Norway’s finance ministry to double the tax bill for shipping companies

Norway’s finance ministry is to double the tax bill for shipping companies already reeling from the double blow of losing the tonnage tax and the demand for back tax. A letter from the Norwegian finance ministry to one shipping company stipulates that market values rather than book values should be used in calculating owners’ tax liability following the abolition of tonnage tax, which can double the bill owners face to NK40Bn ($7.1Bn). Per Saevik, MD of the offshore vessel group Havila, said in an interview webcast on tv2.no that the letter had stipulated that owners’ tax liability should be based on the market value of their fleet and not on the book value as owners had assumed so far. He described the situation as dramatic and said that talks are needed between the owners and the government to address the problem. The very existence of a number of companies would be in jeopardy if an NK40Bn bill was levied on the industry. This, in turn, would have serious consequences for ancillary industries such as shipbuilding and marine equipment manufacturing. The Norwegian marine cluster employs some 90,000 persons, which is about 5% of the workforce in a country of four million.