Inheritance tax (discontinued), 2008

Inheritance

The tax basis, i.e. taxable inheritance, in private administrations of estates. The tax basis will be previously received gifts (advance on inheritance) and the inheritance amount received in the distribution of the estate from the same person.

Gift

Taxable gift amount, or advance on inheritance. Tax-free gifts are not included in the statistics. The statistics basis, however, includes information on both taxable and tax-free gifts. The reason that gifts below the tax-free amount are being registered, is because they are included in the tax basis together with a possible subsequent gift from the same donor. If the total amount of previously received gifts and subsequently received gifts exceed the tax-free amount, tax is assessed.

Recipient

Recipient of inheritance or gift amount. One recipient may receive inheritance/gifts from several donors. Inheritance tax is connected to the aggregate amount received by one recipient from one donor.

Donor

Decedent or donor of gift.

Case

Each inheritance and gift report is assigned a case number when it is recorded by the tax collector. A case will be a distribution of an estate upon inheritance. In case of a gift it will basically be a gift transfer from a donor to a recipient, although this may vary (e.g. from one donor to two recipients).

Possession date

The date of which the recipient takes possession of the inheritance/gift. As a rule it is close to the date of death of the decedent in inheritance cases.

Decision date

The decision date is the date the tax collector takes a decision on taxes in the case. This usually takes from one half to one year after the possession date, but may also take longer in special cases.

Tax collector

There are 18 tax collectors in Norway, which follow the county divisions. Oslo and Akershus have a joint tax collector.

Section

Tax section. There are three tax sections that depend on the recipient's relationship to the donor. The tax rates are different:

§0 = Non-profit organizations and spouses. No tax.

§4 = Close relatives (parents and children ).

§5 = Others.

There is a tax-free amount and an amount distinguishing between low and high taxes. These are the same for recipients in §4 and §5, while the tax rate is different.

Tax rates

As of January 1st 2003 the tax rates for inheritance/gifts are:

To children/parents: To others

Of the first 250 000 kroner: - no tax - no tax

Of the next 300 000 kroner: - 8 per cent - 10 per cent

Of excess amount: - 20 per cent - 30 per cent

Private administrations of estates in which the tax basis is under the tax-free amount of 250 000 kroner (0 estate) and distributions of estates under public administration are not included in the statistics.

As of January 1st 1999 to 31.12.2002 the tax rates for inheritance/gifts were :

To children/parents: To others

Of the first 200 000 kroner: - no tax - no tax

Of the next 300 000 kroner: - 8 per cent - 10 per cent

Of excess amount: - 20 per cent - 30 per cent

Private administrations of estates in which the tax basis is under the tax-free amount of 200 000 kroner (0 estate) and distributions of estates under public administration are not included in the statistics.

Tax rates 1985 - 1998:

The tax-free amount was 100 000 kroner until January 1st 1999.

Exampel where the tax-free amount were NOK 200 000 (the period 1999 to 2002):

A person who inherits 199 000 kroner one year, will not be in the statistics, while someone who inherits 201 000 kroner will be listed with the entire amount. A precondition of the above example is that the persons have not inherited anything previously. A person who inherits 30 000 kroner will be in the statistics if he previously received more than 170 000 kroner in an advance on inheritance from the same person. Gifts from community of property and distribution from undivided estate to common heir will be counted as having one-half given by each of the spouses (i.e., a person can inherit 400 000 kroner, 200 000 kroner from each of the parents without being assessed inheritance taxes). Inheritance and gift cases in the text refer to the year possession in law takes effect (possession date), i.e., date of death of the decedent (the longest living decedent in an undivided decedent estate) or when the gift is given.