Tax statistics for personal taxpayers, income and wealth
05.01 - Income, property, taxes
Annual
National level. Regions, counties and municipalities.
225 - Division for Income and Wage Statistics
Data were obtained pursuant to Statistics Act Section 3.2
None
None
The purpose of the statistics is to provide an overview of the tax settlement for personal taxpayers including how much tax was paid in advance, assessed taxes, advance refund with interest due and residual tax with interest to pay. It also provide taxable income, deductions, property and debts.
Also provided is an overview of the calculation basis for the various taxes in recent years, gross income and wealth taxes (before deductions and reductions are deducted) and the various deductions and reductions in taxes.
The statistics are used in Statistics Norway's tax model LOTTE which computes changes in tax proceeds as a result of various changes in the tax rules. The statistics are also used for own calculations of tax proceeds requested by the Ministry of Finance.
The tax statistics for personal taxpayers are presented in a separate chapter in the fiscal budget each year (Storting Proposition No. 1).
Statistics Norway has prepared annual statistics on the municipal tax assessment since 1884 and on the central government tax assessment since 1936.
Until fiscal year 1948 the source of the tax statistics was forms with summary reports filled out the tax committees in each tax district, but starting this year Statistics Norway began obtaining copies of tax lists and processing them by machine to obtain information on the individual taxpayer as well. This became too comprehensive for Statistics Norway and in the early 1950s SSB switched to selecting a representative sample from the tax lists.
1967 saw the entry of register-based tax results for the individual person on magnetic tape. The tax register is one of the oldest electronic registers at Statistics Norway and is obtained each autumn from the Directorate of Taxes after the tax results are completed.
The first Tax Return Statistics were prepared for the 1993 fiscal year, the year all tax offices switched to computer processing of returns, and information from the personal tax return became available in electronic form. Since the fiscal year 1993 Statistics Norway has annually obtained an extract of data from the Directorate of Taxes and has published the Tax Return Statistics. For previous years Statistics Norway only had information about income and property concepts used for the calculation of particular taxes (The Register of Personal Tax Payers). One exception was, however, a small sample of households, where data have been obtained from the personal tax return.
In addition we have statistics based on the Directorate of Taxes only for employees and pensioners with tax settlement in June since the fiscal year 2004.
Major users are the Ministry of Finance, municipalities and counties. Other ministries, the research environments, the media and private enterprises are also frequent users of the statistics.
The tax statistics for personal taxpayers is a total census. The statistics are based on data from the ordinary tax assessments. The data basis contains individual data for all persons aged 13 and up who are taxable to Norway during the fiscal year in question. The age cut-off stems from the fact that children who are 13 and up during the fiscal year must file a tax return if they have employment income. If the child is 12 or under during the fiscal year the employment income shall be listed in the parents' tax return.
The statistics cover all individuals in the tax assessments, including those living abroad and who are taxable to Norway. From fiscal year 1999 individuals taxed on Svalbard are also included in the statistics.
In connection with the publishing of the statistics the population has often been limited to all persons 17 years of age and older who are registered as residents of the country as of 31 December of the fiscal year. The 17 year dividing line was set because this is the age individuals normally begin filing tax returns. All persons living in Norway are included in the Tax Return Statistics, regardless of whether or not they have delivered tax returns.
The main source for the Tax statistics for personal tax payers is the Directorate of Taxes' Register for Personal Tax Payers (see 2.1). Information on income, deductions, property and debts are obtained from here. In addition, information on taxes and tax deductions have been collected from Statistics Norway's Tax Statistics for Personal Tax Payers, while information on pension status etc. are obtained from the National Insurance Administration. Demographic information is collected from Statistics Norway's Population Statistics.
Total census.
Information about the taxes and the tax basis is obtained in electronic form from the Directorate of Taxes (see 2.1).
Other types of information is collected from various other registers, cf. 3.2.
As a rule the tax assessment is finished and made public in all municipalities in the country in the second half of September each year. In the weeks that follow changes are made in the tax assessment follows reviews of taxpayer complaints or because the tax authorities themselves discover errors or deficiencies in the tax material. Statistics Norway receives an extract of the tax register in October/November after all municipalities have been through at least one such round of corrections and changes.
