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Tax when you take over a decedent’s estate
When you have taken over a decedent's estate, you’re responsible for completing several tasks. In time, you must also settle the decedent's estate.
Here you’ll find an overview of what you must do.
Tip! Read through all the sections. The order of the tasks you must complete varies, depending on when in the year the death occurs.
Short version:
Estate representative for tax purposes
To change and submit the tax return online, you need to have the role of estate representative for tax. A spouse or cohabiting partner who takes over the estate undivided automatically assumes the role. The same applies if only one person is responsible for the estate.
If there are several heirs, one of them can be authorised to submit the tax return on behalf of the estate. That person will then take on the role of estate representative for tax purposes.
To get access to change and submit the tax return online, the probate certificate must be dated 1 January 2024 or later.
As estate representative for tax purposes, you can:
- change and submit the tax return
- update the account number
- request an extension for submitting the tax return
- respond to letters from the Tax Administration
- request advance tax assessment
The estate representative for tax purposes will receive a notification by email or SMS when the tax return or tax assessment is ready.
All heirs who’ve taken responsibility for the decedent's estate can still view the tax documents, but only the person with the role of estate representative for tax purposes can submit the tax return, update the account number, and so on.
Contact person for the decedent's estate
If the deceased person was married, the spouse is automatically registered as the contact person in the National Population Register.
Once the form of probate has been chosen, the person listed as the recipient of the probate certificate is registered as the contact person for the estate.
To change and submit the tax return or update the account number, the contact person must also have the role of estate representative for tax purposes.
For the 2024 income year, the contact person will receive the deceased person’s tax return on paper.
The person who’s going to be the contact must send a written request to the National Population Register to change the contact person. Include a copy of the probate certificate, as well as a power of attorney and copies of all heirs' proof of identity.
At the end of March, the latest tax return for the deceased person or the decedent's estate will be available on our website. Everyone who’s been issued a probate certificate automatically gets access to view the deceased person’s tax documents. The estate representative for tax purposes will receive a notification by email or SMS when the tax return is available. The tax return is also sent on paper to the contact person for the decedent's estate.
To get access to change and submit the tax return online, the probate certificate must be dated 1 January 2024 or later.
If there are several heirs, one of them can be authorised to submit the tax return on behalf of the estate.
If you’ve opted out of digital communication, we’ll send the tax return on paper.
Submit the completed tax return to:
Skatteetaten
Postboks 9200 Grønland
0134 Oslo
Norway
If there are several heirs, the person authorised to represent the decedent's estate can submit the tax return.
You must review the tax return and make changes if any information is incorrect or missing.
Once you’ve received the tax return for the year of death, you should:
- check that the information matches the documents you’ve received from employers, Nav, banks, and others
- make changes to the tax return if you find any errors or missing information
You do not need to submit the tax return if everything is correct – unless the deceased person received a tax return for businesses. In that case, the tax return must be submitted.
If you're the sole heir or surviving spouse/cohabiting partner
If you're the sole heir or the surviving spouse or cohabiting partner in an undivided estate, you must submit a tax return for the deceased person for the year of death. It must include income, gains, deductions, and losses up to the date of death.
Wealth and debts should be included in your own tax return. You must also include all income, deductions, gains, and losses after the date of death in your own tax return.
If there are multiple heirs
If there are several heirs, the decedent's estate becomes the owner of the deceased person's assets, such as cars, shares, bank deposits, property, and other real estate. For the year of death, a tax return must be submitted that includes income, gains, deductions, and losses both before and after the date of death. Bank deposits, assets, and property that have not been sold or distributed to the heirs must also be included. Any debts that have not been paid by the end of the year must be included as well.
The person responsible for the decedent's estate must submit a tax return every year until all assets have been sold or distributed and the estate has been settled. The decedent's estate is responsible for taxes and duties until it's settled and all amounts have been paid.
If you do not have access to the tax return online or have not received the deceased person’s tax return by 15 April, you’ll need to send us a request asking for it to be sent to you.
Our postal address is:
Skatteetaten
Postboks 9200, Grønland
0134 Oslo
You’ll need to check that the account number for the tax refund is correct.
If there are several heirs, you must submit a tax return for the year in which the decedent's estate is settled. It’s often helpful to settle the estate as quickly as possible. You can then request advance tax assessment of the estate.
