Expand Business in Norway

Global Upside helps businesses expand into Norway by providing talent acquisition, human resources, accounting, payroll, tax, incorporation, and professional employer organization (PEO)/employer of record (EOR) services. Our comprehensive offerings create an end-to-end solution that helps you establish your business and optimize your operations, all while maintaining compliance with laws and regulations of Norway.

The hiring and incorporation processes in Norway are often complex, time-consuming, and involve numerous legal and compliance challenges. Global Upside simplifies these processes and lifts the compliance burden from your business. Our teams have the experience and expertise required to help you establish a legal entity in Norway. We also offer PEO/EOR solutions to companies interested in hiring employees quickly, without setting up a legal entity in the country.

Capital City

Oslo

Currency

Norwegian Krone (kr)

Language

Norwegian

Government

Parliamentary Constitutional Monarchy

Country Overview

Norway has a steady economy with a dynamic private division, a huge state sector, and a broad social security net. Additionally, it has one of the biggest reserves of hydro-power, wood, minerals, gaseous petrol, freshwater, and seafood.

  • Norway ranks as the 30th largest economy in the world in terms of nominal GDP.
  • Norway ranks as the 14th largest economy in Europe.
  • Norway is one of the top 20 best countries for business.

Legal Entity Setup

Options for setting up a legal entity in Norway include:

Private Limited Liability Companies

Private Limited Liability Companies is an individual entity that is governed by a board of directors who are the decision-makers. The directors are elected by the investors and the daily activities are administered by a general manager who is appointed by the board of directors.

Public Limited Liability Companies

Public Limited Liability Companies is a form of an establishment that is separate and individual and the legislative structure of public LLCs is unitary with private LLCs.

Partnerships with Unlimited Liability

Partnerships with Unlimited Liability is an individual entity that is governed by partnership meetings. The board of directors and a general manager can be appointed by partnership meetings and they administer the daily activities.

It takes approximately five to seven weeks to establish a legal entity set up in Norway.

Human Resources

The Norwegian Employment Protection Act of 2005 classifies the Norwegian employment law.

Enterprises are required to have security representatives and workplace advisory groups, and some organizations are required to have a corporate health facility where vital.

An employment contract needs to mention the below details:

  • Name and address of the employer and employee
  • Duration of employment
  • Working hours
  • Job description
  • Remuneration
  • Probationary period
  • Leaves
  • Termination and notice period

Payroll

Employers must pay the employees monthly, however, both the parties can decide on a bi-monthly payment frequency.

Accounting

Norway has approved the European IAS Regulation that necessitates Norwegian listed organizations to formulate consolidated records as per IFRS. Banks, insurance enterprises, and other financial establishments also need to prepare individual and consolidated accounts corresponding to IFRS (with specific exclusions applied to the individual records). All other organizations in Norway have the choice to apply IFRS.

Taxation

Corporate Tax

The corporate tax rate in Norway is 22%.

Value Added Tax (VAT)

The standard VAT rate is 25%.

Data Privacy

The Norwegian data protection authority (Datatilsynet) is an autonomous managerial structure that governs privacy regulations via information, inspections, dialogue, and complaint handling.

Anti-Bribery & Anti-Corruption Law

Under Section 387, 388, and 389 of the Norwegian Penal Code (2005) the legal framework that governs bribery in Norway is provided.
The legal consequences of being found guilty of bribery and corruption offenses are:
i) Private and public officials face 10 years of imprisonment.
ii) Organizations are forfeited with an indefinite monetary fine.
iii) Both a company and an individual may face seizure of criminal property received from the offense.