Norway

Value-added tax (VAT)

The general VAT rate is 25% and applies to all supplies of goods and services not qualifying for another rate or an exemption. A reduced rate of 15% applies to supply of food and beverages, excluding tobacco, alcohol, medication, and water from waterworks. The reduced rate is not applicable to the supply of food and beverages consumed in restaurants and other food establishments.

The VAT rate of 12% applies to domestic passenger transport services and procurement of such services, domestic ferry services related to transport of vehicles, accommodation services, cinema tickets, museum and gallery tickets, amusement park tickets, and sports events. 

Exemptions with credit (zero-rated) include, but are not limited to, the following (please note that there might be specific conditions for the exemptions to apply):

• Export of goods and services. 
• Goods and services for Norwegian offshore and non-resident ships. 
• Transfer of a going concern. 
• Supply of newspapers (including e-newspapers), books (including e-books as of 1 July 2019), and electronic publications (as of 1 July 2019). 
• Sale of vessels and aircraft for use in taxable activity. 
• Sale of vessels for use in search and rescue. 

Exemptions without credit include, but are not limited to, the following (please note that there might be specific conditions for the exemptions to apply):

• Supply of works of art owned by the artist. 
• Health services. 
• Social services. 
• Financial services, including banking, insurance, and the sale of shares (entities within the financial services sector are, in general, subject to a special financial activities tax, see below). 
• Educational services. 
• Sale and lease of real estate (accommodation and lease of parking lots are taxable). 
• Services supplied by cultural and entertainment institutions. 

Exemptions, whereby an option to tax is available, include the letting of immovable property to VAT-liable lessees following a specific VAT registration with the VAT authorities. Please note that an ordinary VAT-registered business is not required to specifically register for letting of property.

The registration threshold is met when supplies subject to VAT in accordance with the Norwegian VAT legislation (including self-supplies) exceed NOK 50,000 during a 12-month period. For charitable and public utility institutions and organisations, the threshold is NOK 140,000.

As of April 2020, a simplified VAT registration scheme is applicable for B2C sales of goods with a value below NOK 3,000 per item (VAT on E-Commerce or VOEC). The scheme is not applicable to foodstuffs and goods that are subject to excise duties. A similar simplified registration scheme also applies to B2C supplies of electronic services (VOES). None of the simplified registration schemes entitles deduction of input VAT.

As of January 2023, the simplified VAT registration scheme has been extended to include all remotely deliverable services.

As of January 2024, the Norwegian Tax Administration has developed a new solution for VOEC, which replaces the old solution in Altinn. The existing data from the old solution will be migrated to the new portal. The temporary customs declaration exemption for consignments valued below NOK 350 will be abolished.

Customs duties

There are quite extensive customs duties on agricultural products, which must be paid upon importation. However, it is often possible to avoid customs duties on these products partly or completely by applying for an exemption from the agricultural authorities in advance. Some of these exemptions are subject to tariff quotas.

Clothes and some other textile products are also subject to customs duties upon importation to Norway, but imports comprised by free trade agreements (such as the EEA with the EU) and the General System of Preferences (for developing countries) are exempt. As a result, clothes will, as a general rule, not be subject to customs duties as long as the importer presents the necessary certificates of origin.

There are no customs duties on other products than agricultural products, clothes, and textile products.

Excise taxes

Excise taxes are calculated on import and domestic production of the following:

• Petroleum products, including gas.
• Lubricating oil.
• Alcoholic beverages, including beverage packaging.
• Beverage packaging (the excise duty on non-alcoholic beverages has been abolished from 1 July 2021, but there is still excise duty on beverage packaging). 
• Ethanol for technical purposes.
• Tobacco.
• Sugar (i.e. granulated sugar, icing sugar, refined, pearl sugar, etc.).
• TRI/PER, including products containing the chemicals TRI/PER. 
• HFC/PFC, including products containing the propellant gases HFC/PFC.
• Wild marine resources (i.e. fish, marine mammals, other marine organisms, and plants). 
• Fish production (i.e produced salmon, trout, and rainbow trout from fish farms).
• Onshore wind power.
• Sulfur hexafluoride (SF6).
• Electrical power produced in hydro and wind power plants.
• Pesticides.

There are also excise taxes related to the following:

• Registration of vehicles.
• Use of vehicles, road tax on fuel.
• Emissions of NOx.
• Sale of electricity.
• Flight passengers.
• Waste incineration.
• Use of frequencies and five-digit telephone numbers.

