Instructions for unemployment benefit cards
Guide to the benefits eligibility form/dagpengekortet
What should you remember in order to receive unemployment benefits/dagpenge?
You must be registered as unemployed at your jobcentre in order to receive unemployment benefits. You register yourself as unemployed at jobnet.dk.
You can only receive unemployment benefits from the day you register yourself at your jobcentre as fully unemployed with benefits, at the earliest. Once you have registered yourself as unemployed, you will get a receipt from your jobcentre as documentation.
Once you have registered yourself as unemployed, you must create or reactivate your CV on jobnet.dk within 14 days of your registration. Once this is done, we must approve your CV.
If you have been deregistered at the jobcentre due to vacation or illness, for example, you must register yourself again.
When should you fill out your benefits eligibility form?
The benefits eligibility form is available to fill out on the sixth last day of the month. The form must be filled out and sent to us one month and ten days after the end of the given month, at the latest.
This means that if you apply for unemployment benefits for October, for example, then you must send your benefits eligibility form on the 10th of December, at the latest. You will only receive your benefits once you have filled out and sent the form.
You must remember to press “send” on the form. Afterwards, you will be able to see all the forms you have sent in the “sent post” tab.
Assessment period
The benefits eligibility form will be available to fill out on the sixth last day of the month, meaning that you must fill out and send your form before the month is over in order to receive your benefits by the 1st of month. You must fill out the form for the entire month. This means that you need to inform us of what you expect to happen within the rest of the month, as well.
If you fill out your form on the 22nd of the month, for example, then you must fill out what activities you expect to partake in for the rest of the month, as well. Paid work and vacation, for example, both count as activities.
If you need to change this information afterwards, then you must send in your form again, updated and correctly filled out. You should do this as soon as you know your activities for the entire month.
What you should do if you have been unemployed for the entire period
You must fill out and send your benefits eligibility form every month as long as you are unemployed, even if you have not worked or have had a source of income in the period in question. This also includes if you have received disbursements from a private wage insurance, for example.
If you have not had any activities within the period in question, then all you have to do is approve of the statutory declaration and press “send”.
The benefits eligibility form must be filled out for the entire month
When we pay out unemployment benefits, we use the entire months as our basis.
This means that you must fill out the form for the entire month, even if you declared yourself as unemployed in the middle of the month, or if you have started full-time employment in the middle of the month.
Information about work and income
While you are unemployed, it is your duty to inform us about everything that could impact your eligibility for unemployment benefits.
You must inform us of:
A) Paid work and voluntary, unpaid work
You must inform us of all the hours that you work, including unpaid work and work done outside of Denmark. This also includes work done outside of regular work hours and in the weekends.
For each day of the month, you must inform us of the number of paid work hours as well as the name of your employer. If you receive payment for a job on a contract basis, for example, as opposed to hourly pay or a salary independent of the number of work hours, then you must inform us of the name of your employer as well as your income before your tax is deducted.
Your benefits eligibility form must be filled out with whole hours, and minutes in hundreds by dividing the number of minutes with 60.
For example, if you have worked for 5 hours and 18 minutes, you must convert the 18 minutes into decimal format by dividing 18 with 60, which is 0,3. This means that the number you put in your form will be 5,3 hours.
B) Self-employment and leisure activities
All self-employed work, work done in a leisure or part-time job, asset management in self-employment and similar activities must be filled out on your benefits eligibility form. This means that you must put down all the hours that you have spent on the activity in the form. You must still do this even if the business is registered in your spouse’s name, and no matter if the business turns a profit or not.
If your Unemployment Insurance Fund has not approved of you partaking in activities in self-employment, leisure or part-time employment, asset management in self-employment and so on, then you must inform us of this in your benefits eligibility form as well. The fund will then process the information, and you will receive a verdict. In the verdict, we will inform you whether it is possible for you to receive unemployment benefits on the side of your activity.
If your activities in self-employment, leisure or part-time employment, asset management in self-employment or similar changes after the fund has approved of it, you must inform us. This applies no matter if you or SKAT has changed it. This is because the fund must process the new information and reach a verdict about your eligibility for unemployment benefits.
C) B-income, fees and remuneration
If you have an activity with B-income, or where you get paid by fee or remuneration, in your benefits eligibility form, you must inform us of whether your B-income is from an activity as a paid worker, or whether it is from self-employed work.
If your activity is self-employed work, you must put down the number of hours you have worked. You do this by choosing “Self-employed secondary occupation” under “Add new activity.” You can read more about self-employed work in section b, as described above.
If your income is from work as a paid employee, you must inform us of your salary. You do this by choosing “Remuneration pay/irregular work” under “Add activity.”
D) Education
If you are registered under an education, you can only receive unemployment benefits at the same time if the fund has approved of education with eligibility for unemployment benefits. If your fund has approved your education for benefits, you will be able to see this information on the first page of the benefits eligibility form under known activities. You do not need to put down the hours you spend on your education in the form.
If your fund has not approved of your education, you must fill out and send in the form “Course declaration (AK020).” You will not be able to receive unemployment benefits if the fund has not approved of your education.
