Registration & voluntary registration
Ordinary MVA registration, pre-registration where large costs precede turnover, and voluntary registration for the letting of commercial property — which is what makes construction VAT recoverable at all.
Recovery reviews
Recovery
Input VAT you were entitled to and never claimed
In almost every VAT review we run, we find deductions the business was fully entitled to and simply did not take: costs coded to the wrong account, mixed-use assets treated as wholly non-deductible, construction invoices booked before a voluntary registration was in place.
The correction window under the Tax Administration Act generally allows amendment for three years back. That is a meaningful cash recovery for a business that has never had the question examined.
- Mixed activity. Apportionment keys are often set once and never revisited as the business changes.
- Property and construction. The single largest source of both recovery and exposure.
- Vehicles and representation. Restricted, but not as absolutely as most bookkeepers assume.
- Cross-border purchases. Reverse charge handled incorrectly leaves recoverable tax stranded.
Rates
Norwegian VAT at a glance
Applying the correct rate to the correct supply is the first control point; the second is proving it.
| Rate | Applies to | Common error |
|---|---|---|
| 25 % | Standard rate — most goods and services | Applied to supplies that qualify for a reduced rate |
| 15 % | Foodstuffs | Mixed catering and takeaway supplies split incorrectly |
| 12 % | Passenger transport, accommodation, cinema, admission to sport | Package supplies not apportioned between elements |
| 0 % | Exports and certain zero-rated supplies | Export documentation not retained to the required standard |
| Exempt | Health, education, financial services, letting of real property | Exempt turnover blocking recovery that voluntary registration would restore |
Rates as applicable for 2025. Registration is generally required once taxable turnover exceeds NOK 50 000 in a twelve-month period.
Compliance
Keeping the year under control
Adjustment obligations
Capital goods carry a ten-year adjustment period for property and five years for movables. Selling, converting or changing the use of an asset can trigger repayment — and can equally be transferred to a buyer by agreement.
SAF-T & bookkeeping
Skatteetaten can request your accounting data in SAF-T format at short notice. We test the export, check the account mapping and correct the structure before it is requested rather than after.
Deadline calendar
Bimonthly VAT returns, the annual return where applicable, a-melding each month, and the corporate return in spring. We issue a single dated calendar for your structure each January.
Enquiries & audits
We answer Skatteetaten correspondence on your behalf, prepare the supporting file and attend the control meeting. Clients on a retainer pay nothing extra for the first enquiry each year.
Voluntary correction
Where an error is found, a voluntary correction filed before Skatteetaten opens a case generally avoids the additional tax penalty. Speed matters more than anything else here.
Case
A property developer in Stavanger
Voluntary registration had been filed late on one of four buildings. Input VAT of NOK 3.1 million on construction costs had been written off as unrecoverable by the previous adviser.
We established that pre-registration conditions had in fact been met at the time, filed corrected returns for the open periods and documented the adjustment position for the remaining nine years.
“We had accepted the loss and moved on. Nordveld recovered NOK 2.4 million of it, and the adjustment file they built is now part of every sale contract we sign.”
Has your input VAT ever been reviewed?
Three years of records, one fixed fee, and a written recovery claim if there is one to make.