Norway · Tax regime
Norwegian Wealth Tax (Formuesskatt)
In force. 2026 figures: threshold NOK 1,900,000 (NOK 3,800,000 married), 1.0% to NOK 21.5m, 1.1% above. New for 2026: payment may be deferred up to 3 years where the tax exceeds NOK 30,000, with interest.
The Norwegian exodus is the single best-documented natural experiment in wealth taxation anywhere. The causal mechanism is more specific than the headlines suggest. It was not the rate. It was the removal of the working-capital valuation discount. Shares moved from 65% to 80% to effectively 100% of market value, combined with a 37.84% dividend tax. Founders had to take taxable dividends simply to pay the wealth tax on illiquid shares in their own companies. They were taxed twice for the privilege. That is what moved people, and it is the mechanism to watch for in any wealth tax proposal anywhere.
Qualifying routes
1.0% total (0.35% municipal plus 0.65% state) between NOK 1.9m and NOK 21.5m
1.1% total (0.35% municipal plus 0.75% state) above NOK 21.5m
The facts
- Minimum
- 1.9M NOK
- Total landed cost
- Roughly 1.1% a year on net wealth above NOK 21.5m, with shares valued at 80% of market. On NOK 1bn of shares, that works out to roughly NOK 8.8m a year, payable from income you may not actually have.
- Route type
- Tax regime, not a visa
- Physical presence
- Norwegian tax residence brings your worldwide net wealth into charge.
- Family
- Married couples get a doubled threshold of NOK 3,800,000
- Permanent residency
- Not applicable
- Citizenship
- Not applicable
- Language test
- Not applicable
- Dual citizenship
- Permitted
- Requirements
- Norwegian tax residence, with net wealth above the threshold
- The 2026 threshold is NOK 1,900,000, not NOK 1.76m (that was 2025), and the upper band starts at NOK 21.5m, not NOK 20m. These figures move every year.
- The 20% valuation discount on shares, equity certificates, equity funds and ASK applies for 2025 and 2026. Its history, though, is one of steady erosion, and it is the variable that drove the exodus.
- The tax falls on unrealised value. An illiquid founder ends up paying cash against paper wealth, which is why the dividend interaction hits so hard.
- New for 2026: you can defer payment for up to 3 years where the tax exceeds NOK 30,000, with interest added. That eases the timing. It does not reduce the liability.
- The official municipal and state split is 0.35%/0.65%, not the commonly cited 0.7%/0.3%. The 1.0% total stays the same either way, but it is worth checking where any figure you see comes from.
- Leaving triggers the exit tax, with its 12-year hard stop. Norway is expensive to hold and expensive to leave.