Norway

Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) agreement with the United States

In April 2013, Norway entered into an FATCA agreement with the United States. The agreement is based on the US FATCA regulations and is the basis for information exchange between the Norwegian and US tax authorities with regards to financial transactions.

According to the agreement, Norwegian financial institutions can report to the Norwegian authorities instead of reporting to the US authorities. It is expected that this will ease the reporting liabilities for Norwegian financial institutions.

Common Reporting Standard (CRS) regime

Norway has also entered into agreements with other countries concerning the automatic exchange of information relating to financial accounts in order to prevent tax evasion and international tax crime. Under the agreements, the Norwegian tax authorities will receive information from foreign financial institutions and tax authorities regarding persons liable to tax to Norway.

In addition, financial institutions are liable to report certain financial information about their clients, accounts, etc. to the Norwegian Tax Administration, which will forward the information to the relevant foreign tax authorities.

Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS)

Norway continues its support of the BEPS project and seeks to be an active contributor to implement measures that facilitate its objectives of preventing base erosion and profit shifting. Norway has, over the last few years, adopted regulations for, among others, tax treatment of hybrid instruments, interest limitation rules, transfer pricing regulations and CbC reporting, and the MLI as a result of the BEPS action points.

Multilateral Instrument (MLI)

Norway signed the MLI on 7 June 2017, and on 1 November 2019 the MLI entered into force for Norway. The Convention has been ratified and the ratification documents have been deposited. 

Norway included 28 treaties to be Covered Tax Agreements (CTAs) and, in addition, several other treaties are under negotiation. As of 1 January 2021, the MLI was in force for 17 countries: Australia, Cyprus, Georgia, India, Ireland, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Serbia, Slovenia, and the United Kingdom.

These entered into force for the treaty parties as follows: 

• 1 January 2020 for WHTs on dividends. The following (five) jurisdictions were affected: Australia, Ireland, the Netherlands, Serbia, and Slovenia.
• 1 January 2021 for other taxes. The following (17) jurisdictions were affected: Australia, Cyprus, Georgia, India, Ireland, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Serbia, Slovenia, and the United Kingdom.
• 1 January 2022 for other taxes. The following (four) jurisdictions were affected: The Czech Republic, Chile, Estonia, and Greece.

As of 1 January 2024, the MLI is also in force for Bulgaria, Chile, China, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Mexico, Romania, and South Africa.

Several other treaties are being re-negotiated. Norway signed a new protocol to the Nordic tax treaty that entered into force 28 November 2019 and a new protocol to the Swiss tax treaty that entered into force 26 October 2020. 

For its agreements listed under the MLI, Norway is implementing the preamble statement (Article 6 of the MLI) and the Principal Purposes Test (PPT, Article 7 of the MLI). Norway has adopted the PPT to counter abuse of tax treaties. According to the test, a taxpayer may not assert treaty benefits if one of the primary purposes of a transaction or arrangement is to exploit benefits under the treaty.