Tax statistics for companies

Companies

Companies are taxpayers that have received a tax assessment.

Tax assessment

There are three tax assessments: mainland, Svalbard and petroleum tax assessment. If a company has two tax affairs, it will receive two tax assessments. This applies to companies with tax affairs both on the mainland and on Svalbard, and for petroleum companies that have both mainland and petroleum tax assessments.

Petroleum companies

Petroleum companies are companies that participate in the exploration for and extraction of subsea petroleum deposits on the Norwegian continental shelf. These companies are taxed according to the Petroleum Taxation Act.

A petroleum company consists of an onshore district and a shelf district which has mainland and petroleum tax assessment, respectively. In this statistics, the shelf district part of a company will be referred to as a petroleum company, whereas the onshore district is included in companies subject to ordinary taxation.

Hydropower companies

Hydropower companies are companies taxed by the special tax rules for power companies in accordance with sections 18-2 to 18-8 of the Taxation Act.

Aquaculture companies

Aquaculture companies are companies granted aquaculture licences that can be subject to ground rent tax in accordance with chapter 19 of the Taxation Act.

Shipping companies

Shipping companies are companies taxed by the special rules set out in sections 8-10 to 8-20 of the Taxation Act. The special tax scheme is optional for qualifying companies, and those who do not enter the scheme are taxed in accordance with ordinary taxation rules.

Financial companies

Financial companies are companies liable to either financial activity tax on salary according to section 23-2a of the National Insurance Act, or have financial activity tax on surpluses, or both.

Limited companies subject to ordinary taxation

Limited companies subject to ordinary taxation, are companies taxed by ordinary taxation rules in accordance with the Taxation Act. Shipping companies and financial companies taxed by ordinary taxation rules in accordance with the Taxation Act are included, as are companies subject to the Svalbard Taxation Act. A petroleum company consists of an onshore district and a shelf district which has mainland and petroleum tax assessment, respectively. The onshore district of a company is included in companies subject to ordinary taxation, whereas the shelf district is taxed according to the Petroleum Taxation Act.

Net wealth

Net wealth is positive wealth after tax deductions, forms the basis of calculating taxable wealth.

Ordinary income

Ordinary income is taxable income less tax deductions and consists of positive and negative ordinary income. Profits or positive ordinary income forms the basis of calculating assessed income tax, see positive ordinary income.

Positive ordinary income

Companies pay tax on profits, positive ordinary income, and forms the basis of calculating assessed income tax.

Positive ordinary income for shipping companies:

Shipping companies are exempt from tax on ordinary income. However, the ordinary income is taxed through the distribution of dividends to shareholders. In addition, positive net financial income and other taxable income are subject to tax.

Special tax base

Special tax base forms the basis of calculating special tax, ground rent tax, for petroleum companies, see section 5 of the Petroleum Taxation Act.

Ground rent income for aquaculture companies

Ground rent income for aquaculture companies forms the basis of calculating ground rent tax, see chapter 19 of the Taxation Act.

Ground rent income for hydropower companies

Ground rent income for hydropower companies forms the basis of calculating ground rent tax, see section 18-3 of the Taxation Act.

Resource rent tax base

Resource rent tax base forms the basis of calculating resource rent tax, see section 18-2 of the Taxation Act.

Income tax

Income tax is assessed to the state calculated on the basis of positive ordinary income and tax rate decided by the Norwegian Parliament (Stortinget). All companies are subject to income tax.

Income tax continental shelf

Income tax continental shelf is calculated on the basis of positive ordinary income from petroleum companies, and tax rate decided by the Norwegian Parliament (Stortinget).

Financial activity tax on surplus

Income tax for financial companies is calculated on the basis of positive ordinary income. The tax rate is decided by the Norwegian Parliament (Stortinget) and is added to the tax rate for ordinary income tax.

Financial activity tax on salary

Financial companies are liable to financial activity tax assessed on the basis of the enterprise's total salary expenses and the tax rate decided by the Norwegian Parliament (Stortinget).

Tonnage tax

Tonnage tax at a tax rate decided by the Norwegian Parliament (Stortinget), applies to shipping companies according to section 8-16 of the Taxation Act.

Ground rent tax

Ground rent tax is paid on the extra profits a company can make from exploiting a common natural resource that belongs to the common good.

Special tax

Special tax is a ground rent tax liable to petroleum companies calculated on the basis of special tax base and the tax rate decided by the Norwegian Parliament (Stortinget), see section 5 of the Petroleum Taxation Act.

Ground rent tax for aquaculture companies

Ground rent tax for aquaculture companies is calculated on the basis of ground rent income and the tax rate decided by the Norwegian Parliament (Stortinget), see chapter 19 of the Taxation Act. Ground rent tax is deducted from the production tax determined in accordance with the Excise Tax Act.

Ground rent tax for hydropower companies

Ground rent tax for hydropower companies is calculated on the basis of ground rent income and the tax rate decided by the Norwegian Parliament (Stortinget), see section 18-3 of the Taxation Act.

Resource rent tax

Resource rent tax for hydropower companies is calculated on the basis of ground rent income for resource rent tax and it is assessed by municipalities and counties, see section 18-2 of the Taxation Act.

Wealth tax

Wealth tax is assessed to the state on the basis of taxable wealth and tax rate decided by the Norwegian Parliament (Stortinget). Certain groups of companies are exempt from wealth tax in accordance with section 2-36 part 1 of the Taxation Act.

Tax before deductions

Tax before deductions is the sum of tax before deductions to calculate the total assessed tax.

Total tax deduction

Total tax deduction is the sum of all tax deductions to calculate the total assessed tax.

Paid tax value of special tax of deficit for the current year

As a result of the shift of special tax into a cash flow tax, companies will receive payment of the special tax value of deficit with the tax assessment.

Deduction for tax paid abroad

Deduction for tax paid abroad is a tax deduction that can be claimed, according to the rules in sections 16-20 and 16-30 of the Taxation Act.

Tax deduction for research and development expenses

A deduction for expenses on research and development projects according to section 16-40 of the Taxation Act. If the calculated deduction exceeds the total assessed tax, the excess shall be paid to the company.

Tax deduction for resource rent tax

Companies may claim tax deduction for tax on natural resources from the income tax assessed by the Norwegian Tax Administration. If the tax on natural resources exceeds the income tax for the income year, the excess may be carried forward as a tax deduction in later years.

Total assessed tax

Total assessed tax to the state is tax before deductions less total tax deduction.

Negative total assessed tax

A company has a negative total assessed tax if the total deduction exceeds tax before deductions. This means that the company will receive a tax return.

Number of limited companies

The number of limited companies are the total number of limited companies included in a table.

Number of taxpayers

The number of taxpayers are companies that have tax before deductions, which is included in a table.

Number of taxpayers with net wealth

The number of taxpayers with net wealth are companies that have a positive amount in wealth tax, which is included in a table.

The industrial classification is based on the EU-standard of NACE Rev. 2.

A company with businesses in several industries is assigned in its entirety to the industry in which the business contributes the most to its overall added value participates.