canada, Australia, New Zealand or Turkey please submit a copy of the death certificate. The authority that issued the death certificate must certify that the document is a true copy with a stamp and a signature.
  • If the death occurred in a country that is party of the Apostille Convention, for example the Philippines, please note that the authority that issued the death certificate must certify that the document is a true copy with a stamp and a signature and the document must be legalised by an apostille.
    • You can see which authority in your country issues the apostille at www.hcch.net
  • If the death occurred in any other country, for example Thailand, please note that a number of authorities must confirm that the death certificate is a true copy. To do so, follow these steps:
    • The authority that issued the death certificate must confirm that the document is a true copy.
    • The superior authority of the issuing authority must confirm the signature on the document. That will usually be the ministry to which the issuing authority belongs.
    • The country's ministry of foreign affairs must confirm the signature of the superior authority.
    • The Danish representation in the country must confirm the signature of the country's ministry of foreign affairs. You can find information about Danish representations at www.um.dk

All confirmations must consist of a stamp and signature by the official authority directly on the document.

Once we have received the documents
Once we have received the documents, we will decide whether you are entitled to the lump sum payment.

Please note that the request and the documentation must be received by ATP Livslang Pension no later than 5 years after the date of death. After that, the claim is barred by limitation, see section 36(2) of the ATP Act.

Paying social security contributions

The social security contribution is a public tax of 8 per cent that wage earners or self-employed people must pay.

If you are liable for taxes in Denmark, then ATP is obliged to withhold the social security contribution part of the paid ATP contribution, cf. The Danish Withholding of Tax Act's Section 49 (D)(1).

If you are in doubt about whether you are tax liable in Denmark and must therefor pay social security contributions, you can contact the Danish Tax Agency via www.skat.dk and get specific advice.

From 1 January 2020, the state will pay a contribution to your pension if you are receiving one of the following Danish benefits:

  • Unemployment benefit (arbejdsløshedsdagpenge)
  • Maternity/paternity benefits (barselsdagpenge)
  • Early retirement pension (efterløn)
  • Holiday benefit (feriedagpenge)
  • Flexjob contribution (flekslønstilskud)
  • Early retirement allowance for beneficiaries of the subsidised flexible employment scheme (fleksydelse)
  • Disability pension (førtidspension)
  • Welfare benefits (kontanthjælp)
  • Unemployment benefit for persons accepted onto a subsidised flexible employment scheme (ledighedsydelse)
  • Resource course grant (ressourceforløbsydelse)
  • Rehabilitation benefits (revalideringsydelse)
  • Senior pension (senior pension)
  • State Adult Education Grants (statens voksenuddannelsesstøtte)
  • Supplement for fractional pension (Supplement til brøkpension)
  • Sickness benefits (Sygedagpenge)
  • Supplement to self-employed people with a reduced ability to work (tilskud til selvstændigt erhvervsdrivende med nedsat arbejdsevne)
  • Education benefit (Uddannelseshjælp).

The contribution is paid to ATP and will become part of your ATP Livslang Pension.

You will be paid the pension when you reach the state retirement age. You cannot receive the pension before, even if you are, for example, on a disability pension, suffering from a life-threatening illness or move to another country.

How much is contributed? 

The contribution to Obligatorisk Pensionsordning depends on the type of benefit that you are receiving. In 2023, there will be contributed an amount equivalent to 1.2 per cent of your benefit. The contribution will increase each year up to 2030, where the state will be contributing 3.3 per cent.

Year Percentile of your benefit 
2020 0.3% 
2021 0.6%
2022 0.9%
2023 1.2%
2024 1.5%
2025 1.8%
2026 2.1%
2027 2.4%
2028 2.7%
2029 3.0%
2030 3.3%

What is Supplerende Arbejdsmarkedspension (SUPP)?

SUPP, The supplementary Labour Market Pension Scheme for Disability Pensioners, is a pension to which you can elect to make contributions if you are receiving a Danish disability pension.

You will be paid your SUPP each month when you have reach the state retirement age. You can choose to have your SUPP paid out together with your ATP Livslang Pension or to have it paid by one of the following pension funds:

If your SUPP is administered by another pension fund than ATP, you must contact them.

If you have received a Danish overview of your ATP Livslang Pension, see an English translation of the letter.

If you are a pensioner, you get a letter every year with an overview of your pension payments.

See an English translation of the letter:

If you have received a Danish social security contribution letter, see an English translation of the letter.

Provide a power of attorney digitally - using MitID

When you give the power of attorney to another, this person can act on your behalf in relation to ATP Livslang Pension, including the Mandatory Pension Scheme and the Supplemental Labour Market Pension.

The person who is given the power of attorney can, among other things:

  • View your expected pension from ATP Livslang Pension
  • Defer your ATP Livslang Pension
  • Register your common-law partner
  • View the payments in the event of death for, if relevant, spouses/common-law partner and for children under the age of 18/21
  • See your contributions and received payments
  • Start your pension, change your address and register your account number if you live abroad.

The power of attorney only applies to self-service solutions that are available at www.borger.dk/atp. The power of attorney provides access to advice and offers the opportunity to act on your behalf over the phone, using Digital Post and by email and regular post when contacting ATP Livslang Pension.

Please note that the power of attorney is for a limited amount of time.

If you do not give a power of attorney digitally

If you do not have the opportunity to give a power of attorney digitally, you can send a written letter of attorney to ATP Livslang Pension. The person who gets the power of attorney will generally speaking be able to perform the same actions as with a digital power of attorney. If there are things that you do not want the power of attorney to apply for, you must specify this in the letter of attorney.

You must state the following in  the letter of attorney:

  • Your name and civil registration number
  • Name and address of the person that you wish to provide with the power of attorney
  • That the person in question is to given power of attorney to receive information about you and to act on your behalf in relation to ATP Livslang Pension
  • Specify if the power of attorney is to expire on a certain date or if there are areas/functions that you do not wish to give the power of attorney for.
    (If the power of attorney is only for one specific issue, for example, a payment to you in the event of a death, it is enough to specify this)
  • The letter of attorney must be signed and dated by you.

ATP's customer ambassador

If you have suggestions for improvement or you are not completely satisfied, please contact ATP's customer ambassador. For example, this might be if you are not happy with the service you received or you feel that there are some things ATP can improve upon. Read about how you can contact the customer ambassador.

If you want to file a complaint

If you believe that ATP's decision on membership, payment or contributions is incorrect, you can complain to Ankenævnet for ATP m.m. (ATP's appeals board). You must send the complaint no later than four weeks after having received the decision from ATP.

Ankenævnet for ATP m.m.

Holmens Kanal 20

DK- 1060 Copenhagen K

Written by ATP Livslang Pension

Contact ATP Livslang Pension

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Last updated: 02 February 2023