Limited Liability Company in Norway. How to incorporate in Norway?

February 19, 2021

In the next few entries, we will present a short description of the AS company in Norway and we will try to outline its advantages and disadvantages compared to a sole proprietorship.

 Capital company - aksjeselskap AS

The share capital of the (aksjeselskap) AS company is a minimum of NOK 30,000. Subject to certain conditions, it can be made in the form of a contribution in kind. 

The limited dliability company can be owned by a private person or persons. Another limited liability company can also be an owner, or one of the owners in another AS company. 

The AS company in Norway is a legal entity and its owners have limited liability according to the norwegian  regulations. This certainly constitutes an advantage in comparison with a Norwegian sole proprietorship (enkeltpersonsforetak, ENK).

Establishing an AS company in Norway - official costs and processing time


The current official costs of registering an AS company in Norway in electronic form and on paper are available here.

The processing of registration of an AS company depends on several factors. If the owner, or owners, haven't got Norwegian personal numbers, the whole process will take longer. 

The registration process at the office itself may take from 2 to 4 weeks, assuming that it is not a holiday period. 
In our experience, the registration becomes more time-consuming, if the owners haven't had a Norwegian bank account. Opening a business account in a Norwegian bank may take up to several weeks, thus slowing the registration considerably.

 Bookkeeping and the obligation to have an auditor

The AS company may hire its own accountant, but if the accounting is to be carried out by an external company, it must be an authorized accounting office licensed by the Norwegian Financial Supervisory Authority - (Finanstilsynet). You can check the authorized accountant offices' register here

Consulting companies and individuals who provide consulting services and are not authorized may not legally maintain another company's accounting records. You can check the register of authorized accountants here.

According to the regulations, all AS companies are obliged to have a statutory auditor - revisor. If they meet the statutory conditions, they may withdraw from this obligation. These conditions include, among others annual revenues lower than NOK 6 million.

 
Corporate income tax is currently 22%. With AS, you pay withholding tax in February and April.
 

Entrepreneurs entering the Norwegian market often struggle with the choice of the form of activity. This dilemma is so common that Novum has already conducted several seminars and courses on the subject.

  
In the next post, more about employment in the AS company and a short profile of a potential founder of the AS company.

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