As of assessment year 2003 Statistics Norway receives an extract at the time the tax assessment is made public, and before changes and corrections has been done.
A number of machine controls are carried out at Statistics Norway to ensure the consistency of the data material. Firstly, amounts are moved between the items when possible to achieve consistency between the calculation basis for the taxes and tax amounts. Furthermore, extreme values are checked to see if they are logical in relation to the rest of the tax return.Macro figures from the tax statistics are compared with the Directorate of Taxes' summary overview to uncover any major deviations.
Due to the large amount of information in the data material with respect to the number of observations and the number of entries on the tax return, it is not practically possible to carry out all consistency controls at the individual level. Nor can several of the given variables be controlled against other statistics, because they are only available in this extract from the Directorate of Taxes. The controls will therefore not uncover all the errors in the material.
The analysis unit is person. No special method of estimation has been used.
The average is rounded to the nearest NOK 100.
Not relevant.
Total advance is the sum of settled advance tax deduction, settled advance tax, and paid additional advance tax.
Total assessed taxes cover wealth and income taxes paid to municipalities, county and state, National Insurance Scheme members' contributions, taxes on individual pension plans, late delivery fee and supplementary tax. All deduction and reductions of taxes are deducted.
Excess advance is the difference when the total advance exceeds total assessed taxes.
Back tax is the difference when the total assessed taxes exceed the total advance. Waived back tax are included.
Waived back tax is not required paid. From the fiscal year 1999 tax arrears under NOK 300 is not required paid. This limit was changed to NOK 100 from the fiscal year 2000.
Interest to pay is interest on back tax.
Interest due is interest on excess advance.
Basis for surtax on gross income (combined personal income) is a gross income term including employment income (personal income pay and estimated personal entrepreneurial income) and taxable pensions for personal taxpayers. Capital income is not included in this income term. The state surtax is calculated on this basis.
Ordinary income after special deductions includes the sum of taxable incomes such as wage income, entrepreneurial income, capital income, pension income and certain social benefits less statutory tax-deductible expenses such as the minimum deduction and income earning expenses, interest on debts, obligatory maintenance payments and pension premiums etc. Any special deductions are deducted from this. Income tax to municipalities and counties and tax equalization tax are calculated from ordinary income after special deductions.
Median income
Median income is the exact income amount that splits a distribution in two equally sized groups, when income is sorted ascending (or descending). The number of persons with income over the median income will be the same as the number of persons with income under the median income.
Gross income
Gross income is total wages and salaries, pensions, entrepreneurial income and property income.
Wages and salaries
Wages and salaries are payments in cash and in kind, taxable sick pay and unemployment benefit.
Pensions
Pensions cover all benefits paid by social security and private pension and life insurance benefit.
Entrepreneurial income
Entrepreneurial income consists of all local and non-local income from self-employment, both in the primary and other industries.
Capital income
Capital income consists of interest income, dividends, realised capital gains, rent and other income from property.
Total deducion
Total deduction covers minimum deductions, travelling expenses, union subscriptions, entrepreneurial deficit and interest on debt.
Net property includes the value of real capital and financial capital. Debt is deducted. The individual types of property are assessed by tax value. Some types of property are included only beyond set tax-free allowances.
Real capital
Real capital comprises the assessed value of all real properties, plant, forests etc., production capital and other business assets and house contents and moveables. Also included are the assessed value of dwellings and shares of the assessed value of housing cooperatives. From 2000 are real properties in foreign countries assessed in Norway.
Finance capital
Finance capital is made up of bank deposits, share of unit trusts, securities registered in the Norwegian Registry of Securities, other securities not registered in the Norwegian Registry of Securities, other claims and properties.
The statistics concern only taxable income. The amounts are consequently set by the tax rules in effect at any one time. All values associated with wealth and debt are fiscal values.
Residents age 17 and older The statistics concern residents age 17 and older as of 31 December in the fiscal year.
Age Age is the person's age at the end of the fiscal year.
