NORWAY Law and Practice Contributed by: Thea Slethaug, Axel Bjørke, Sigbjørn Sørensen and Jarand Aarhus, Aider Legal
4. OECD/G20 Global Tax Reform 4.1 Pillar One – Amount B Norway has not enacted domestic legislation imple - menting Amount B. Norway’s general transfer pricing framework continues to be based on the arm’s length principle under the Tax Act and the OECD Transfer Pricing Guidelines. However, Norway has commit - ted to accept the use of Amount B by “covered juris - dictions”, as defined in the OECD’s “Statement on the definition of covered jurisdiction for the Inclusive Framework political commitment on Amount B”. 4.2 Pillar One – Amount A No domestic legislation has been enacted implement - ing Amount A. Norwegian authorities have not sig - nalled a unilateral implementation timetable. 4.3 Pillar Two Norway has implemented the Pillar Two global mini - mum tax through the Act on Supplementary Tax of 2024 ( Lov om suppleringsskatt ), effective for financial years beginning on or after 1 January 2024. The rules introduced the Income Inclusion Rule and a Qualified Domestic Minimum Top-Up Tax for groups with consolidated revenue of at least EUR750 million. The Undertaxed Profits Rule applied from 1 January 2025. 4.4 Specific Features or Deviations of Pillar Two The Norwegian rules largely follow the OECD Pillar Two Model Rules. The preparatory works for the Act on Supplementary Tax emphasised that the regime is intended to align closely with the OECD framework, and no significant deviations have since been introduced. 4.5 Digital Services Tax Norway has not introduced a specific digital services tax. Instead, digital services are subject to the general tax framework, including corporate income tax and VAT.
5. Anti-Avoidance and Anti-Evasion Measures 5.1 Definition and Identification of Tax Fraud, Evasion, Tax Avoidance and Abusive Schemes Tax Fraud and Evasion Norwegian law does not always draw sharp distinc - tions between tax fraud and evasion, but the key con - cepts are: • Tax fraud (skattesvik/skatteunndragelse): Intention - ally providing false or incomplete information to the tax authorities with the purpose of reducing tax liability. This is a criminal offence under the Tax Administration Act and the Penal Code. • Tax evasion: Broadly overlaps with tax fraud in Norwegian law; it covers the deliberate conceal - ment of income, assets or transactions from the Tax avoidance refers to arranging one’s affairs in a manner that is technically within the law but circum - vents the purpose of the legislation. Norwegian law addresses this through a statutory general anti-avoid - ance rule (GAAR) ( omgåelsesnormen / gjennomskjærin gsregelen ), now codified in Section 13-2 of the Tax Act (effective from 2020). Identifying Abusive Schemes The GAAR applies when: • the primary purpose of a transaction is to obtain a tax benefit; and • granting the tax benefit would be contrary to the purpose of the relevant tax rule. Courts also look at the substance of transactions, the commercial rationale and whether the structure is artificial. 5.2 Anti-Avoidance Mechanisms Norway employs a range of specific anti-avoidance measures: • GAAR: Codified in Section 13-2 of the Tax Act, applicable across all transactions. tax authorities. Tax Avoidance
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