Property taxes

Real estate may, under certain conditions, be subject to property tax. It is up to the different municipalities to choose whether it wants to impose property tax on real estate. Not all municipalities impose property tax on real estate. The applicable rate varies between 0.1% and 0.7%, which is decided by the municipality. The tax base will normally be the estimated market value (with some adjustments). The maximum rate for property tax on private residences and leisure properties is 0.4%.

Production equipment and production installations are exempt from property tax from 2019, with a seven-year transitional period.

Hydropower producers must pay property tax on the hydropower plant’s capitalised value using a capital interest rate of 4.5%. However, the basis for the calculation of the property tax should fall in the range of NOK 0.95 to NOK 2.74 per kWh of the power plant average production for the last seven years. For hydropower plants with nominal capacity less than 10,000 kVA, the property tax base will be the same as the tax value for income tax purposes.

Stamp taxes

A tax is levied on the registration of a change of ownership of real estate. The tax is calculated at 2.5% of the fair market value.

Net wealth taxes

There is no net wealth tax or other capital taxes for limited companies, investment funds, state-owned enterprises (according to the State-owned Enterprise Act), inter-municipal companies, and companies in which somebody owns a part in or receives income from, when the responsibility for the companies’ liabilities is limited to the companies’ capital.

Some institutional holders (e.g. mutual insurance companies, savings banks, co-operatives, taxable pension funds, self-owned finance institutions, mortgage credit associations) pay 0.3% (state) net wealth tax. 

As of the income year 2023, shares in quoted limited companies and equity funds are valued at 80% of quoted value as of 1 January of the year after the relevant income year for net wealth tax purposes. If quoted both on the Norwegian and a foreign stock exchange, the Norwegian stock exchange value will be applicable. If not quoted, the basis for taxation is, as a rule, the company’s net taxable value for wealth tax purposes as of 1 January of the income year in question. The basis for taxation of non-quoted shares in foreign companies is, as a starting point, the assumed market value of the shares as of 1 January of the assessment year.

Payroll taxes

There are no payroll taxes other than national insurance contributions and financial activities tax (see below).

National insurance contributions

Employers are subject to pay employers' national insurance contributions on the employees’ gross salary. The employers’ contribution rate varies between 0% and 14.1% based on the municipality of the head office of the business. The contribution shall be reported and paid on a bimonthly basis.

As of the income year 2023, an additional employer contribution of 5% has been introduced for all employees who earn more than NOK 750,000. The government has signalled that the additional employer contribution will be phased out, but no decision has yet been taken.

As of the income year 2024, the threshold for the additional employer contribution of 5% is NOK 850,000.

Financial activities tax

Entities within the financial services sector are, in general, subject to a special payroll tax. The tax rate is 5% and shall be calculated on the wage base. Companies where the employees use more than 30% of their time on financial services exempt from VAT will be comprised by the tax.

Exit tax

The exit rules levy taxes upon the migration of assets or liabilities. The tax is calculated by reference to the accrued but unrealised gains at the time of migration at a rate of 22% (25%).

Exit tax is also levied if Norwegian CFC taxation lapses because the control requirement is no longer met or if:

• a Norwegian tax resident company transfers its tax residency (effective management) to another country 
• a Norwegian tax resident company has assets or liabilities that are transferred to a PE that is tax exempt pursuant to a DTT, or 
• a foreign company has assets or liabilities that are transferred from a Norwegian PE to the head office or a foreign PE of the same company. 

Transfer of assets or liabilities from a PE of a Norwegian company to another PE in a country where the DTT in question is based on the credit method is, however, not regarded as a taxable event.

Assets being transferred out of Norwegian taxing jurisdiction are considered as taxable events, but the tax charge may be deferred if certain conditions are met. The main conditions are that the taxpayer is resident within the EEA/EU and has provided a guarantee for the deferred tax and interest charge. 

De minimis exception rules apply when determining whether the exit tax may be levied. Exit tax on the transfer of tangible assets is applicable only if the unrealised capital gains exceed NOK 5 million. Exit tax on the transfer of other assets and liabilities is only applicable if the unrealised capital gains exceed NOK 1 million.

Carbon dioxide (CO2) tax

A CO2 tax is calculated on petroleum that is flared and on natural gas emitted into the air, as well as on CO2 that is separated from petroleum and emitted into the air, and on installations used for production or transportation of petroleum. The petroleum included in the CO2 tax is mineral oil, petrol, gas, natural gas, and LPG.

The CO2 tax is regarded as a normal operating cost for CIT purposes and is a fully deductible cost both for corporate and special tax calculations.

Natural resource tax

Hydropower activities are subject to a natural resource tax of NOK 0.013 per kWh as determined based on 1/7 of the produced kWh for the income year in question and the six previous years. The natural resource tax is creditable against the standard CIT.