Marital status Marital status is the registered marital status at the end of the fiscal year.
There are nine different categories: unmarried, married, separated, divorced, widow/widower, partnerships contracted, separated partnerships contracted, divorced partnerships contracted and surviving partnerships contracted. Partnerships contracted, separated partnerships contracted, divorced partnerships contracted and surviving partnerships contracted are included in the tables with married, separated, divorced and widow/widower.
Pensioners Pensioners are people who according to the National Insurance Administration either receive old age, disability or survivors' pension from the social security system at the end of the fiscal year.
Minimum pension pensioners Minimum pension pensioners are pensioners who receive a special supplement from the National Insurance Scheme.
Socio-economic status A person is classified as economically active if employment income and entrepreneurial income combined are greater than the average minimum benefit from the National Insurance Administration for single persons.
To be classified as an employee, wages must be greater than total entrepreneurial income and greater than pension income.
To be classified as self-employed in agriculture, forestry and fishing, total entrepreneurial income must be greater than both wages and pension. At the same time, entrepreneurial income from agriculture, forestry and fishing must be larger than entrepreneurial income from other industries. If the opposite is true, one will be classified as self-employed in other industries. This classification is in agreement with Statistics Norway's Standard Sosio-Economic Status Divisions (SNS 5/84).
Pensioners are persons who have a pension income greater than wages or entrepreneurial income.
If a person does not receive any pension income and if the sum of employment income is less than the minimum benefit from the National Insurance Scheme, then he or she is classified with socio-economic status "others".
One possible source of errors is incorrect reporting by the respondent to the tax authorities, i.e. persons who give incorrect amounts for income, property or deductions in the tax return and in attached schedules, or that the amounts are entered in the wrong place on the form. In most cases this will be discovered and corrected by the tax office.
Another type of error occurs when data are recorded electronically. This registration is done manually, but there are controls that discover most typing errors.
Controls are done in the data material to uncover a lack of consistency between taxes and the estimation bases for taxes. Because of the enormous scope of the data material it is not possible to uncover all such errors for the individual person.
The statistics are based on a total census and we thereby avoid the uncertainty associated with sample variance and non-response associated with sample surveys.
Publication of these statistics is based on register information obtained in October/November after the assessment is released and a fair number of taxpayers complaints have been dealt with.
The extraction from the Directorate of Taxes' database takes place in June and October - after the tax returns are released but before all complaints are handled. The published figures therefore do not take into account that some amounts have been changed because of complaints. The fact that the database is not fully updated when the extraction occurs can cause partial non-response in the material.
The statistics are comparable back to 1948 (cf. 2). No differentiation was made between personal and non-personal taxpayers for earlier years. Both the data basis and principles for the statistics have been changed over time. The changes that the tax system has undergone over the year are reflected in the data basis and affect the continuity of the time series.
There has been some changes in the items of the tax return form. Changes in the tax system are reflected in the databases and influence the comparability over the years.
Several details about various changes are documented in Notat nr. 99/13 Selvangivelsesstatistikk 1993 - 1996 (in Norwegian only).
Data from the Tax statistics for personal tax payers is the basis for all of Statistics Norway's statistics on income and property for persons. The following statistics include information from the Tax statistics for personal tax payers:
Income statistics for households, http://www.ssb.no/inntekt_en
Income statistics for self-employed persons http://www.ssb.no/ofpn_en
NOS C396 Tax Return Statistics 1993 - 1994
NOS C428 Tax Return Statistics 1995
NOS C461 Tax Return Statistics 1996
NOS C549 Tax Return Statistics 1997
NOS C624 Tax Return Statistics 1998
NOS C674 Tax Return Statistics 1999
NOS C724 Tax Return Statistics 2000
NOS D247 Tax Return Statistics 2001
NOS D306 Tax Return Statistics 2002
NOS D324 Tax Statistics for Personal Taxpayers 1993-2002
Notater 91/21 Børge Strand "Pesonal Register of income-, wealth- and tax statistics for persons. Documentation.
Raw data files and linked statistical files are stored.
2011 © Statistics Norway