The new Bookkeeping Act: who must keep digital books — and when?

Who is covered — and from when?

• Companies filing annual reports (ApS, A/S, etc.): digital bookkeeping since July 2024
• Personally owned businesses (e.g. sole proprietorships) with net revenue above DKK 300,000 two years running: from 1 January 2026
• Smaller businesses below the threshold: not yet covered by the digital requirement — but the duty to keep books applies to everyone

What does the law actually require?

• All transactions recorded continuously in a digital bookkeeping system
• Receipts stored digitally together with the bookkeeping for 5 years
• Ongoing backup kept with a third party
• The system must be registered with the Business Authority or meet the same requirements

What is a registered bookkeeping system?

The Business Authority keeps a public register of approved systems that meet the law's requirements for security, receipt storage and standard formats. Use a registered system and the system side of compliance is handled.

Numina is a registered bookkeeping system (no. fob605159) — so both the bookkeeping and the digital receipt storage comply out of the box.

What it means for you in practice

Binders, shoeboxes and plain spreadsheets don't meet the requirements if you're covered. It doesn't have to be a burden, though: with Numina you simply send your receipts digitally, and the bookkeeping, storage and backup happen automatically by the rules — with a dedicated bookkeeper doing the actual work.

The terms behind it, briefly explained

Finally a quick glossary of the terms from this article — brief and concrete, the way we explain them to our customers.

What is bogføringsloven (the Bookkeeping Act)?

Bogføringsloven is the Danish law on how businesses must keep books and store receipts. The 2022 act phases in mandatory digital bookkeeping in a registered system — from 2026 also for personally owned businesses with revenue above DKK 300,000.

The requirements include continuous recording, digital receipt storage for 5 years and backups. Numina is a registered bookkeeping system (fob605159), so the requirements are covered automatically.

What is opbevaringspligt (the duty to keep records)?

Opbevaringspligt is the duty to keep accounting records for 5 years from the end of the financial year they relate to. It covers receipts, bookkeeping and annual reports.

Under the Bookkeeping Act, most businesses must now store receipts and bookkeeping digitally in a registered system that also keeps backups. Discard receipts too early, and the Tax Agency can set your tax by estimate instead.

What is a kassekladde (day book)?

A kassekladde is a running list of the day's incoming and outgoing payments, later posted to the books. The term comes from cash registers but is still used for daily recording.

With bank feeds and automatic bookkeeping, the classic day book has in practice been replaced by transactions flowing straight from the bank.

What is a bankafstemning (bank reconciliation)?

A bank reconciliation is the check that the entries in the books match the movements on the bank account — krone for krone.

Reconciliation catches missing receipts, duplicates and errors. At Numina the bank is connected directly, so it happens continuously and automatically.