What is Norway's 'tax list' and what does it tell us?
Norway releases the tax information of its residents every year, meaning everyone's tax returns become open to see, whether they're a billionaire, a celebrity, or even the prime minister.
In a custom that might seem outlandish in other countries, Norway publishes the tax records of every individual in the country once annually.
The country has long published tax returns, and since 2001 the information has been available as an online database on the website of the Norwegian Tax Administration.
Around 1.7 trillion kroner in taxes in Norway were paid last year, according to figures from the Norwegian Tax Administration.
The figures mark the highest amount of tax ever paid in Norway. Just over 1 trillion kroner was paid in tax for the income year 2021.
An increase in the petroleum tax was behind the record figure. Around 883 billion kroner was paid to the Norwegian state in petroleum tax last year.
There were around 4.3 million wage earners, pensioners and self-employed people in Norway in 2022, and they paid 655 billion kroner in tax.
Gustav Witzøe is the wealthiest person in Norway according to this year’s tax lists. According to the tax lists, he had a fortune of 26.5 billion kroner in 2022.
What information is included on the list?
Information including name, year of birth and tax municipality can be seen on the open tax list, along with the net income, net fortune and the amount of tax paid.
It is not possible to hide one’s information from the tax list.
What doesn’t the list tell us?
Some factors can result in information being withheld from the list. These include if the information can reveal a confidential client relationship; and people whose addresses are legally unlisted on the public register (folkeregister).
Information on people with no fixed address; people under the age of 17 and deceased persons is also not included.
The tax list shows net incomes with all tax deductions taken into account. People who have large outstanding loans can appear to have a lower income on the tax list than their actual gross income would predict, if this was visible.
Other deductions which are applied to the income information are the minimum deduction (minstefradrag), which is designed to cover standard expenses connected to employment; deductions for families; and deductions for losses made from sales of property or shares.
READ ALSO:
- Five things foreigners should know about income tax in Norway
- How does income tax in Norway compare to the rest of the Nordics?
As such, it is possible to have a high actual income, but for the tax list to show a lower income.
Similarly, the figures given for personal fortunes may not be completely accurate, because a home, for example, may be given a lower value for tax purposes than its real value. As such, someone who owns an expensive home may be worth more than their ‘personal fortune’ on the tax list.
The numbers are based on preliminary tax figures from the Norwegian Tax Administration. If someone has a large debt, this will be deducted from their net fortune.
How can you search for people's incomes in Norway?
If you are a Norwegian resident, you can search the tax lists here, simply by logging on with your national MinID or BankID code.
Browsing the tax lists is no longer anonymous and residents are notified when somebody searches for their information in the tax lists. This has reduced the number of searches from 16.5 million in 2012 to 1.3 million in 2022.
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In a custom that might seem outlandish in other countries, Norway publishes the tax records of every individual in the country once annually.
The country has long published tax returns, and since 2001 the information has been available as an online database on the website of the Norwegian Tax Administration.
Around 1.7 trillion kroner in taxes in Norway were paid last year, according to figures from the Norwegian Tax Administration.
The figures mark the highest amount of tax ever paid in Norway. Just over 1 trillion kroner was paid in tax for the income year 2021.
An increase in the petroleum tax was behind the record figure. Around 883 billion kroner was paid to the Norwegian state in petroleum tax last year.
There were around 4.3 million wage earners, pensioners and self-employed people in Norway in 2022, and they paid 655 billion kroner in tax.
Gustav Witzøe is the wealthiest person in Norway according to this year’s tax lists. According to the tax lists, he had a fortune of 26.5 billion kroner in 2022.
What information is included on the list?
Information including name, year of birth and tax municipality can be seen on the open tax list, along with the net income, net fortune and the amount of tax paid.
It is not possible to hide one’s information from the tax list.
What doesn’t the list tell us?
Some factors can result in information being withheld from the list. These include if the information can reveal a confidential client relationship; and people whose addresses are legally unlisted on the public register (folkeregister).
Information on people with no fixed address; people under the age of 17 and deceased persons is also not included.
The tax list shows net incomes with all tax deductions taken into account. People who have large outstanding loans can appear to have a lower income on the tax list than their actual gross income would predict, if this was visible.
Other deductions which are applied to the income information are the minimum deduction (minstefradrag), which is designed to cover standard expenses connected to employment; deductions for families; and deductions for losses made from sales of property or shares.
READ ALSO:
- Five things foreigners should know about income tax in Norway
- How does income tax in Norway compare to the rest of the Nordics?
As such, it is possible to have a high actual income, but for the tax list to show a lower income.
Similarly, the figures given for personal fortunes may not be completely accurate, because a home, for example, may be given a lower value for tax purposes than its real value. As such, someone who owns an expensive home may be worth more than their ‘personal fortune’ on the tax list.
The numbers are based on preliminary tax figures from the Norwegian Tax Administration. If someone has a large debt, this will be deducted from their net fortune.
How can you search for people's incomes in Norway?
If you are a Norwegian resident, you can search the tax lists here, simply by logging on with your national MinID or BankID code.
Browsing the tax lists is no longer anonymous and residents are notified when somebody searches for their information in the tax lists. This has reduced the number of searches from 16.5 million in 2012 to 1.3 million in 2022.
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