The Norwegian Government introduced the State Budget 2012 6
October 2011. As part of this budget, the Government proposed
amendments to Norwegian tax legislation, Prop. 1 LS (2011-2012).
The Tax Department of Arntzen de Besche will in the following give
a short summary of some of the proposed changes.
DIRECT TAX
Changes in the 3 %-rule under participation-exemption
Capital gains and dividends on shares in companies earned by
shareholders who themselves are companies (corporate shareholders)
are in general exempt from normal income taxation in Norway, as
only 3 % of such income is subjected to tax at 28% tax rate
(effectively 0.84% tax). Special requirements apply for cross
border shareholdings outside EU/EEA. This 0.84% tax is sometimes
referred to as the "3 % claw-back", as it is motivated by
the fact that the shareholder may deduct costs related to the
exempted income. The Government states that the complexity of
taxing capital gains at 0.84% is disproportional