E) Wage insurance
If you receive disbursements from a wage insurance, you must inform us of this on the first page of your benefits eligibility form. If the fund is not already informed about this disbursements, you must send documentation of your wage insurance. This can be a copy of your payout specification, for example.
F) Other sources of income
You must inform your fund of all your taxable sources of income, regardless of where they come from.
This also applies if you receive payment for part-time work, disbursements of G-days from an employer, or if you receive compensation due to a work injury.
The sources of income we are already aware of will already be filled out in your form. If this information is not correct, you must answer no in the form and put in the correct information instead.
You must inform us if you have sources of income or activities that could affect your eligibility for unemployment benefits that we are not aware of. You do this under “Choose activity.” If you cannot find the option that fits your situation in the menu, then you can choose “None of the above,” and fill out the text field with more information about your activity.
G) Other circumstances
If you have been unable to be available for work within the period, you must inform us of this as well as the reason for your unavailability.
This can be if you have been on vacation, been ill, had your child’s first sick day, had a longer stay outside of Denmark, or if you have been lawfully detained. You must also inform us if you have been doing construction or reconstruction on your own property, or if you have been part of a strike or lockout.
If you cannot find the reason you are looking for, then you can choose the activity “None of the above,” and put down the reason in the text field.
Graduates and child support obligation
If you are newly graduated, the amount you can receive in unemployment benefits depends on whether you are supporting children or not. If you have child support obligation, you can receive 82% of the maximum amount for unemployment benefits. You are eligible for this if you support you own biological or adopted children under the age of 18 years old, if they live in Denmark.
If you are a Danish citizen, or have a citizenship in another EEA-country, it is enough that only one of the children you support lives in an EEA-country.
Be aware of the following information:
The Faroe Islands and Greenland are not a part of the EEA-area, and you will not be eligible for the higher rate for unemployment benefits if your children live there.
You will no longer have child support obligation for a child,
- If the child is 18 years old or above
- If the child has gotten married
- If the child has had children of their own
Incorrect or missing information
You confirm on a statutory declaration that the information you have put in is correct. If you give us incorrect information, or if you do not inform us of circumstances, this could affect your eligibility for unemployment benefits.
You may be required to pay back your unemployment benefits if your information is incorrect and may also lead to you losing your eligibility. This is in accordance with the law related to unemployment insurance, §85e, stk. 3, § 86, stk. 1 and 2, and § 87, stk. 1 and 2. You may also be reported to the police.
You confirm the following:
- That you have read the guidelines
- That you are aware of that your eligibility for unemployment benefits requires for you to be registered as unemployed in the jobcentre, and that you have an approved and active CV on jobnet.dk two weeks after you have registered yourself as unemployed, at the latest
- That the information you have given up is correct according to the law related to unemployment insurance, §85e, stk. 3, § 86, stk. 1 and 2, and § 87, stk. 1 and 2
Verification (samkøring) and other information
The information you provide on the benefits eligibility form will be inspected and verified on the 11th in the following month. We do this with information we have received from employers and authorities. We compare the information that you have provided on the form with the information that SKAT has provided us with.
In accordance with the Danish data protection legislation, it is our duty to inform you that,
- The fund can request information from your employer to verify your eligibility
- The fund registers the received information
- The fund can use information from the fund and from SKATs income register to inspect and verify the information
- You have the right to know which information the fund registers about you
- You can demand corrections of the incorrect information
If you have any questions about this, you must contact your Unemployment Insurance Fund.
Guide to verification (samkøring)
The Unemployment Insurance Fund is obligated to inspect and verify whether the paid hours we have calculated for your unemployment benefits are correct, in accordance with the paid hours that your employer has registered in the income register within the same month.
This process happens automatically, with a slight deviation, which we will regulate. The deviation is listed under “Actual Deviation” on the verification form.
You now have three options
- If you agree with the result of the verification, you must select “no” if you do not wish to object to the regulation. You will then put the deviation in work hours in the form yourself on the days where you have worked. The regulation will be visible on your next payout specification. N.B.: If you have worked days when you have not been registered as unemployed on jobnet.dk, you must still inform us of the work hours on the verification form
- If you disagree with the deviation that the verification has resulted in, you must say “yes” if you object to the regulation. In the text field, you must state why you cannot confirm the result of the verification. You will also be required to send documentation for your objection, in the form of paychecks, for example
- Your benefits will be automatically regulated if you do not do anything regarding the result of the verification before the next disbursements. The regulation can be seen on your next payout specification
You must correct the work hours or object to the result of the verification before the relevant deadline, which you can find in the regulation letter you receive from us.
Statuary declaration
You confirm on a statutory declaration that the information you have put in is correct. If the information proves to be incorrect, you may be required to pay back your unemployment benefits, and it may also lead to you losing your eligibility. This is in accordance with the law related to unemployment insurance, §85e, stk. 3, § 86, stk. 1 and 2, and § 87, stk. 1 and 2. You may also be reported to the police.
If you have any questions about this, you must contact your Unemployment Insurance Fund.