Property tax and housing companies

Here you’ll find information on how to change the basis for levied property tax for a housing company.

Municipal authorities that have introduced a property tax may choose to use the Tax Administration’s calculated market value for residential properties or their own calculation method as a basis for calculating property tax. If you’re in doubt as to how the property tax has been calculated, see the property tax notification you received from your municipal authority.

The calculated market value is either a value based on statistics provided by Statistics Norway (residential property value), or a documented market value (in cases where the property owner has requested a reduction of the property’s taxable value).

We use the term “housing company” collectively for housing cooperatives and limited liability housing companies. 

Liability of the housing company

As the owner of the property, the housing company is liable for the property tax and will receive a collective bill for the entire company.

The distribution of the costs among the unit holders depends on the housing cooperative/limited liability housing company’s regulations. Normally, the costs will be allocated according to the value of the various housing units.

This is how you change the property tax basis

Changing the property tax basis must be done by appealing the respective administrative municipality’s valuation.

In case of questions in connection with a reduction in and/or the waiving of property tax, you must contact your municipality.

Any change of basis must take place via the Tax Administration and can be done in two ways:

  1. The individual unit holder can change the property information in their tax return. In order to change the basis for property tax levied in 2024, the tax return for 2022 must be changed. 
    In order to change the basis for property tax levied in 2023, the tax return for 2021 must be changed. 

  2. The housing company can send an appeal to the Tax Administration.
    The housing company has the right to appeal the tax assessment of an individual unit holder where it affects the property tax.

    On the Brønnøysund Register Centre’s website, brreg.no, you can see who may sign an appeal or authorise power of attorney for someone to appeal on behalf of the housing company. Normally it is the board, the business manager or an attorney who sends an appeal on behalf of a housing cooperative/limited liability housing company, but an individual unit holder who has been given power of attorney can appeal on behalf of the board.
    The housing company must submit a written appeal to the Tax Administration. This appeal can be sent online, but there is no specific form available for this type of appeal.

Two reasons why the residential property value calculated by the Tax Administration can be too high

The calculated market value for a residential property based on statistics from Statistics Norway (residential property value) can be too high if:

The property tax levied in 2024 is based on information in the unit holders’ tax returns for the 2022 income year.

If the housing information in the unit holders’ tax returns (primary area (living area), construction year or type of property) is incorrect, this can affect the property tax basis.

The property tax levied in 2024 is based on information in the unit holders’ tax returns for the 2022 income year. If the taxable value is too high, a lower market value than the calculated market value must be documented. The documented market value must include any share of joint debt.

The property tax levied in 2023 is based on information in the unit holders’ tax returns for the 2021 income year.

The following applies to property tax levied in 2022:

Primary dwelling

Any residential property owned and lived in by the unit holder at the end 2020 must not have a taxable value of more than 30 percent of the documented market value.

For the 2020 income year, the housing unit has a calculated market value of NOK 4,000,000 and a taxable value of NOK 1,000,000.

In 2021, this housing unit is sold for NOK 3,000,000 (NOK 2,500,000 + shared housing company debt of NOK 500,000).

At a purchase price of NOK 3,000,000, 30 percent of the documented market value amounts to NOK 900,000.

As NOK 900,000 is lower than the taxable value of NOK 1,000,000, you’re entitled to a reduction of the property tax basis to the purchase price of NOK 3,000,000.   

For the 2020 income year, the housing unit has a calculated market value of NOK 4,000,000 and a taxable value of 1,000,000.

In 2021, this housing unit is sold for NOK 3,500,000 (NOK 3,000,000 + shared housing company debt of NOK 500,000).

At a purchase price of NOK 3,500,000, 30 percent of the documented market value amounts to NOK 1,050,000.

As NOK 1,050,000 is higher than the taxable value of NOK 1,000,000, you’re not entitled to a reduction of the property tax basis.

Secondary dwelling

The taxable value of a residential property owned by, but not lived in by the unit holder at the end of the income year (secondary dwelling), must not exceed 90 percent of the property’s documented sales value.

The taxable value of a residential property owned by, but not lived in by the unit holder at the end of the income year (secondary dwelling), must not exceed the property’s documented sales value.

The calculated market value for the housing unit in the 2020 income year is NOK 4,000,000 and the taxable value is NOK 3,600,000.

In 2021, this housing unit is sold for NOK 3,500,000 (NOK 3,000,000 + shared housing company debt of NOK 500,000).

As the purchase price of NOK 3,500,000 is lower than the taxable value of NOK 3,600,000, you’re entitled to a reduction of the property tax basis to the purchase price of NOK 3,500,000. 

The calculated market value for the housing unit in the 2020 income year is NOK 4,000,000 and the taxable value is NOK 3,600,000.

In 2021, this housing unit is sold for NOK 3,700,000 (NOK 3,200,000 + shared housing company debt of NOK 500,000).

As the purchase price of NOK 3,700,000 is higher than the taxable value of NOK 3,600,000, you’re not entitled to a reduction of the property tax basis. 

 

Basis for property tax in 2023

From and including the 2021 income year, it will suffice to document a lower market value than the calculated market value to get a reduction in the taxable value.

Appeal

An appeal from the housing company must be substantiated.

  • The year(s) the appeal concerns and the date on which the housing company received the property tax notification.
  • Confirmation of the housing units for which the property tax basis is too high.
  • If the housing company believes that the property tax basis is based on incorrect housing information (primary area (living area), construction year or type of property), they must show the correct housing information for the individual housing units. 
  • If the housing company considers the property tax basis too high compared to the actual market value, they must document the market value for the individual housing units.
    • This can be documented by valuations/value estimates, the sales price for individual housing units or the sales price for a similar residential property in the same area.
      The sales price must include the housing unit’s share of the shared housing company debt at the time of the sale.
      If the housing company refers to the sales price for a similar residential property in the same area, they must document that the buildings are comparable with regards to primary area (living area), construction year and type of property. In addition, the property standard/condition and other aspects affecting the market value must be similar.

If the housing company’s appeal is fully or partly upheld, the Tax Administration will notify the unit holders in question of the changes this leads to in their tax assessments.