Claim for VAT compensation (tax return for VAT compensation)
Municipalities, county councils, and some private and non-profit enterprises can claim a refund for VAT they have paid.
The following can claim compensation:
- Municipalities
- County councils
- Intermunicipal companies
- Child day care centres
- Joint church and parish councils
- Private or non-profit enterprises that provide statutory health, education and social services for municipalities or county councils
Statutory services are services provided to individuals who are legally entitled to receive them from the municipality or county council.
Important information
If you are not sure whether your enterprise is entitled to claim compensation, contact us
You cannot use this tax return for VAT compensation if you represent voluntary groups and organisations or private enterprises within culture, sports, and transport. You can find the VAT compensation scheme for voluntary organisations at the Norwegian Gaming and Foundation Authority.
What you need to do:
Important information
The enterprise must have a compensation claim of at least NOK 20,000 in VAT during a calendar year before you can submit the first tax return for VAT compensation.
In order to be entitled to VAT compensation, the following criteria must be met:
- The goods and services must be used in the enterprise
- The seller has calculated VAT on the sale of the goods or services
- The VAT must be specified on the receipt (or other sales document)
Important information
If the enterprise is registered in the Value Added Tax Register, you cannot claim compensation for what the enterprise receives a deduction for in the ordinary tax return for VAT.
You also cannot claim compensation for VAT on goods and services that are not entitled to a deduction. For example, this applies to the purchase and operation of company cars classified as passenger cars.
If you carry out several types of activity, you may be entitled to partial compensation.
An enterprise that has other business activities in addition to the statutory services provided on behalf of the public sector, can only claim compensation for a portion of the VAT.
You run a fitness centre and a child day care centre in the same building and have purchased a copy machine for use in your enterprise. Because only the child day care centre business is entitled to VAT compensation, you can only claim a deduction for the part of the copy machine that is used by the child day care centre.
The copier will be used equally in the entire enterprise – 50 percent by the child day care centre and 50 percent by the fitness centre. The copier cost NOK 50,000 including VAT.
Total sum on the invoice including VAT:
NOK 50,000
VAT you have paid:
NOK 10,000
VAT you can receive compensation for:
NOK 10,000 x 50 percent = NOK 5,000
If your accounts are correct, it is easy to retrieve the numbers you should report.
When you submit the tax return for VAT compensation in the new format, you must use VAT codes.
|
1 |
Purchases of goods and services with compensation for VAT (standard rate) |
|
14 |
Compensation for value added tax paid upon import (standard rate) |
|
81 |
Purchases of goods from abroad with compensation for VAT (standard rate) |
|
86 |
Purchases of services from abroad with compensation for VAT (standard rate) |
|
91 |
Purchases of emission allowances and gold with compensation for VAT (standard rate) |
|
11 |
Purchases of goods and services with compensation for VAT (middle rate) |
|
15 |
Compensation for value added tax paid upon import (middle rate) |
|
83 |
Purchases of goods from abroad with compensation for VAT (middle rate) |
|
13 |
Purchases of goods and services with compensation for VAT (low rate) |
|
88 |
Purchases of services from abroad with compensation for VAT (low rate) |
You do not need to include the actual documentation when you submit the tax return for VAT compensation, but we may ask you to send it later.
Examples of documentation are invoices, receipts and agreements.
The accounts must also include a signed report from the auditor stating that the submitted claim has been checked. This is a confirmation that must be retained as documentation in the accounts and is not the same as the auditor’s digital attestation.
Important information
If the auditor finds any errors and must reject your claim, you must resubmit the claim. It is important that you submit as correctly as possible the first time, and that you do it well in advance of the deadline.
Submission deadlines
The deadlines for submitting the tax return for VAT compensation are every two months and are divided into periods. You can submit compensation claims no earlier than 40 days before the deadline for each period.
The deadlines are absolute
It is not possible to request a submission extension for a compensation claim.
The very last deadline for submission of the tax return for VAT compensation for public sector organisations is the period after the purchases are made. After this, the claim becomes obsolete. For example, compensation claims for VAT on purchases you made in the 1st period (January and February) must be submitted no later than 10 June, which is the submission deadline for the 2nd period (March and April).
You can submit claims for previous periods in the same calendar year when you submit the first claim. But you cannot submit the first compensation claim before the enterprise has had a minimum of NOK 20,000 in VAT expenses during a calendar year (1 January to 31 December).
The very latest submission deadline for private organisations is the last period of the year after the purchases are made. After this, the claim becomes obsolete. For example, you can submit the VAT compensation claim for purchases in 2023 no later than in the tax return for VAT compensation for the 6th period in 2024, which has a submission deadline of 10 February 2025.
If you must make changes after the deadline, you must submit a new tax return for VAT compensation for the same period. The amount you claim a refund for must be lower than the amount stated in the earlier tax return for VAT compensation. There is no requirement of auditor attestation.
If you need to correct previous tax returns for VAT compensation for periods before 1 January 2023, use this form:
Important information
The auditor will not be notified when you have submitted a tax return for VAT compensation for attestation, so it is important that you notify them directly. You can either forward the confirmation the enterprise receives in Altinn or notify the auditor in some other way.
Give the auditor the correct roles in Altinn
It’s your responsibility to make sure that the auditor is given the correct roles. Give or check that the auditor has the following roles on behalf of the enterprise:
- Responsible auditor
- Auditor certifies validity of VAT compensation
Altinn: Giving rights to others?
You can fill in and submit the return for attestation if you have one of these roles:
- Limited signing rights
- Accountant with signing rights
If you have one of these roles, you can fill in the tax return for VAT compensation, but cannot submit it for attestation:
- Responsible auditor
- Accounting employee
- Accountant without signing rights
- Assistant auditor
For the auditor
As the auditor, you must always attest in the Tax Administration’s solution – even when the enterprise has submitted via an accounting system.
You will need the following roles in Altinn:
- Responsible auditor
- Auditor certifies validity of VAT compensation
Relevant legislation
- Limitations on the right to compensation, section 4 of the Value Added Tax Compensation Act (only in Norwegian)
- Who can claim compensation, section 2 of the Value Added Tax Compensation Act (only in Norwegian)
- Mva-håndboken (chapter 23 – Kompensasjon av merverdiavgift for kommuner, fylkeskommuner mv. (VAT compensation for municipal authorities, county councils, etc. – only in Norwegian)