Submitting the accounting late imposes penalty charges

Why penalty charges?

All enterprises must submit complete annual accounts, an annual report and, if relevant, an auditor's report to the Register of Company Accounts in Brønnøysund by the deadline. If these documents are not submitted on time, penalty charges are imposed.

• For entities for whom the closing date for the accounts is between 1st July and 31st of December, the deadline is 31st August if you submit them electronically.
  If you cannot log in to altinn.no the deadline is 31st of July.

• For entities for whom the closing date for the accounts is between 1st January and 30th of June, the deadline is 28th of February if you submit them electronically.
  If you cannot log in to altinn.no the deadline is the 31st of January.

Who is responsible for ensuring that the annual accounts, annual report and auditor's report are submitted?

In practice, it is often the general manager or the chair of the board who ensures that the documents are submitted, for example through a firm of accountants, but if this is not done, or if the documents are submitted too late, the claim will also be sent to others who have joint liability (are jointly and severally liable). The chair of the board and all board members are regarded as jointly and severally liable.

How can you avoid penalty charges in future?

If you are a member of a board of directors, we recommend that you use the online solutions provided by Altinn and the Register of Company Accounts to check whether the documents have been submitted and approved by the deadline.

• You can log on to Altinn to see whether the documents have been submitted and when they were approved.
• In the Register of Company Accounts, you can view announcements about the entity and whether its accounts have been approved (you can subscribe to announcements).

How are penalty charges divided between those with joint and several liability?

When one person pays, the same amount is written off for the others. If one person pays the whole claim, the whole claim is written off for the others.

Example:
There are three people with joint and several liability, and the penalty charge is NOK 21,000.
If you pay part of the claim, for example NOK 7,000, this means that the remaining claim is NOK 14,000, but that all three of you, including yourself, are liable for this remaining amount (even though you have paid 'your' part).

Has the company been deleted or been declared bankrupt?

Unpaid claims do not disappear even if a company is declared bankrupt or is deleted from the register.
If you are jointly and severally liable (i.e. if you were a board member of the company), you will still be liable for any unpaid claims. The collection of claims will therefore continue even if the company is declared bankrupt or is deleted from the register.

Cancellation of /exemption from joint and several liability / reduction

You can apply for cancellation of or exemption from joint and several liability if you believe that the claim arose due to circumstances that were outside your or the entity's control, or if you believe that there are particularly reasonable grounds for cancellation or exemption. The Register of Company Accounts considers such applications, so you must send the application to the Register.

If your ability to pay is permanently strongly impaired, you can apply to us to have the claim reduced, but we will nevertheless demand coverage of 25% of the claim.

We will not stop enforcement of the claim while an application is being considered, so you must pay the instalments on the claim until the case has been decided and you are granted cancellation or exemption, if relevant.

Do you have permanent financial problems? If so, you may consider applying for a debt restructuring arrangement.

Appeals

Decisions by the Register of Company Accounts to impose penalty charges are not individual decisions that can be appealed.