Tax refunds (tax set-offs)

If you do not get a tax refund, claims against you will not be offset against tax.

Man opening an envelope of money

Are we entitled to use a tax refund due to you to cover unpaid claims we have against you?

Section 4 of the Act relating to the National Collection Agency gives us the right to offset claims against tax. This means that, if you are due a tax refund, we can ask the tax authorities to withhold the refund to cover the unpaid claims we have against you. This is called a tax set-off.

We send out notification of tax set-offs to everyone who has claims that we can offset against tax. 

Have you already paid the claims listed in the notification?

By the time you receive the letter, we will have already told the Tax Administration to offset the claims listed in the enclosure against tax. We have no way of stopping the set-off once we have given notification to the Tax Administration.

If you have paid too much, we will refund the money to you.

This may take some time and depends on when your tax municipality pays out tax refunds.

Are monthly deductions made from you pay or National Insurance benefits?

If monthly deductions are made from your pay or National Insurance benefits (by a payroll office or the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Service (NAV)), we may nevertheless offset claims against tax to cover any unpaid claims we have against you.

Had you planned on spending the tax money on other things than paying off debt?

Many people see a tax set-off as irritating because they had planned on spending the tax refund on other things. Unfortunately, the situation is that, if the National Collection Agency has any unpaid claims against you, your tax refund will be used to cover the unpaid claims.

The advantage is that you will either be completely finished with the claims, or at least have paid part of the unpaid claims we have against you, with the benefits this has for you in the long term (quicker repayment, no longer registered as payment delinquent once everything has been settled, and the possibility of being granted a housing loan, for example).

There are reasons for applying to keep your tax refund.

Reasons that mean you can apply to keep your tax refund (appeal)

You should always have enough left to live on (subsistence). If you need the tax refund in order to have enough to live on, this will be a reason for applying to keep your tax refund.

Reasons that are not considered valid for keeping the tax refund

  • You have booked a holiday
  • You have a private loan you want to pay back
  • You were planning on setting aside money for savings

As regards private loans or saving, unpaid claims we have against you have higher priority.

Appeal against tax set-off to keep the tax refund

You have one month to appeal against the tax set-off after you have received the letter "Notice that set-off has been made" from the Tax Administration (Skatteetaten).
Remember that you must explain and document what you need to spend the tax refund on.
Examples of documentation: Invoices or contracts (lease, rent), offer from a repair firm.

How to appeal.

Underpaid tax?

The National Collection Agency does not collect underpaid tax, i.e. if you have paid too little tax. This is done by the Tax Administration (Skatteetaten). Read more about the payment of underpaid tax.

 

 

 

Contact us