Norway · Tax regime
Norwegian Wealth Tax (Formuesskatt)
In force. 2026 figures: threshold NOK 1,900,000 (NOK 3,800,000 married), 1.0% to NOK 21.5m, 1.1% above. New for 2026: payment may be deferred up to 3 years where the tax exceeds NOK 30,000, with interest.
The Norwegian exodus is the single best-documented natural experiment in wealth taxation anywhere, and the causal mechanism is more specific than the headlines suggest. It was not the rate. It was the removal of the working-capital valuation discount — shares moved from 65% to 80% to effectively 100% of market value — combined with a 37.84% dividend tax. Founders had to take taxable dividends simply to pay the wealth tax on illiquid shares in their own companies, and were taxed twice for the privilege. That is what moved people, and it is the mechanism to watch for in any wealth tax proposal anywhere.
Qualifying routes
1.0% total (0.35% municipal + 0.65% state) between NOK 1.9m and NOK 21.5m
1.1% total (0.35% municipal + 0.75% state) above NOK 21.5m
The facts
- Qualifying figure
- 1.9M NOK
- Total landed cost
- Roughly 1.1% a year on net wealth above NOK 21.5m, with shares valued at 80% of market. On NOK 1bn of shares that is roughly NOK 8.8m a year, payable from income you may not have.
- Physical presence
- Norwegian tax residence brings worldwide net wealth into charge
- Family
- married couples get a doubled threshold of NOK 3,800,000
- Permanent residency
- n/a
- Citizenship
- n/a
- Language test
- n/a
- Dual citizenship
- Permitted
- Requirements
- Norwegian tax residence and net wealth above the threshold
- The 2026 threshold is NOK 1,900,000, not NOK 1.76m (that was 2025), and the upper band starts at NOK 21.5m, not NOK 20m. Figures move annually.
- The 20% valuation discount on shares, equity certificates, equity funds and ASK applies for 2025 and 2026 — but its history is one of steady erosion, and it is the variable that drove the exodus.
- The tax is on unrealised value. An illiquid founder pays cash on paper wealth, which is why the dividend interaction is so punishing.
- New for 2026: deferral of up to 3 years where the tax exceeds NOK 30,000, with interest. It relieves the timing, not the liability.
- The official municipal/state split (0.35%/0.65%) differs from the commonly cited 0.7%/0.3% — the 1.0% total is unchanged, but check the source of any figure.
- Leaving triggers the exit tax with its 12-year hard stop. Norway is expensive to hold and expensive to leave.