Danish companies selling to Germany and Sweden: VAT, reverse charge and collecting in euros and kronor

An Aarhus food packaging company invoices supermarkets in Hamburg in euros and distributors in Malmö in Swedish kronor. Both payments arrive in a Danish krone account. Both are converted on arrival. The company then buys euros for German raw material suppliers, converting back.

VAT on sales to German and Swedish businesses

Both countries are in the EU, so the rules are the familiar ones:

• Services to businesses: no Danish moms. The invoice shows both VAT numbers and states that the reverse charge applies. The customer accounts for VAT in its own country.
• Goods to businesses: zero-rated intra-EU supplies, provided you have the customer's valid VAT number and evidence that the goods left Denmark.

Both go on the EU sales list (listeindberetning) to Skattestyrelsen. Check each customer's VAT number in VIES before the first invoice and keep the result.

Euros: the peg helps, conversion still costs

The Danish krone is pegged to the euro within a narrow band under ERM II, so the rate barely moves. That removes most of the currency risk on euro revenue. It does not remove the conversion margin: each time euros become kroner, or kroner become euros, the bank takes its spread.

A company that both earns and spends euros can skip most of those conversions by holding a euro balance.

Swedish kronor: real currency risk

The Swedish krona floats. Over the past decade it has moved substantially against the euro and the Danish krone. A Danish exporter with large SEK revenue carries that movement in its margin.

Two habits help. Hold kronor and pay Swedish costs from them, such as distributors, warehousing and marketing. Then convert the surplus deliberately, on a schedule or when the rate is favourable, instead of on the day each payment lands.

Collect on local rails

German customers pay a euro IBAN by SEPA, often instantly. Swedish customers prefer to pay into an account they recognise as Swedish; when that is not possible, a krona transfer into a SEK balance still beats converting at arrival.

Paying into Denmark: the local rail

Source: Danmarks Nationalbank: payment systems. Checked when this guide was last updated; the scheme's own page has the current figures.

Where Rivet fits

A Rivet business account gives a Danish company euro details with an IBAN and sterling details from the Growth plan, and US dollar details on every plan, all in its own name. On the Scale plan it holds balances in 30 currencies, including Swedish and Danish kroner. Payments are matched to invoices, and conversions happen at a rate shown before you confirm. Rivet is not a bank; regulated partner institutions hold the funds.