It’s tax return season in Norway, which means that many people have already submitted the final version of their tax return to the Norwegian Tax Administration (Skatteetaten).

We say “many” and not “most,” as every year, a number of people wait until the very last minute to submit their tax returns.

READ MORE: Five things to do when you check your tax return notice in Norway

While the Norwegian authorities warn people to avoid doing everything in the last few days, the advice usually falls on deaf ears.

In 2023, up to 1.4 million people in Norway didn’t even open their tax return notices by April 25th, just a week before the deadline expired.

This year, the deadline falls on April 30th.

Why waiting until the last minute could get you in trouble

There are two reasons why waiting until the last moment to submit your tax return is a bad idea.

Firstly, you’ll have a harder time reaching the Tax Administration in case of any questions or doubts.

Secondly, the website of the Tax Administration might experience issues when a huge number of users try to submit their tax returns in the final days before the deadline expires.

While tech issues don’t happen every year, in 2023, Norwegian tax authorities announced they would consider extending the deadline for submitting this year’s tax return due to such problems.

They might show similar flexibility in 2024 if people report being unable to access the site and submit their tax returns.

Timely tax return submission can help you avoid such headaches.

What to do if you can’t make the deadline

If you realise that you don’t have enough time to submit your tax return by April 30th – for any reason – contact the Tax Administration and apply for a postponement as soon as possible.

Most taxpayers who do so get an automatic postponement of 30 days.

But what happens if you don’t submit the tax return in time?

The consequences of breaking the deadline

As the Tax Administration explains on its website, tax returns not submitted by this year’s deadline will be considered as having been submitted with the pre-completed information (sent to all taxpayers in Norway in March).

This means that you may being missing out on potential deductions, which could mean that the tax administration owes you money. It could also mean that you could end up owing the tax administration money as the information in the partially-completed form wasn’t correct. 

If you’re not getting a return but instead need to pay additional taxes, try to do so by May 31st.

Should you fail to pay by the deadline, you will have to pay interest on the tax you owe the Norwegian state.

If you’re late with your tax return submission, you’ll likely have problems contacting the Tax Administration, as they will be overwhelmed in the days around the April 30th deadline.

However, the authorities have created a number of useful guides that can help taxpayers when it comes to issues often brought up in the submission process, available on the web pages of the Tax Administration.

Try to check your preliminary tax return and submit the updated version in early or mid-April – that will make the entire experience much smoother and less stressful.