Simplified VAT registrations for online sellers in Norway
In January 2020, Norway will introduce a simplified VAT registration application for online sellers.
In January 2020, Norway will introduce a simplified VAT registration application for online sellers.
Norway will cancel the Low Value Consignment Relief as from 2020. This change means that import of goods with a low value will no longer escape VAT. Such imports will need to be reported and VAT will be paid to the tax authorities upon importation. For those taxpayers opting to register for VAT in view of these changes, Norway has now announced a simplified VAT application process for online sellers.
The new application will follow the system of VAT registration for sellers of e-services, introduced in 2016. The authorities did not confirm yet if the VAT return will also be amended to allow these sellers to report VAT in a reduced and simpler VAT return.
Low Value Consignment Relief has been abolished also in Switzerland and Australia. UK recently announced that it would be abolished in a post-Brexit scenario and the European Union approved cancelling this simplification as from 2021.
Although initially planned as a simplification for sellers importing low value parcels, LVCR is often used as a tax loophole to avoid paying any VAT in the country of destination, hence producing a competitive disadvantage against local and EU businesses who comply with the VAT rules.