Tax rules – letting your entire home
The regulation described here applies to the following conditions letting of your entire home on condition that the letting period lasts at least 30 days.
If letting with duration of less than 30 days, see taxation of rental income for so-called short-term letting.
The decisive factors for the tax liable are how much of the house you let out, calculated by rental value, and your own use of the house.
When rental income is NOK 20,000 or less
If you let out your entire home and the rental income is NOK 20,000 or less per year, the income is tax-free.
When rental income exceeds NOK 20,000
If the rental income exceeds NOK 20,000, the entire rental income is tax liable from the first krone. This also applies to income from periods where less than half of the home is let.
You own a detached house containing a bedsit. Up to December, you live in the detached house and let the bedsit for NOK 8,000 per month.
In December, you also let the part you live in for 3 weeks for NOK 16,000. In the same period, you also receive rental income from the bedsit of NOK 6,000 (8,000/4 x 3). This means that for three weeks in December you let out your entire home. The rent amounts to NOK 22,000 (16,000 + 6,000).
If you let more than half of your home (calculated by rental value), and the total rental income amounts to more than NOK 20,000 for this period, all rental income for the entire year for the bedsit, will be tax liable from the first krone.(Rental income from the short-term let will be taxed in accordance with a standard method).
In a sectioned building, such as a sectioned semi-detached house, you're only entitled to tax-free rental income for the section where you live.
Rental income from multi-unit houses (those with three or more family apartments) will always be tax liable from the first krone. This also applies to any letting of your own housing unit. Properties with two family apartments and one or more independent bedsits are considered multi-unit houses.
Family apartment
In order for a housing unit to be characterised as a family apartment, the housing unit must normally be suitable for use as a permanent home for a family of two adults and one child. There's also a requirement that the housing unit can be locked and made inaccessible to others, and that it has a built-in bath and toilet, its own cooking facilities and at least one bedroom. A housing unit with primary rooms covering less than 40 square metres can't usually be considered a family apartment.
Independent bedsit
An independent bedsit is a housing unit with its own entrance and toilet. The unit isn't required to have a separate entrance to the building. If the unit shares a stairway or similar with other housing units, it will still be considered independent as long as it has a lockable door. The unit isn't required to have its own kitchen, bedroom or shower facility.