NEWS

A recent response from Norway’s Minister of Finance to the Storting suggests that a new tax treaty between Norway and the United States is unlikely to be ready in the near future.

We have previously commented on the negotiations between Norway and the United States regarding a new tax treaty: Still unclear when the new tax treaty with the U.S. will be signed.

In a recent response from Jens Stoltenberg to the National Parliament, the Minister of Finance gives little reason to hope that a new agreement will be ready any time soon. He writes the following in his response:

“Norway and the United States are negotiating a new tax treaty. It has taken time to complete the work, due to reforms in the U.S. tax system and major international tax developments in recent years. I would also note that the United States has ratified very few tax treaties in recent years.”

In other words, not very specific. Reforms in the United States and the international processes continue their course. When the Minister of Finance refers to international processes in the tax area, he is presumably referring to OECD’s BEPS project. Here, the Trump administration has decided to withdraw from the processes, but it is unclear what this entails and what consequences it will have.

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