From 2017, all VAT-registered enterprises must report import VAT to the Norwegian Tax Administration instead of to Norwegian Customs. You can find information about what this means for businesses that are registered in the VAT register here.
| Note: An update of this article is pending. Please note that some terms and/or references may differ from the Movement of Goods Act and the Customs Duty Act that enters into force from the 1st of January 2023. |
Declaring of goods
Goods must still be reported, presented, and declared to the customs authorities as they are today. However, VAT-registered businesses must no longer declare VAT at the point of import.
This means that import VAT has been removed from the customs declaration. Box 47 on the customs declaration should no longer show the calculation of import VAT for VAT-registered businesses. TVINN automatically checks whether the business is VAT registered. Any customs declarations for VAT-registered businesses that contain a VAT basis or VAT will be rejected.
Import VAT must be determined in the same way as for domestic VAT.
How to find the VAT basis
Businesses must ensure that they obtain the necessary information and documentation on, for example, the VAT basis in order to calculate the tax due to the Norwegian Tax Administration on the VAT report. From 2017, the VAT basis and VAT will no longer form part of the customs declaration for VAT-registered businesses.
Generally, the VAT basis will correspond to the statistical value (column 46 in the customs declaration) plus any customs duty and tax.
There are exceptions. These exceptions are:
- When re-importing goods after processing abroad, such as raw material processing
- When importing works of art, collectibles, and antiquities
- When importing dental products
- When re-importing following repair/free repair
Get an overview of the customs declarations
Norwegian Customs offers a customs declaration overview as service in Altinn. The purpose of the solution is to offer all enterprises registered in the Central Co-ordinating Register for Legal Entities an overview of their own customs declarations.
All enterprises that have declared goods to the Norwegian Customs will receive a monthly overview of all customs declarations pertaining to their own organisation. One overview per customer number will be prepared. TVINN is the source of the information in the overview. The customs declaration overview will be made available on the first working day following the end of the previous month. When a new overview becomes available in Altinn, the organisation will be notified by Altinn by e-mail.
The first customs declaration overview was made available in February 2017. The overview contains customs declarations from January 2017.
Correcting errors in the customs declaration
If you discover errors in the customs declaration, you must go ahead and report this to Norwegian Customs. If the error relates to too little VAT paid on a customs declaration from 2016 or earlier, the VAT amount in box 47 must be corrected.
The tax return for the period the customs declaration relates to must also be corrected. This applies to cases such as “wrong customer”, double declarations, and other errors.
The electronic recalculation scheme will continue – i.e. applications to amend customs declarations can be made by submitting an electronic recalculation (a proposal for an amendment declaration) in TVINN.
Amendments to VAT should be made in the new VAT report that is to be submitted to the Norwegian Tax Administration (applies to customs declarations from 2017 onwards).
Appeals
If you wish to appeal a customs clearance, incorrect basis (box 1-46), total amount, or research levy, you must lodge an appeal with the customs region.
Appeals regarding VAT must be submitted to the Norwegian Tax Administration.
If you wish to appeal in both regards (e.g. the classification of the goods under box 33 and VAT), you must lodge an appeal with the customs and an appeal with the tax office.