Exit tax

• Shares in Norwegian or foreign companies. 
• Units in securities funds, both the interest component and the share component.  
• Share savings accounts. 
• Endowment insurance (investment fund account). 
• Options in employment relationships.  
• Ownership interests in companies assessed as partnerships.  
• Financial instruments where the underlying asset is subject to exit tax. This includes share forwards, share futures, contracts for difference (CFDs), financial futures, share options (also outside employment), subscription rights, foreign ETFs, and warrants. 
• Assets in foreign pension savings schemes when considered as a regular investment account. This includes American schemes like IRAs and 401(k)s. Only the assets in the account subject to exit tax must be included.  

If you had such assets at the time of moving abroad or transferring, you must provide information about the assets in your tax return, in the specific fields for exit tax. You must provide the information in the tax return that applies to the day before the move or transfer occurred. For example, if you changed residence under a tax treaty on 1 January 2024, you must provide exit tax information in the 2023 tax return. 

In your tax return, you must: 

• Explain why exit tax applies to you. 
• Enter when the move from Norway or transfer occurred. 
• Indicate whether you want to pay the tax claim immediately, pay it in instalments over a period of 12 years after the relocation or transfer, or defer the payment of the entire tax liability for 12 years. If you're entitled to a deduction for latent losses, you cannot choose to defer the deduction. 
• Calculate and report the latent gain or loss for each asset. If you've bought shares multiple times in the same company, you need to calculate the gain or loss for each share trade. Read more about the FIFU principle in the guide Skatte ABC (in Norwegian only). 

Information heirs must provide if someone subject to exit tax dies 

If a person who previously moved abroad or transferred assets to someone living abroad and was subject to exit tax dies, the right to defer payment no longer applies.  

If the asset subject to exit tax is transferred with full continuity to heirs resident in Norway, including the same opening value as the deceased person, the tax claim still lapses.  

In such cases, the heir must contact the Tax Administration to adjust the deceased person's exit tax.  

If the asset subject to exit tax is transferred to heirs resident abroad, the heir can choose to take over the deceased's tax positions, meaning the payment obligation for unpaid exit tax, the duty of disclosure, opening values, etc. 

As an heir, you must determine latent gains and losses in your tax return.  

In your tax return, you must: 

• explain why exit tax applies to you 
• enter when the transfer occurred 
• indicate whether the tax claim must be paid in instalments over the remaining part of the 12-year period, or if the payment should be deferred until the end of the 12-year period
• enter the deceased's calculated latent gains or losses for each asset in your own tax return 

If you have not received a tax return, you can find information about what you need to do here.

No Norwegian D number or national identity number? Read about how identification number are issued.

When assets are transferred to an heir who’s tax resident in another country, a decedent's estate and heirs must provide the following information.

Decedent's estate 

If the estate of a deceased person who was tax resident in Norway transfers assets to a person, company, or entity that is tax resident or domiciled abroad, the estate will be liable for tax on latent gains and losses. 

In the tax return, the decedent's estate must:

• report information on latent gains and losses
• provide information about who has received the inheritance

The date of tax liability is the day before the assets were transferred.     

Heirs 

At the time of the transfer, the heir takes over both the tax liability and the duty of disclosure. As an heir, you must determine latent gains and losses.  

In your tax return, you must: 

• Explain why exit tax applies to you. 
• Enter when the transfer occurred. 
• Indicate whether you want to pay the tax claim immediately, pay it in instalments over a period of 12 years after the transfer, or defer the payment of the entire tax claim for 12 years. If you're entitled to a deduction for latent losses, you cannot choose to defer the deduction. 
• Calculate and report the latent gain or loss for each asset. If the deceased person's bought shares multiple times in the same company, you need to calculate the gain or loss for each share trade. Read more about the FIFU principle in the guide Skatte ABC (in Norwegian only). 

If you have not received a tax return, you can find information about what you need to do here.

No Norwegian D number or national identity number? Here you can read about how identification numbers are issued.

If you want to defer the payment of the tax claim, you generally need to provide security for the claim, such as a pledge of shares or real estate.  

If you've moved to or transferred assets to another EEA country or Svalbard, you only need to provide security if there's a real risk that taxes and any calculated interest cannot be collected. 

If you need to provide security for the tax claim, the Tax Administration will inform you on how to proceed.