Norwegian Taxes

[JimmyL]

Hi Guys

Im new to the site so be gentle…. I have always worked with the usually big name companies in the ROV game, but I have just jumped ship and started going freelance.

I seem to be getting lots of offers to go to Norway but I am worried about taxes. I have worked in Norway before but all extra taxes were covered by my company. I have been told an uplift is added to the day rate to cover this but does anyone know what % that is or does it vary?? Any help would be appreciated.

Cheers
Jim

[James McLauchlan]

Hi Jim

I would have said carry out a search because this topic has been covered often. I tried that and the search option appears to not be working. This was pointed out some time back and I thought we’d sorted it.

To save the same old subject being re-discussed (is there such a word) have a manual search through some of the Forums… you’ll find what you need I’m sure.

[K2]

JimmyL

As with UK taxes, Norwegian taxes are a grey area. I found some info on the Net stating types of vessels that are taxable and that the tax is 30%. If you work over 130-ish days in Norwegian waters you can claim back a portion of the taxes paid. Most agencies offer a 10% uplift which doesn’t add up. Best thing is to steer clear unless you get something definitive in writing saying your agencies client will cover the full amount of tax.

There appears to be plenty of work out there though so if you do go and if you do find out some good info/ websites etc then let us all know.

Cheers

😉

[Ray Shields]

Norwegian tax is not as straight forward as Uk tax (i.e. you pay 20% on this much and 40% on that much) as it uses a sliding scale and it changes depending on how many days you work.

Their tax year runs Jan-Dec, you can claim a 15% deduction for being a foreigner, you can claim a tax free allowance for every month you work there (first £300 is tax free or some such), and if you do more than 130 days a year onboard vessels that are registered to work in Norway (note this is REGISTERED to work, you dont actually have to do the 130 days in Norwegian sector).

If you work onboard a ship in Norway you do not have to pay tax if the work is NOT oil or gas related (most people dont pay the tax when the vessel is in transit, tied up alongside not working or working on telecoms or some other non oil or gas related work)

A few years back I did the majority of my year in Norway, it worked out at 28% tax. As I said, the scale changes depending on what you earn, how many days you do etc. the more you do the lower the% becomes.

Of course, if you are paying tax to Norway, you are not paying teh tax to the UK therefore if you get all your tax back in the UK from Seafarers Foreign Earnings Deduction you wont be able to use that to claim back your Norwegian tax ( FED is ony for your Uk earnings)

Sometimes its easier to be an employee of a big company 😀

[Steve]

This is how I work it with my agent….

When working in Norway, you only pay Norwegian tax when the vessel is on location and working. So keep a note of transit start/end dates & times, alongside dates & times, and pass these onto the payroll people at the agency. Norwegian tax isn’t paid for these periods. I used to work for one of the big companies, and they just took Norwegian tax off from the moment you entered Norway to the moment you left. Only to make their own life easier so they could slope off early for free company drinkies every Friday!

UK tax, not Norwegian, is also paid if you are working on the beach in Norway. Doing base work for instance. But be aware that you can’t claim this bit of UK tax back under SED in the UK as it wasn’t earned onboard a vessel, or was incidental to your work on a vessel. You can still use the days out of UK toward your total though.

As Ray said, Norwegian (and Danish) tax year is a calendar year. You’ll get a tax return from Norway (not the easiest document to get your head around, by the way!) around February time following the year you worked over there. So you fill in the spaces and send it off. Then around mid-October, you will receive a statement of account showing if they owe you anything. If they do, that will follow about a month later. Rough guide is that you’ll get back about a third of what you have paid. Not as good as 100%, but better that a poke in the whatsits with a sharp thingy!

If your agents’ payroll people are nice, like mine are (lovely boys and girls)!!, you can post the Norwegian return to them and they’ll do the biz for you with it.

Hope this makes sense!

[Author]

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