What penalties apply for late reports and filings in Norway?

i've been running an as for two years and only noticed today that i didn't send the report for last month is the penalty already adding up?

A late report may mean a daily penalty, a fee charged for each started week, interest, an estimated tax assessment, and in more serious situations, an additional tax penalty. The type of consequence depends on which obligation you have failed to meet.

In this article, we explain which rates apply in 2026, when charges begin and what to do once you notice a delay.

How penalties for missing reports are calculated

For most tax filings, the penalty does not start automatically on the day after the standard deadline. Skatteetaten sends a warning and a conditional decision to the company's Altinn inbox, specifying an additional deadline.

If you do not submit a correct report by that date, tvangsmulkt (a daily coercive penalty) begins to accrue. The penalty increases until the obligation is properly fulfilled or the statutory limit is reached. In 2026, the basis for many rates is 1 R, or NOK 1,345.

Annual financial statements work differently. A fee is charged for each started week of delay, without the standard additional-deadline procedure used by Skatteetaten.

Four types of consequences should be distinguished:

• a daily coercive penalty for not submitting or correcting a report,
• a late annual financial statement fee,
• an additional tax penalty where incorrect or missing information could have reduced tax,
• interest where a report has been submitted but the tax or fee was not paid on time.

You can find the current compliance calendar in the article What are all the reporting and tax deadlines in Norway?

Penalties for skattemelding, VAT and a-melding

The table below presents the most common penalties related to tax and employment reports.

Skattemelding and VAT return

Failure to submit a skattemelding or VAT return may also lead to an official estimate of the tax base. Skatteetaten then determines the tax or VAT based on available information, without complete data from the company.

If incomplete or incorrect information could have resulted in a tax benefit, the additional penalty is normally 20% of that benefit. In serious cases, the combined rate may be 40%, and in particularly serious cases, up to 60%. A coercive penalty paid for the same breach is taken into account when calculating this penalty.

A skattemelding must also be submitted if the company had no turnover, has only recently started operating or ceased operations during the year. You must also submit a VAT return for a period with no sales if the company remains registered in the VAT register.

A-melding and employee information

The penalty for an a-melding depends on the number of people affected by the missing information. If incorrect data concerns five employees, the daily amount may be 5 x NOK 134, or NOK 670.

Filing an appeal does not stop the accrual. You must correctly submit or correct the a-melding for the relevant month. We discuss the reporting rules themselves in the article What is an a-melding and when must it be submitted?

In 2026, a special exception applies: Skatteetaten will not impose a coercive penalty for missing a-melding reports for May, June and July 2026. The obligation itself has not been removed. Reports must still be submitted and corrected, as missing information may disrupt employees' tax settlements and the payment of NAV benefits.

Financial statements and company registers

All AS companies submit annual financial statements. For companies whose financial year follows the calendar year, the statements for 2025 had to be submitted by 31 July 2026. This deadline cannot be extended.

The fee is charged for each started week:

Accrual stops only when a complete financial statement that can be approved has been submitted. If you submitted it before the deadline but the documents were rejected due to missing information, you receive 2 weeks to correct it without a fee. This correction period does not apply if the first submission was already made after the deadline.

The company is primarily responsible for the fee. If the AS does not pay following a notice, board members, shareholders and, in certain situations, the managing director may be held jointly and severally liable with all their private assets. Continued failure to submit the statements may, after approximately 6 months, trigger compulsory dissolution proceedings for the company. Details on document submission and rates can be found in the information on annual financial statements.

Register of beneficial owners

Entities covered by this obligation, including generally AS companies and many other legal entities, have 14 days to make their first submission or update their information. You should not automatically assume that the obligation applies to every ENK.

Following a warning and the unsuccessful expiry of 3 weeks, the penalty in 2026 is:

After 8 weeks, the obligation and penalty may also be directed at board members or other individuals representing the entity. Deliberately failing to collect, retain or report information, as well as knowingly providing false information, may lead to a fine or imprisonment for up to 1 year. You can check the scope of the obligation in the register of beneficial owners.

From June 2026, the shareholder report and its corrections must be submitted through a compatible end-user system, for example accounting software (e.g. Efirma.no), rather than directly through Altinn or on paper.

Late payment is a separate breach

Submitting a report on time does not replace payment of tax, VAT, withholding tax deducted from wages or employer contributions. The reverse also applies: payment alone does not replace the filing.

Interest is charged on overdue taxes and fees:

Interest accrues from the day following the payment deadline. Submitting a VAT return later does not move the original payment deadline. Current rates are published in the overview of interest on overdue taxes and fees.

Late income information submitted to NAV does not have a typical automatic penalty rate. However, it may halt the processing of a case and delay the payment of benefits to an employee or reimbursement to an employer.

What to do when you notice a delay

Submitting the correct report quickly limits the size of the penalty and reduces the risk of further consequences.

Simply entrusting reporting to an accountant or accounting firm (e.g. Efirma Regnskap AS) does not transfer statutory responsibility away from the business owner or the company's board. The company must ensure that documents are provided and verify that the report has been submitted and accepted.

Over Efirma Regnskap AS's 10 years of operations, counted up to 2026, delays in reports and filings have been an unfortunate exception rather than the rule. The key is ongoing deadline monitoring, complete documents from the client and checking confirmations after every submission.

FAQ - frequently asked questions

Summary

• In 2026, the standard daily penalty for a missing skattemelding or VAT return is NOK 672.50, up to a maximum of NOK 67,250.
• A late annual financial statement for an AS may result in up to NOK 69,940, and a prolonged lack of documents may lead to compulsory dissolution of the company.
• Incorrect information may result in an additional tax penalty of 20% to 60% of the tax benefit.
• Once you notice a delay, immediately submit the correct report, check its status and read the messages in Altinn.

If you need help submitting reports and filings, call us: +47 21 38 38 21. We will help you limit the effects of the delay and organise your company's obligations.

Article author: Marcin - marcin@efirma.no