Norway Winery Tax and Compliance Guide 2026

Norwegian winery reporting at a glance

Sources: Norwegian Tax Administration, Norwegian Directorate of Health, Brønnøysund Register Centre and Altinn. Each filing is detailed and linked below.

Who must file winery-specific alcohol reports?

Two thresholds are easy to confuse. For excise, the Norwegian Tax Administration states that alcoholic beverages over 0.7% ABV produced in or imported into Norway are subject to alcohol excise, and producers/importers must also address beverage-packaging excise. Producers and importers must register as excise-liable businesses before reporting. Norwegian Tax Administration: alcohol excise.

For alcohol-production licensing, the Directorate of Health states that producing alcoholic beverage above 2.5% ABV requires a licensing basis. A state production licence is the route for a producer that will sell wholesale, after registration with the Tax Administration. Municipal sale or serving licences can include a right to produce for sale or serving in the licensee's own operation. Norwegian Directorate of Health: production licence.

1. Alcohol excise and beverage-packaging tax

2026 alcohol excise rate for ordinary wine

For 2026, the Tax Administration lists the rate for non-spirit alcoholic beverage over 4.7% through 22% ABV at NOK 5.41 per percentage point of ABV per litre. The taxable base is litres multiplied by ABV. See the official 2026 alcohol rates.

Example: a 0.75 L bottle at 12% ABV has NOK 48.69 of alcohol excise before packaging excise and VAT. This is the same arithmetic used in the Tax Administration's official six-bottle example.

2026 beverage-packaging excise rates

The environmental component is reduced for packaging in approved return systems according to the return rate; it falls away when the return rate is at least 95%. The Tax Administration also specifies that beverage-packaging excise is calculated on the inner packaging, meaning the container the beverage is filled into. Official packaging rates and official winery-style excise accounting examples.

Excise return deadline and filing path

Registered excise-liable businesses file the electronic skattemelding for særavgifter (RF-1347). For the monthly alcohol and beverage-packaging cycle, the general deadline to report and pay is the 18th of the following month. The Tax Administration provides a direct login from its excise-reporting page and returns payment information, including the KID, after submission. Open the official RF-1347 reporting page.

As of 2026, access is being moved from old Altinn II roles to access packages. For excise, the new access requirements took effect on 1 May 2026, and the old "Regnskapsmedarbeider" role stops working after 31 December 2026. Treat access setup as a pre-filing task rather than something to solve on the deadline.

What the excise ledger must support

The Tax Administration's alcohol excise-accounting guidance expects the records supporting the return to show products, opening and closing inventory, goods in, goods out and relevant events such as destruction, breakage, theft or shortages. Producers must also track the use of raw materials/inputs and the correct ABV for each product batch. Excise documentation, ledgers and reconciliations must be retained for 10 years. See the official excise-accounting guide.

2. State production-licence turnover report

A winery holding a state production licence has a separate monthly obligation to the Norwegian Directorate of Health. By the 18th of the following month, the licence holder reports fee-liable turnover by alcohol group in the Tobakkssalgs- og bevillingsregisteret. The Directorate requires a report even when there was no fee-liable turnover, using a 0-report. Official production-licence guidance.

The Directorate currently describes reportable turnover using this stock-flow calculation:

All state production-licence holders also pay a minimum annual fee of NOK 5,000 by 1 February, according to the current Directorate guidance. Once turnover exceeds the amount covered by the minimum fee, the Directorate invoices the additional running fee based on litres and alcohol group. Because licence-fee rates can change, use the Directorate's live page rather than hard-coding them into a long-lived SOP.

Step-by-step monthly winery reporting workflow

1. Close production and inventory movements. Confirm finished goods produced, warehouse movements, sales/withdrawals, returns, samples, breakage, destruction, exports and transfers for the month.
2. Reconcile excise inventory. Tie opening inventory to the prior month's closing inventory and document all movements. Keep taxable and exempt movements separate.
3. Confirm product tax attributes. Verify litres, ABV, packaging type, applicable excise codes and current rates. Do not reuse a prior year's rate table without checking the Tax Administration.
4. Prepare RF-1347. Use the Norwegian Tax Administration's excise service and the current excise code guide. Submit and retain the confirmation and payment information.
5. Prepare the production-licence turnover report if applicable. Reconcile the Directorate of Health stock-flow calculation and enter the monthly amount in the Tobacco Sales and Licensing Register. Submit a 0-report when required.
6. Reconcile the two filings to the same source records. They are different legal reports and need not contain identical measures, but unexplained differences between production, inventory, withdrawals and reported turnover should be investigated before close.
7. Archive the evidence. Preserve supporting invoices, credit notes, transport/customs records, destruction approvals, inventory counts, return-system evidence and reconciliations required for excise support.

3. VAT reporting for a Norwegian winery

Every business registered in Norway's VAT Register must file a VAT return. Most enterprises report every other month. The standard periods are January-February, March-April, May-June, July-August, September-October and November-December. The general deadline is one month and ten days after the period, except that the May-June period has a 31 August deadline. Official VAT-return page and official VAT payment and period guidance.

Qualifying small enterprises can apply for annual VAT reporting when taxable supplies and withdrawals do not exceed NOK 1 million and the other conditions are satisfied. The application deadline is 1 February and the annual return is due 10 March. Primary-industry businesses have a separate annual VAT regime with a 10 April deadline.

4. Payroll and seasonal-worker reporting: a-melding

The a-melding is the monthly report covering income, employment, withholding tax and employer's National Insurance contributions for the enterprise. The filing deadline is the 5th of every month; when the 5th is a weekend or holiday, the deadline moves to the first following working day. Employment information continues monthly through the month the employee leaves. Norwegian Tax Administration: a-melding deadlines.

