How much tax do you have to pay
The renting out of commercial properties is taxed as business or capital income. If the rental income is considered capital income, the profit will be taxed at a rate of 22 percent.
However, it’s not a given that rental income should be taxed as capital income. In some cases, rental income can be taxed as business income, at a rate of up to 50.6 percent.
Whether or not the rental activity is considered business activity depends on an overall assessment with the scope and duration of the owner’s work/activity as the principal factor. As a rule, the following rental agreements are considered business activity:
- more than 500 square metres for commercial activity, or
- 5 housing units or more for residential and holiday purposes
When renting out for both commercial and residential/holiday purposes, these limits must be considered together. If you rent out 350 square metres for business purposes and three apartments for residential purposes, this will normally be considered business activity. Find more information about the renting out of buildings and business activity in the guide Skatte-ABC Virksomhet- allment pkt. 3.3.13 (in Norwegian only). In the case of short-term rentals, the level of activity will often be high, so that depending on the circumstances this may be business activity, even if only one housing unit is rented out, see BFU 6/16, (the Tax Administration's binding advance ruling, (in Norwegian only)).