A spouse or cohabiting partner in an undivided estate cannot request advance tax assessment. Nor can a sole heir who takes over the estate alone.
To settle the decedent's estate, the deceased person’s assets must be transferred to the heirs or new owners. What you need to do depends on whether you're the sole heir or there are several of you.
As the sole heir or surviving spouse/cohabiting partner in an undivided estate, you're considered to have inherited and taken ownership of the assets immediately after the date of death.
For the year of death, you must submit a tax return for the deceased person that includes income, gains, deductions, and losses up to the date of death. Wealth and debts must be transferred to your own tax return.
All income, deductions, gains, and losses after the date of death must be included in your own tax return.
For the year of death, you must check that no residential property or real estate is listed in the deceased person’s tax return. These must be included in your own tax return.
If you and the deceased person owned residential property or real estate together, you must check that you're listed as the 100 percent owner in your own tax return.
If the transfer of property is registered (tinglyst), the property will normally be pre-filled in next year’s tax return for the new owner. Registration ensures legal protection for you as the owner. This means others cannot place an attachment on or sell your property without legal authority. You're not required to register the property.
You’ll find more information about registration at the Norwegian Mapping Authority’s website. Some of their information is available in English by selecting English in the Language menu.
If the transfer of property is registered, the property will normally be pre-filled in next year’s tax return for the new owner. Registration ensures legal protection for the owner. This means others cannot place an attachment on or sell the property without legal authority. You're not required to register the property.
If you do not register the property in your name, it will still be listed under the decedent's estate. You’ll need to send us a written request so we can transfer the property to you. The property will then be pre-filled in your tax return the following year.
If you don’t register the change of ownership, you must submit proof of ownership to us.
The proof must include the following information:
- which property it concerns
- the date the ownership applies from
- any amount paid for the property
- the date and signatures of all parties
You can submit the proof as soon as the sale or transfer is completed. You can also include this information in your tax return.
Submit proof on paper
Our postal address is:
Skatteetaten
Postboks 9200 – Grønland
0134 Oslo
You’ll find more information about registration at the Norwegian Mapping Authority’s website. Some of their information is available in English by selecting English in the Language menu.
You must register the car or other vehicle in your name. Spouses and children do not have to pay the registration transfer fee when inheriting a vehicle.
You can read more about selling a vehicle after a death on the Norwegian Public Roads Administration’s website.
Shares and securities must either be sold or transferred to you.
If you inherited assets worth more than NOK 100,000, you must include this information in your tax return.
If there are several heirs, the decedent's estate becomes the owner of the deceased person's assets, such as cars, shares, bank deposits, residential property, and other real estate. For the year of death, you must submit a tax return that includes income, gains, deductions, and losses both before and after the date of death.
If assets or residential property have been sold or distributed to the heirs, you must assess whether the sale is taxable. Any taxable gain or deductible loss must be included in the decedent's estate’s tax return.
Any residential property or other assets that have not been distributed or sold during the year must be included in the tax return.
If the transfer of property is registered, the property will normally be pre-filled in next year’s tax return for the new owner. Registration ensures legal protection for the owner. This means others cannot place an attachment on or sell the property without legal authority. There’s no obligation to register the property.
You’ll find more information about registration at the Norwegian Mapping Authority’s website. Some of their information is available in English by selecting English in the Language menu.
If the transfer of property is registered, the property will normally be pre-filled in next year’s tax return for the new owner. Registration ensures legal protection for the owner. This means others cannot place an attachment on or sell the property without legal authority. You're not required to register the property.
If you do not register the property in your name, it will still be listed under the decedent's estate. You’ll need to send us a written request so we can transfer the property to you. The property will then be pre-filled in your tax return the following year.
If you don’t register the change of ownership, you must submit proof of ownership to us.
The proof must include the following information:
- which property it concerns
- the date the ownership applies from
- any amount paid for the property
- the date and signatures of all parties
You can submit the proof as soon as the sale or transfer is completed. You can also include this information in your tax return.
Submit proof on paper
Our postal address is:
Skatteetaten
Postboks 9200 – Grønland
0134 Oslo
You’ll find more information about registration at the Norwegian Mapping Authority’s website. Some of their information is available in English by selecting English in the Language menu.