One important 2026 change corrects older workflow descriptions: from January 2026, the tax-deduction account was removed and the payment deadline for advance withholding tax is generally the first working day after salary is paid and the deduction is made. Do not use an old every-other-month withholding-tax payment schedule for 2026 payroll.

5. Annual company filings that can apply to a winery

Company tax return

For Norwegian limited companies and other covered company types, the company tax return is due 31 May each year. It must be retrieved and filed with the business specification through an accounting or year-end system. The Tax Administration states that the return is required even if the company had no turnover. Official company tax-return guidance.

If 31 May falls on a weekend, the Tax Administration applies its next-working-day rule. Extensions must be requested before the filing deadline.

Shareholder Register Statement

Norwegian AS and ASA companies generally file the Aksjonærregisteroppgaven every year by 31 January. From June 2026, the Tax Administration requires these statements to be submitted through an end-user system; submission through Altinn.no or on paper is no longer available, including amendments for earlier years. Official Shareholder Register guidance.

Annual accounts

Annual accounts are a separate filing from the company tax return. Enterprises with reporting obligations must submit a complete set of annual accounts to the Register of Company Accounts by 31 July for the ordinary calendar-year cycle. The Brønnøysund Register Centre says the deadline cannot be extended. Brønnøysund Register Centre: submission of annual accounts.

As of 5 August 2026, the official path still includes the Årsregnskap (RR-0002) form in Altinn. This is a material correction to claims that annual accounts had already become API-only in 2026.

Common Norway winery reporting mistakes

• Treating the two monthly alcohol reports as one. RF-1347 and the Directorate of Health turnover report have different legal purposes and filing destinations.
• Using 2.5% as the excise threshold. The alcohol excise rule begins above 0.7% ABV, while 2.5% is central to alcohol-production licensing.
• Calling tax registration a wholesale licence. A state production licence gives the wholesale right after registration with the Tax Administration.
• Netting sales and returns in excise reporting. The Tax Administration requires them to be reported separately.
• Hard-coding last year's rates. Alcohol and packaging rates are time-sensitive; the Tax Administration notes rate changes normally occur on 1 January, while some return-rate-driven environmental codes can change on 1 July.
• Missing the 2026 payroll collection change. Advance withholding tax is no longer handled on the old tax-deduction-account schedule.
• Assuming every government filing is API-only. Submission channels differ. Corporate tax and shareholder reporting require end-user systems, while annual accounts still have an official Altinn form.

Records to keep ready

For a practical month-end close, maintain a traceable record set that can produce:

• opening and closing inventory by excise-relevant product;
• product identity, litres and ABV by batch;
• packaging type and units;
• production into finished goods;
• taxable withdrawals/sales and returns as separate movements;
• samples, breakage, theft, shortages and destruction;
• exports and other exempt movements with supporting documentation;
• invoices, credit notes, transport documents and relevant customs evidence;
• physical inventory counts and reconciliations;
• submission receipts and payment references.

The 10-year retention statement in this guide applies specifically to the excise documentation, ledgers and reconciliations identified by the Tax Administration. Other record categories can have different retention rules.

Official sources and references

1. Norwegian Tax Administration, Alcohol excise (Avgift på alkohol). 2026 rates and producer/importer obligations. Accessed 5 August 2026.
2. Norwegian Tax Administration, Excise return (Særavgiftsmeldingen). RF-1347, access requirements, deadlines, corrections and payment information. Accessed 5 August 2026.
3. Norwegian Tax Administration, Excise accounting for alcoholic beverages. Inventory, movement, packaging, examples, non-netting rule and 10-year retention. Accessed 5 August 2026.
4. Norwegian Tax Administration, Beverage-packaging excise rates. Current environmental and base tax rates. Accessed 5 August 2026.
5. Norwegian Directorate of Health, Production licence for alcoholic beverages. Licensing paths, wholesale registration, monthly turnover reporting and fees. Accessed 5 August 2026.
6. Lovdata, Alcohol Act (alkoholloven). Controlling legal framework for production licensing and production-licence fees. Accessed 5 August 2026.
7. Lovdata, Regulation on wholesale and production of alcoholic beverages. Production-licence turnover and fee framework. Accessed 5 August 2026.
8. Lovdata, Excise Duty Regulations (særavgiftsforskriften). Controlling excise framework. Accessed 5 August 2026.
9. Norwegian Tax Administration, VAT return. Filing obligation and 2026 access transition. Accessed 5 August 2026.
10. Norwegian Tax Administration, Paying VAT. Standard, annual small-business and primary-industry periods. Accessed 5 August 2026.
11. Norwegian Tax Administration, A-melding deadlines and payment. Monthly deadline and 2026 withholding-payment change. Accessed 5 August 2026.
12. Norwegian Tax Administration, Company tax return. System-only filing and 31 May deadline. Accessed 5 August 2026.
13. Norwegian Tax Administration, Shareholder Register Statement. 31 January deadline and June 2026 end-user-system requirement. Accessed 5 August 2026.
14. Brønnøysund Register Centre, Submission of annual accounts. 31 July deadline and filing responsibility. Page updated 11 May 2026; accessed 5 August 2026.
15. Altinn / Brønnøysundregistrene, Annual Accounts (RR-0002). Current annual-accounts filing form. Accessed 5 August 2026.

Important note

This guide summarizes official information available as of 5 August 2026. Requirements can vary by business structure, location, activity, licence type and regulatory status. Confirm material filing decisions with the responsible Norwegian authority or a qualified adviser.