Norway tax rates 2026

Bracket tax is charged on gross pay, while the 22% falls on general income after the personal allowance and the minimum standard deduction. Employee national insurance of 7.6% comes on top, taking the top marginal rate on salary to 47.4%; residents of Finnmark and northern Troms pay 18.5% instead of 22%.

A person becomes tax resident in Norway after staying more than 183 days in any 12-month period, or more than 270 days in any 36-month period. Every day with any time spent in Norway counts, the days need not be consecutive, and the reason for the stay makes no difference. Residents declare all their income and wealth, in Norway and abroad, on the Norwegian tax return. Someone who spends 90 days a year in Norway for three years running stays below both limits.

Leaving ends residence only on strict terms. A person resident for under 10 years stops being resident once settled abroad permanently, with no more than 61 days in Norway that year and no home in Norway available to them or a related party. After 10 years or more, residence continues for the year of departure and at least three more years, and each of those years must pass the same 61-day and no-home tests. A holiday home, or a home owned for five years and not lived in, does not count against the leaver.

The income year is the calendar year, and tax is collected during the year through withholding from pay under the tax deduction card. The tax return arrives pre-filled with pay, bank balances, loans and interest reported by employers and banks. The deadline to correct and submit it is 30 April, an extension of one month is the most granted, and sole proprietors file by 31 May.

The Norwegian Tax Administration sends most assessment notices between April and June and all of them before 1 December. Underpaid tax of NOK 1,000 or more is split into two invoices, due on 20 August and 24 September when the notice arrives by June, or three and eight weeks after a later notice. Missing the first invoice makes the whole amount due at once, with interest.

Non-residents pay Norwegian tax only on Norwegian income, chiefly pay for work done in Norway, Norwegian property and dividends from Norwegian companies. Dividends paid to foreign shareholders carry 25% withholding tax, or the lower rate set by a tax treaty. For anyone resident for only part of the year, and for non-residents taxed on Norwegian pay, the bracket-tax thresholds shrink in proportion to the months concerned.

Foreign workers on short stays, and newcomers in their first year of residence, join the PAYE scheme automatically when they apply for a tax deduction card. The employer deducts a flat 25% that already includes national insurance, and there is no tax return and no assessment notice. The scheme covers pay below NOK 725,050 in 2026, and it cannot be combined with business income, Nav benefits or capital income above NOK 10,000.

Dividends and share gains are multiplied by 1.72 before the 22% rate is applied, which is how they reach 37.84%, and share losses are deductible at the same rate. A shielding deduction exempts a risk-free return on the cost of each share, set at 3.6% for 2025. Interest and other capital income are taxed at 22% with no allowance, and interest paid on loans is deducted at the same 22%.

A home sells tax-free after more than a year of ownership if the owner lived in it for at least one of the last two years. A holiday home needs more than five years of ownership and use in at least five of the last eight. Outside those rules the gain is taxed at 22% and a loss is deductible, both on the return for the year of sale.

Employees aged 17 to 69 pay national insurance on gross pay, the self-employed pay 10.8% on business income, and pensioners and workers under 17 or over 69 pay 5.1%. No contribution is due on income up to NOK 99,650, and above that it can never exceed 25% of the excess, which protects part-time and low earners.

Employers pay contributions on pay by zone: the full rate in zone I, then 10.6% in zone II, 6.4% in zone III, 5.1% in zone IV, 7.9% in zone IVa and nothing in zone V. Counting the employer's charge, the top effective marginal rate on salary reaches 53.9%, and on dividends, with company tax included, 51.5%.

National insurance fell by 0.1 point for 2026, to 7.6% on pay and 10.8% on business income, while the two top bracket-tax steps rose by 0.1 point to 16.8% and 17.8%, so the top marginal rate on salary is unchanged. The personal allowance and the cap on the minimum standard deduction were raised, and the PAYE ceiling moved up to NOK 725,050 from NOK 697,150.

Wealth tax keeps its combined 1.0% and 1.1% rates but shifts more of the take to the state. The municipal rate is 0.35% and the state rates are 0.65% and 0.75%, with the threshold at NOK 1,900,000 and the higher state rate starting at NOK 21,500,000. Married couples assessed jointly get double both amounts.