Investing from Norway: ASK and the shielding deduction

• Share income 2026: gains and dividends are multiplied by a factor of 1.72 and taxed at 22%, an effective 37.84%. Other capital income, such as interest, is taxed at 22%.
• Skjermingsfradrag: an amount equal to acquisition value × skjermingsrente stays tax-free. For 2025 the skjermingsrente is 3.6%; the rate for 2026 will be set in January 2027.
• ASK: gains inside the account are not taxed, and dividends only on withdrawal. Withdrawals up to the amount you paid in are tax-free; anything above that is taxed after the skjermingsfradrag, at an effective 37.84% in 2025 and 2026.
• Eligible for an ASK: listed shares of companies domiciled in the EEA and equity funds domiciled in the EEA with more than 80% in shares at the start of the year.
• Foreign broker: holdings are not pre-filled; you enter them yourself in your tax return (skattemelding).
• Protection: Verdipapirforetakenes sikringsfond up to NOK 200,000 per customer per default; deposits at Norwegian banks up to NOK 2 million.

Under the shareholder model (aksjonærmodellen), dividends and gains are taxable as ordinary income after deduction of a skjermingsfradrag. For shares, Skatteetaten multiplies the gain or dividend by 1.72, automatically in the tax return. At 22% that gives an effective rate of 37.84% for income year 2026; other capital income is taxed at 22%.

For funds, the equity share at the start of the year decides: above 80%, all distributions are taxed as share dividends; below 20%, they count as interest; in between, they are split.

On foreign dividends you can deduct the withholding tax paid abroad from the Norwegian tax (kreditfradrag). For US dividends, the treaty between the United States and Norway limits withholding tax to 15%.

The skjermingsfradrag shows how much dividend you can receive tax-free. It is calculated for each share separately:

• Formula: skjermingsgrunnlag × skjermingsrente.
• Basis (skjermingsgrunnlag): as a rule, the share's acquisition value including costs directly linked to the purchase, such as brokerage, plus any skjermingsfradrag left unused from earlier years.
• Rate (skjermingsrente): it is based on the average rate on three-month treasury bills. Skattedirektoratet sets it in January after the income year; for 2025 it is 3.6%.
• Cut-off date: the deduction goes to whoever owns the share on 31 December. If you sell during the year, you get none for that year.
• Carry-forward: if the dividend is smaller than the deduction, the rest is carried forward on the same share; it cannot be pooled across different shares. Whatever the dividend brings in above the deduction is taxable.
• Sale: unused skjermingsfradrag reduces a gain, but only down to zero. A loss that would arise only from the deduction is not deductible, and whatever remains unused lapses on the sale.

Worked example: you buy a share for NOK 10,000 including brokerage and own it on 31 December 2025. At 3.6% the skjermingsfradrag is NOK 360. If the share pays a dividend of NOK 300 in 2025, it stays tax-free and NOK 60 is carried forward; the basis for 2026 rises to NOK 10,060. On a dividend of NOK 500, by contrast, NOK 140 would be taxable, before the 1.72 factor is applied.

The ASK is open to individual taxpayers. The rules according to Skatteetaten:

• Eligible holdings: listed shares of companies domiciled in the EEA and units in equity funds domiciled in the EEA. An equity fund is one with more than 80% in shares at the start of the income year; pure interest funds are excluded. Several companies listed on Oslo Børs are not domiciled in the EEA and are therefore not eligible. A share that was eligible when you bought it may stay, even if the company later moves, for example to the United States.
• Inside the account: gains are not taxed and losses not deducted as long as the value stays in the account. Since 2019, dividends are no longer taxed as they are paid but only on withdrawal.
• Withdrawals: up to the total you paid in (cost price) you can withdraw tax-free at any time. Anything above that is taxed after the skjermingsfradrag, at an effective 37.84% for withdrawals made in 2025 and 2026.
• Skjerming in an ASK: the basis is your deposits, meaning the cash, shares and fund units paid in, taken at the lowest deposit balance during the year plus unused deductions from earlier years. Withdrawals reduce the basis. You calculate no skjerming and no FIFO for the individual securities in the account.
• Losses: a loss is deductible only when the account is closed.
• Existing shares: shares cannot be transferred into an ASK. They are sold on your VPS account and bought again inside the ASK; a gain or loss is calculated on the sale.
• Between accounts: you can hold as many ASKs as you like, with the same or different providers, and since 2019 you can move securities from one ASK to another without tax; both providers have to take part.
• Cash: money held in an ASK earns no interest.
• Reporting: the provider is responsible for tax reporting; taxable withdrawals and the account's wealth are pre-filled in your tax return. You have to check the figures yourself.

