About the statistics

1. Administrative information

1.1. Name

Inheritance tax survey

1.2. Subject group

05.01

1.3. Frequency and timeliness

The inheritance tax survey is ordered by the Ministry of Finance.

1.4. Regional level

National level

1.5. Responsible division

225 - Division for Income and Wage Statistics

1.6. Legal authority

Not relevant.

1.7. Legal document(EU)

None

1.8. International reporting

None

2. Background and purpose

2.1. Purpose and history

Statistics Norway has published Inheritance Tax Statistics annually since 1995, which provide information about taxable inheritance and gifts as well as assessed taxes, preferably at the recipient level.

The purpose of Inheritance tax survey is to illuminate the composition of estates in inheritance and gifts. The survey provides information about both taxable and tax-free inheritance and gifts, inherited properties,and more detailed information about recipient groups.

The previous Inheritance tax survey was publised in 2000 based on decision date of 1998, while the survey published in 2008 is based on possession date of 2005.

2.2. Users and applications

The main user is the Ministry of Finance.

3. Statistics production

3.1. Population

Population in the Inheritance tax survey based on decision date of 1998 was defined as all cases in private and public administration.

However, for the survey based on possession date of 2005 the population is establised as cases in private administration that are registered in Country Tax Collector's inheritance tax system and where the values of cases are more than NOK 100 000. Gift cases that only contain cashes under 1 million NOK are not included in the Inheritance tax survey for 2005.

3.2. Data sources

The survey data is collected from the tax collectors. In 2000 the survey forms were also sent to selected Probate Courts.

3.3. Sampling

Representative samples are extracted from the Country Tax Collector's inheritance tax system, where the proportion of inheritance and gift cases is about 3:1. It were drawn representative samples of 900 cases for 1998 and 1500 cases for 2005.

3.4. Collection of data

Statistics Norway collects survey data from the tax collectors by questionnaire. For the survey of 2005 the basic information on samples' case number selected from the Inheritance tax system was pre-printed on survey forms.

3.5. Control and revision

Logical machine controls have been established for adding mistakes, scaning errors and discontinuity.

3.6. Estimation

Stratification, sampling and weighting of statistics are described in respective documentation notes.

3.7. Confidentiality

Not relevant.

4. Concepts, variables and classifications

4.1. Definitions of the main concepts and variables

Gross property
Gross property includes the value of property in inheritance or gift case.

Tax deduction
Tax deduction is given in gross property for debt, cost tired to funeral and accomplishment of settlement.

Net property
Net property is gross property minus tax deduction.

Inheritance tax basis
Inheritance tax basis is the amount of net property that is received by recipient in the distribution of the estate from the same donor. For some recipients, for exsample under age 21, are often given a tax deduction in the inheritance tax basis, in such a way that the inheritance tax basis is unequal to the net property.

Case
Each inheritance and gift report is assigned a case number when it is recorded by the tax collector. 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 in inheritance cases.

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

4.2. Standard classifications

Not relevant.

5. Sources of error and uncertainty

5.1. Measurement and processing errors

Possible errors may occur during filling out forms by the respondent, as well as when recording the data in the inheritance tax system.

Since all survey forms need to be read optically, errors due to data processing at Statistics Norway are also potential.

5.2 Non-response errors

Non-response errors are either due to unit non-response or partial non-response. There is no non-response error in our survey. All survey forms are returned. Some partial non-response errors occured due to questions with lacking information in the inheritance tax system. All these errors are examinted in manual checks.

5.3. Sampling errors

Sample skewness may arise when the distribution of some variables in different parts of the sample is not the same as the corresponding distribution in the total population.

5.4. Other sources of error

None

6. Comparability and coherence

6.1. Comparability over time and space

The Inheritance tax survey published in 2000 was based on decision date of 1998, while in 2008 it is based on possession date of 2005.

6.2. Coherence with other statistics

The inhertance tax statistics is here. http://www.ssb.no/arv_en/

7. Availability

7.1. Publications and other links

Pedersen S.I. og L. Solheim (2002): Arveavgiftsundersøkelsen 1998, Notater 2002/58, Statistisk sentralbyrå.

Thoresen, T.O., D. Fredriksen og S.I. Pedersen (2001): Skatt på overføringer mellom generasjoner. En diskusjon av arveavgiften, Rapporter 2001/32, Statistisk sentralbyrå.

Bidrag til NOU 2000:8, Arveavgift

Erik Breivik (1998) "Arveavgiftsstatistikken - Dokumentasjon" (Notater 98/74)

Siv Irene Pedersen og Lena Wiker (2002) "Dokumentasjon av arveavgiftsstatistikken 1997-2000" (Notater 2002/79).

7.2. Microdata

Raw data and statistics files are stored.


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