Appeal against a decision concerning VAT

You can appeal against the decision that you have received.

You can appeal against

  • Decision concerning registration, change or deregistration from the Value Added Tax Register

  • Decision concerning enforcement fine

  • Decision on assessment of additional tax

  • Decision concerning assessment of value added tax following a limited audit of the VAT return

  • Decision concerning rejection of appeal

If you’ve forgotten to submit a VAT return, and you’ve received a decision as a result of this, you do not send an appeal. Instead, you submit the VAT return in question, and we’ll process it as an appeal.

Log in:

Submit your appeal

Any appeal must be submitted in writing. The appeal must state the decision you are appealing against and the change or changes you wish to be made. You should also state the reason why you are appealing and provide us with any other information and documentation which may be of importance for assessing the appeal.

You must submit your appeal within six weeks after the date on which you received the decision or the decision was made available to you.

In some cases, we can consider appeals that have been submitted after the deadline.

We consider several factors before deciding whether to consider appeals that are submitted after the deadline. For example, how long ago the decision was made, the information you have received about the case, how important it is for you to have the decision reversed and the reason why the appeal was submitted after the deadline. Irrespective of the reason, the appeal cannot be considered if more than one year has passed since the decision was made.

Your rights and obligations

If you have not already received an explanation for the decision, you can request one from the tax office before the appeal deadline. If you do request an explanation, the appeal deadline will stop running and a new deadline will run from the date on which you receive the explanation.

You may be entitled to reimbursement for your costs in accordance with the rules concerning free legal aid. The County Governor in your county can provide more details.

If your appeal is granted, you can claim reimbursement for any significant and necessary costs that you have incurred in connection with your appeal case. The Tax Administration can provide more information.

Even if you have appealed a decision, you must still pay the claim by the due date. Interest on the late payment will accrue from the due date through until you pay the claim in full.

If your appeal concerns the imposition of additional tax, you are not obliged to pay this part of the claim while the appeal board or a court of law is considering your appeal. However, deprivation interest will accrue on the part of the additional tax that is upheld in accordance with Section 11-2 of the Tax Payment Act. Deprivation interest will accrue from the due date until a decision is reached or a final judicial decision announced. The deprivation interest will correspond to the monetary policy base rate determined by Norges Bank as of 1 January in the year concerned, plus one percentage point. You must pay the additional tax as soon as the decision concerning your appeal is reached or a final judicial decision announced. Interest on the overdue payment will accrue from this date.

We recommend submitting your appeal electronically, but you can also submit your appeal on paper to:

Skatteetaten
Postboks 9200 Grønland
0134 Oslo

You can get help from a representative to appeal on behalf of your enterprise. A representative can either be a private individual or a professional business – for example, a lawyer. You must then give the representative access to log in on behalf of the enterprise. You do this by giving rights to Altinn roles, and you can do it in two ways:

1. You can give the chosen representative a permanent Altinn role on behalf of the enterprise.

You must then give rights to one of these roles:

  • Limited signing rights
  • Contact person NUF
  • Accountant with signing rights

2. You can give access only to information related to the appeal

You must give access to these individual services in Altinn:

  • «MVA-brev for Skatteetaten - Ubegrenset tilgang med regnskapsrolle» (VAT letter for the Tax Administration - Unlimited access with accounting role - in Norwegian only). The role gives the representative access to read previous correspondence in Altinn – about the appeal and about previous decisions.
  • «Merverdiavgift registreringstjeneste» (Value added tax registration service - in Norwegian only). The role gives the representative access to log in on behalf of the enterprise to appeal, and to read and answer future correspondence regarding the appeal against a decision.

It’s important to give access to both individual services if you choose this solution.

You create rights in Altinn

To give someone rights on behalf of the enterprise, you must have the role Chief administrator or Access manager for the enterprise. Read about how to give rights in Altinn here

 

The tax office will consider the appeal

If you submit an appeal, the tax office will consider it. If the decision is not reversed and you chose to uphold your appeal, the tax office will forward the appeal to the appeal body. The Directorate of Taxes considers appeals against assessment of VAT if the total tax implications of what is appealed is less than NOK 25,000. The Tax Appeal Board will consider other appeals. The Directorate of Taxes is the appeal body for decisions regarding compensation of VAT and for other decisions other than assessing VAT.

If you have received a decision concerning a VAT assessment or the imposition of additional tax:

If the decision you have received is based on you having paid too much VAT, you will receive a refund for the amount you have overpaid. The amount will be paid into the account you registered in the VAT Register. Before making the payment, the tax authorities will offset any outstanding tax, VAT and certain other taxes that you owe us and that are due for payment.

You may be entitled to interest on the amount you have received. Any interest will normally be paid at the same time as the tax.

If the decision you have received is based on you having to pay VAT and/or interest, you must use the payment information given in the decision, including the KID number.

If you receive a decision concerning a VAT assessment, it's because you have reported too small an amount for the tax that is payable or too large an amount in credit for one or more periods. Interest will therefore be calculated from the date on which the correct tax amount should have been paid, or alternatively from the date on which you received the excess amount. If you fail to pay the outstanding amount by the due date stated on the decision, additional interest will accrue.

If you have paid interest on the retrospective calculation, you can enter a deduction for this interest in the tax return for wealth and income tax. However, you have no corresponding deduction entitlement for additional tax.

If you receive interest, this must be declared as taxable income.

The decision concerning assessment may also have other tax-related consequences.