Deduction for monetary donations

Donors can claim a deduction from taxable income for monetary donations to companies, foundations or associations located in Norway or another EEA member state. See section 6-50 of the Taxation Act. The organisation must not have a commercial purpose and must pursue one or more of the following activities:  

a. care and health-promotion work for children or young people, and for the elderly, infirm, disabled or other disadvantaged groups 
b. activities directed at children and young people within music, theatre, literature, dance, sport, outdoor pursuits etc. 
c. religious or other belief-based activities 
d. activities directed at human rights protection or development aid 
e. disaster relief and activities to prevent accidents and injury, or 
f. cultural protection, environmental protection, nature conservation or animal welfare. 

Companies and associations, including religious and belief-based communities, that receive the donation must have a national scope on 1 January of the year in which the donation is made. Under the requirement concerning national scope, the activity must extend beyond the local area. The activity need not cover all counties. The number of members and their geographic locations will provide an indication of the organisation’s activities and distribution.

Organisations that do not have national scope may be comprised by the gift/donation deduction scheme by joining a central organisation that's considered to have national scope. The condition is that the local organisations are bound by the central association’s articles of association concerning its purposes. Local sports clubs, for example, will be comprised by the scheme if they're members of the Norwegian Olympic and Paralympic Committee and Confederation of Sports (NIF), which has a national scope. Furthermore, it's a condition that the association's central organisation is responsible for keeping accounts concerning donations received, and that submits the requisite information in machine-readable form to the Directorate of Taxes.

The requirement for national scope does not apply to foundations. Foundations must receive state aid in the year in which the gift is made. 

The gift must amount to at least NOK 500 in the income year in which it'is donated. A maximum deduction of NOK 25,000 is given per year. In order to claim the deduction, the organisation must have sent details of the donor and gift amount via Altinn or a machine-readable medium within the defined deadlines. 

Read more about the conditions for approval, the approval procedure and which organisations are approved.

Reporting information

For more information about the organisation's reporting obligations in relation to gifts, see "Donations to certain voluntary organisations and religious and belief-based communities".

Gifts from self-employed persons

If the gift is a transferral of fixed assets or objects from the donor's commercial activity, the donor must treat the gift in its entirety as a sale (tax on withdrawals). If the gift is a depreciable fixed asset, such as a car, the donor will be taxed on the difference between the sales value and the written-down value. For non-depreciable fixed assets, such as plots of land, the donor is taxed on the sales value.

Gifts from private limited companies

Gifts from private limited companies for charitable purposes, such as sports facilities, will normally not be a transfer free of charge (dividend) to the shareholder.