Comparability

Comparability - geographical

The statistics are compiled according to EU guidelines and are comparable with statistics from other EU countries. Data from the statistics is used to publish turnover indices and production indices for the service and non-retail trade sectors, respectively. These can be viewed on Eurostat's website.

Note that the calculation of the variable ‘total sales’ can be used as an estimate of firms' net turnover (EBS variable 140301). Note that according to the definition of variable 140301 (net turnover) the following are excluded from net turnover: - all taxes, duties or levies linked directly to revenue; - any amounts collected on behalf of any principal, if the statistical unit is acting as an agent in its relationship with said principal; - all income not arising in the course of ordinary activities of the statistical unit.

The Danish statistics have the following shortcomings compared to the above definition. When calculating the variable "salg i alt", indirect taxes such as excise duties are included. Furthermore, since it is not possible to break down the sales at invoice level, no deduction can be made for sales that are collected on behalf of any principal (reverse charge). Lastly, sales that cannot be linked to the statistical unit's ordinary operations can't be identified.

The shortcomings described above are accepted, because, indirect taxes are industry-specific, and therefore have no impact on the overall economic development. Reverse charge and other income than ordinary operations are expected to be identified with the introduction of digital invoicing.

Comparability over time

The history of the statistics:

VAT (value added tax) was introduced in Denmark on 3rd of July 1967, and data is used in a quarterly statistic called “Merværdiafgift og omsætning i byerhvervene”, this statistic was published first quarter of 1968.

Back to the year 1969, there are annual statistics based on VAT reports. During the years covered by the statistics, there have been a number of changes in VAT rules, statistical units and the industry classification used, which makes long historical analyses difficult.

In January 2001, the publishing cadence is changed to monthly, and the title was changed to “Purchases and sales by industry”. At the same time, the counting unit in the statistics was changed from the reporting unit (SE number) to the legal unit (CVR number).

January 2009 the statistics on Purchases and sales by industry was introduced. This statistic is based on a machine processing of the reports from enterprises to the Danish Tax Agency.

Breach in the data series:

Data breach in the data series between 2009 and 2010: From the 1st of January 2010, when exporting of services, the enterprises use reverse charge, whereas this was previously subject to VAT in Denmark and included in domestic sales; similarly for the import of services. This causes a breach in the data series of domestic purchases and sales from 2009 to 2010.

Coherence - cross domain

You can compare this statistic with other statistics published by Statistics Denmark e.g. General enterprise statistics, Accounts statistics, External trade in goods (crosses Danish border). You must be aware of differences in definition, for example whether all types of turnover are included, whether excise duties are included or not, and whether the smaller companies are also covered.

Statistics' calculation of the variable "salg i alt" can be used as an estimate for the companies' net turnover. This net turnover is used as an estimate until the net turnover is calculated in one of the structural statistics, such as the Accounts Statistics.

Coherence - internal

Data is collected by The Danish Tax Agency and sent to Statistic Denmark. There is no integration of different sources or registers, this means there is consistency in the sources of the statistics. Counting units and groups are treated the same, both at the Danish Tax Agency and Statistics Denmark, and there is therefore consistency in the data set. A given unit or grouping appears the same across tables found on the webpage of StatBank Denmark.