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Covid-19 – Summary of Measures Norway

Norway accounting news

Covid-19 government emergency measures implemented in Norway per 10.05.2020

For business owners.

VAT

  • VAT rate reduces from 12% to 6% in the period April 1. And October 31 for businesses in transportation, public transportation, hotels, cinema, amusement park, museums, and cultural events.
  • VAT reporting for February and January is extended by two months. From April 14. to June 10.
  • Delayed VAT reporting is not subject to coercive fines during the ongoing pandemic.

Tax return

  • Tax returns for companies are extended by three months. From May 31. to august 31.
  • Paid company tax for the year 2018 and 2019 can be reversed due to loss recorded in the financial statement 2020.

Employer’s tax

  • Payments of employer’s tax to the government are postponed from May 15 to August 17.
  • Delayed reporting is not subject to fines during the ongoing pandemic.

Business compensation scheme

  • All entities with an income loss of more than 30%( 20% for March) for the month of March, April, and May compared to the same last year period are entitled to cash support from the Norwegian government. Compensation is for unavoidable overhead only. The maximum supported amount is 30 MNOK per month for each company.

The compensation amount is based on the following:
(Percentage turnover decrease compared to the same month last year) x (Unavoidable fixed costs – deductible) x (Adjustment factor 0.8 or 0.9) = Cash support

An explanation for the equation:

  1. The deductible amount is 10.000 NOK for each business.
  2. Adjustment factor 0,9 shall be used for businesses that are required by the government to shut down due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Such businesses are hairdressers, tattoos salons, cinemas, gym center, and more. 0,8 are for all other businesses that are not mentioned above.
  3. The compensation scheme is for most businesses. Certain industry is not applicable to apply, like airlines or oil and gas corporation, they will receive specific compensation mandated by the government.

The application is done online. The application is processed by a machine. The paid amount is subject to varication by CPA or accountants by the next year’s tax return.

State guaranty loan

  • Business who are affected by the corona-pandemic is applicable to apply for a loan guaranteed by the government. The aid shall follow the regulation in the commission regulation (EU) No 651/2014. The maximum loan amount for SMB is up to 50 MNOK, corporate that are not in the SMB’s definition are able to apply for 150 MNOK loans. The repayment period for the load is tree years.

Measure for laid-off workers

  • Laid-off workers are applicable to receive full paid salary for 20 days after notice off laid off. The first two days are covered by the employer, the rest is funded by “NAV” the National Norwegian labor and welfare service department. After 20 days of full payments, the laid-off worker is applicable to receive 80% of their salary for the maximum time span of two years from “NAV”.

Measures that are not implemented though highly likelihood of implementing. Employee tax for businesses reduces with four percentage in all counties in Norwegian.

If you have any questions regarding this or any of the other initiatives offered to those affected by the current disruption, please contact Robert Gjelstenli at robert@hca-revisjon.no.

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