A decedent’s estate includes two properties, and the heirs each take over one property when the estate is distributed. Each heir must include the property they inherited in their own tax return. The person authorised to represent the decedent’s estate must remove the properties from the estate’s tax return.
The decedent's estate rents out the residential property for a period before selling it. The decedent's estate sells property and the proceeds are distributed to the heirs.
The person authorised to represent the decedent’s estate must submit a tax return for the estate and report any taxable rental income or deductible rental loss, as well as any taxable gain or deductible loss from the sale of the property.
If you have not received a tax return, you must use the form Tax return for private individuals who have not received a pre-filled tax return or contact us.
When a decedent’s estate sells a property, any gain is always taxable, and any loss is deductible.
The decedent's estate can claim a deduction if the sale results in a loss. If the estate’s tax assessment shows a loss in the year the estate is settled and closed, the heirs are entitled to deduct their share of the loss in the following year’s tax return. Each heir must enter their share of the loss in their own tax return.
If you have not received a tax return, you must use the form Tax return for private individuals who have not received a pre-filled tax return or contact us.
Two heirs take over a decedent’s estate. The decedent's estate sells a residential property, and the proceeds are distributed to the heirs. The decedent's estate is closed, and the heirs submit a tax return for the estate.
The sale of the residential property resulted in a taxable loss of NOK 100,000. The estate had no income that year, and ends up with a loss carried forward of NOK 100,000. Next year, the two heirs can each deduct their share of the loss – NOK 50,000 – in their own tax returns.
You must register cars or other vehicles to the new owner. Spouses or children do not have to pay a registration transfer fee when inheriting a vehicle. Other heirs must pay a registration transfer fee.
You can read more about selling a vehicle after a death on the Norwegian Public Roads Administration’s website.
Shares and securities must either be sold or transferred to the heirs.
The decedent's estate sells shares, and the proceeds are distributed to the heirs.
The person responsible for submitting the tax return for the decedent's estate must report any taxable gain or deductible loss from the sale of the shares.
If you inherited assets worth more than NOK 100,000, you must include this information in your tax return.
The tax assessment for a decedent’s estate is ready no earlier than June and no later than 30 November.
Once it’s ready, we’ll send you a notification. You can then log in to the Tax Administration’s website to check the tax assessment.
If you do not have access to the tax assessment notice online or have not received the deceased person’s tax assessment notice by 1 December, you can send us a request asking for it to be sent to you.
You can also order by post. Our postal address is:
Skatteetaten
Postboks 9200 Grønland
0134 Oslo
If the deceased person or the decedent's estate has underpaid tax, we'll send an invoice to the contact person for the decedent's estate. The contact person will also find payment details in the tax assessment notice for the deceased person and the decedent's estate.
You and the other heirs who’ve taken over the estate are responsible for paying any underpaid tax. It must be paid by the deadline.
You’ll need to check that the account number for the tax refund is correct.
If you find errors in the tax assessment notice, you must:
- change and resubmit the tax return
- pay the underpaid tax by the deadline
Once you’ve resubmitted the tax return, you’ll receive a new tax assessment notice. If the deceased person paid too much tax, the excess amount will be refunded.
If there are still assets left, for example, property or vehicles, you’ll continue to receive tax returns until the assets have been transferred to the new owners.
If all assets have been sold or transferred to the heirs, and bank accounts have been closed before the end of the year, this will be the final tax return for the deceased person.
If the pre-filled information is incorrect, you must correct it and submit the updated version.
If there are several heirs, you must submit a tax return for the year in which the decedent's estate is settled. It’s often helpful to settle the estate as quickly as possible. You can then request advance tax assessment of the estate.
A spouse or cohabiting partner in an undivided estate cannot request advance tax assessment. Nor can a sole heir who takes over the estate alone.
Specific information if you
If you’ve received an invoice for advance tax for the deceased person, it’s because advance tax was calculated in their tax deduction card.
If the tax deduction card is correct, the advance tax is correct, and you must pay it.
If the advance tax is incorrect, you must update the deceased person’s tax deduction card.
You must fill out the paper form for changing the tax deduction card/advance tax (RF-1102) and send it to us.
Our postal address is:
Skatteetaten
Postboks 9200 – Grønland
0134 Oslo