Worked example: you pay in NOK 100,000 and the value rises to NOK 130,000. If you withdraw NOK 100,000, that is tax-free because it does not exceed what you paid in. The remaining NOK 30,000 is taxable after the skjermingsfradrag when you withdraw it later.

Shares and securities held at foreign banks and financial institutions are not pre-filled in the tax return; you enter them yourself. For income year 2025, Norwegian banks and financial institutions report wealth, dividends and gains or losses on foreign shares they hold in custody for you. Foreign ETFs are usually not pre-filled either and belong in the securities-fund section of the tax return.

• Supervision: Finanstilsynet is an independent authority. The EU's financial-market rules apply in Norway through the EEA Agreement.
• Verdipapirforetakenes sikringsfond: investment firms must be members. The fund covers up to NOK 200,000 per customer per default when a firm cannot pay (verdipapirforskriften § 9-50).
• Bankenes sikringsfond: deposits at a Norwegian bank are covered from the first krone up to NOK 2 million per customer.

• [Nordnet](/en/brokers/nordnet): offers an ASK for shares and equity funds within the EEA, according to its Norwegian website. Nordnet states that with the ASK everything is reported for you, but you must check your tax return.
• [Saxo](/en/brokers/saxo-bank): its Norwegian account-types page lists a standard account, corporate accounts and accounts for professional clients, but no ASK. Whether Saxo offers an ASK we could not document.
• DEGIRO does not accept customers resident in Norway, according to our dataset.
• A bank we do not compare: DNB Bank ASA offers an ASK that is free to open, according to its own page; it is entered in Finanstilsynet's register.

The directory filtered for Norway shows which brokers in our comparison accept customers resident in Norway; for share investors there is the share ranking for Norway. Supervision, investor protection and tax-advantaged accounts at a glance are on the Norway market page.

• Whether Norway levies a tax on securities transactions: we did not retrieve an official source on it.
• Whether Nordnet also reports an ordinary depot to Skatteetaten; the statement on its page refers to the ASK.
• Whether Saxo offers an ASK.
• The skjermingsrente for 2026; Skattedirektoratet will set it only in January 2027.
• Individual pension saving (IPS) and other providers such as Kron, SpareBank 1 or Nordea Norge, which we have not researched.

1. 1Before buying in an ASK, check that the company is domiciled in the EEA; on Oslo Børs that is not true of all of them.
2. 2Keep a record of what you paid in: up to that sum, withdrawals are tax-free.
3. 3For shares outside an ASK, calculate the skjermingsfradrag per share and remember the 31 December cut-off date.
4. 4With a foreign broker, enter shares, dividends and foreign ETFs in your tax return yourself and claim the withholding tax as kreditfradrag.

• Skatteetaten, Faktor for oppjustering av gevinst/tap eller utbytte på aksjer
• Skatteetaten, Aksjonærmodellen
• Skatteetaten, Skjermingsrente for aksjer og enkeltpersonforetak
• Skatteetaten, Aksjesparekonto (ASK)
• Skatteetaten, Beskatning av andeler i verdipapirfond
• Skatteetaten, Utenlandske aksjer og andre finansprodukter
• Lovdata, Verdipapirforskriften, chapter 9 and Verdipapirhandelloven § 9-38
• Bankenes sikringsfond, Hvor mye dekker garantien
• Finanstilsynet, Om Finanstilsynet and Virksomhetsregisteret (entry DNB BANK ASA)
• IRS, Tax Treaty Table 1
• Nordnet, Aksjesparekonto; Saxo, Kontotyper; DNB, Aksjesparekonto

This article is for information only and does not constitute investment, legal or tax advice.