INSIGHT · SAF-T
SAF-T 2.0: an exemption that could hit 40,000 companies
An exemption meant to help can end up harming. When companies on non-standardised systems are exempted from SAF-T 2.0, it creates an A- and B-team — and the bill is simply postponed to a moment with shorter notice.
By Kåre Bo Rasmussen · 23 April 2026
What is SAF-T 2.0?
SAF-T is the standardised data extract that Danish companies’ bookkeeping systems must be able to deliver. From January 2027 the content requirements expand — what you could call SAF-T 2.0 — so that even more of the bookkeeping must be delivered in a fixed, structured format. Fundamentally this is good news: it makes audits faster, bookkeeping more uniform and data more usable.
Added since: the Danish Business Authority has put a newer version, SAF-T 2.1, out for technical consultation. That is the one taking effect in January 2027 — before the 2.0 expansion has reached the whole market. It only sharpens the point below: the exemption postpones not one step, but two.
What is the exemption — and who does it hit?
The problem lies in an exception. Companies running non-standardised or foreign bookkeeping systems are, in the first instance, exempted from having to support the new requirements. It sounds considerate. But it is precisely that group — an estimated up to 40,000 companies — that is thereby left out of the development everyone will eventually have to join.
“It creates an A- and B-team, because at some point everyone will have to do this anyway — and then a fairly large share will be lagging far behind, probably at very short notice.”
Why it’s a problem
Two things make the exemption unfortunate. First, it sends the wrong signal: that adapting a foreign system is difficult and expensive. It rarely is — it is neither particularly hard nor expensive to bring, say, a SAP or a custom setup up to the requirements once you know them. Second, it simply postpones the problem. The requirements don’t disappear; they return, and usually with a shorter deadline.
What should companies do now?
If you’re in the B-team — i.e. running a non-registered or foreign system — the advice is simple: use the exemption as time, not as a pause. Get a check of where your system stands against SAF-T 2.0, and close the gaps calmly now rather than under time pressure later. That is exactly the exercise Struktura helps groups with.