Norway is uncovering the hidden cryptos from tax authorities

The Norwegian Tax Administration (skatteetaten) is stepping up efforts to against unreported cryptocurrency assets, based on the press announcement issued on 15 January 2022. The tax authorities consider that values of tens of billions of kroner (billions of US dollars) are not reported to them and they estimate that the number of crypto owners are 300,000 while only around 70,000 are reported to them.

The taxman in Norway decides to intensify the efforts on uncovering the hidden cryptos through a dedicated expert team working explicitly with cryptos together with strengthened guidance on crypto reporting. In addition, they will carry out targeted scrutiny on individuals and companies on their hidden treasures.

Compared with 2019, the tax compliance on cryptos improved in 2020 with more reporting:

• Reported taxpayers: 13,846 in 2020 vs 8,723 in 2019
• Reported income: 951 million NOK in 2020 vs 298 million NOK in 2019
• Reported assets: 7.5 billion NOK in 2020 vs 1.7 billion NOK in 2019

Norwegien skatteetaten gives a green light for taxpayers not reported for three years by resubmitting the tax return again with clear guidance. In the new tax return, there is a separate information field where cryptocurrency must be filled in. If crypto owners have sold cryptocurrency at a loss, they can get a deduction for it with both the purchase value and the sale price as well as possible with information from the crypto exchanges substantiated.

Though the crypto finders understand some non-complying taxpayers are not familiar with regulations with taxes on cryptos, they also emphasize that if the cryptopian tries to evade taxation and not declare transactions and values properly, they will report serious cases to the police.

It's time to consider tax compliance. Never too late.