Reporting obligations for Norwegian registered foreign businesses
Last updated: 9 August 2024.
Norwegian registered foreign businesses (NUF) that operate or participate in activities in Norway or on the Norwegian continental shelf, and are subject to Norwegian taxation in accordance with internal Norwegian legislation, have a duty to account.
An NUF conducting business activities in Norway has the right and the obligation to register in The Register of Business Enterprises. The Register of Company Accounts assumes that an NUF registered in the Register of Business Enterprises has a duty to account, and is obliged to submit annual accounts to the Register of Company Accounts.
NUF with accounting obligation must submit
- profit and loss accounts
- balance sheet
- note disclosure
- annual report (does not apply to small businesses)
- auditor’s report (if the business has an auditing obligation)
- statement of cash flows (does not apply to small businesses)
The submission obligation applies until the business is struck off from the Register of Business Enterprises. You can read more about closing a foreign business here.
Which annual accounts do I submit?
You must submit the annual accounts for the Norwegian branch. If the foreign main business has an accounting obligation in its country of origin, you have to submit the foreign annual accounts as well. If so, you must enter the accounting figures for the foreign main business in the attachment form, and add the Norwegian branch accounts as file attachments.
The registered contact person has access to submit the annual accounts in Altinn.
NUF does not have an accounting obligation if the business in the accounting year
- has had no business activity
- has no tax obligations according to Norwegian internal law
- operates temporarily in Norway, and has in addition had a turnover of less than NOK 5 million
Exemption from tax obligations due to tax agreement is not the same as an exemption from tax liability based on Norwegian internal law.
If an NUF, which is registered in the Register of Business Enterprises, does not have an accounting obligation, you have to send a written justification for each accounting year to the Register of Company Accounts through the contact form.
Norwegian registered foreign businesses (NUF) which have an accounting obligation according to the Accounting Act (1), must submit one copy of the annual accounts, any annual report, and any auditor’s report of the business to which the branch belongs, as these accounting documents have been drawn up, audited and published in accordance with the legislation in the country of origin.
Complete annual accounts must be submitted at the same time as being published in accordance with the legislation in the country of origin. Upon the submission, it must be stated when the annual accounts have been settled, and when they are going to be made public based on native legislation. The documents must be drawn up in Norwegian, Danish, Swedish or English(2).
Enterprises legally bound to maintain accounting records must draw up annual accounts and annual report according to the provisions in the Accounting Act (3). As a rule, for Norwegian registered foreign businesses, the accounting obligations entail that, in addition to accounting documents that have been drawn up, audited and published according to the native legislation, a separate branch account that meets the requirements of the Accounting Act, must be drawn up and sent exclusively of the business activity in Norway. The Accounting Act is based on principles. This implies that if the documents that have been drawn up, audited, and published in accordance with the legislation in the homeland of the NUF, apply exclusively to the activities of the Norwegian branch, and otherwise meet the requirements pursuant to Norwegian legislation, the submission of these documents will be sufficient to fully comply with the accounting and auditing duties of the NUF in Norway. This might be the case if the business as a whole only carries on business in Norway and the legislation in the country of origin allows the compilation of accounts that fully meet the requirements of the Norwegian Accounting Act. If so, notification about this must be added to the annual accounts. Businesses with activity in Norway and abroad will normally have to draw up separate accounts for the branch, irrespective of whether the accounts for the business as a whole are created pursuant to the Accounting Act.
In order for the main entity’s annual accounts to be created, audited and published following the legislation in the country of origin to meet the requirements of the Accounting Act, it must be stated in the notes of the annual accounts that it is created pursuant to the principles of the Accounting Act and Norwegian generally accepted accounting principles (4). For the auditor’s report in the annual accounts of the main company, based on auditing complying with legislation in the homeland, to meet the requirements of the Auditors Act, it has to meet the requirements of the Auditors Act, sections 9-7, including a separate statement from the auditor regarding
- the annual accounts being created and set pursuant to Norwegian law and regulations
- the business management having met its obligation pursuant to the Bookkeeping Act and regulations set according to the Bookkeeping Act to make sure that the registration and documentation of accounting information is done properly and in a tidy manner.
- the information in the annual report, the conditions for continued activity and suggestions for the use of profits or the covering of loss being in correspondence with Norwegian law and regulations, and that the information is consistent with the annual accounts (5).
For the submission of these documents to fully comply with the accounting and auditing obligations of the NUF in Norway, in such cases, the NUF must not, in addition, create and submit its own separate branch accounts, branch annual report and auditor’s report for the activity of the Norwegian branch. It is the agency which, pursuant to the regulations of the homeland, works out the annual accounts, and is responsible for making sure the documents comply with the requirements of Norwegian law and regulations. In addition, as mentioned above, businesses with auditing obligations will have to include in its auditor’s report a confirmation stating that the submitted documents meet the obligations pursuant to Norwegian law and regulations.
The Auditors Act does not in any way prevent any branch accounts being audited by the same auditor who performs the audit of the company accounts, provided that this auditor is allowed to do auditing in Norway. When auditing the accounts of the branch the auditor will have to carry out the work connected to auditing which is necessary in order to provide an auditors report meeting the requirements of the Auditors Act section 5-6. If the auditor through the work with auditing the company’s accounts pursuant to the legislation of the homeland can state with certainty the aspects required by the Auditors Act sections 9-7. If the auditor through the work with auditing the company’s annual accounts pursuant to the legislation of the homeland can state with certainty the aspects required by the Auditors Act sections 9-7, the auditor is not obliged to perform further auditing tasks as a part of the audit of the branch accounts.
1. Cf. the Accounting Act sections 1-2 first paragraph no. 13.
2. Cf. the Accounting Act sections 8-2 second paragraph.
3. Cf. the Accounting Act sections 3-1 first paragraph.
4. Cf. the Accounting Act sections 7-2.
5. Cf. the Auditors Act sections 9-7 second paragraph.