Norway Customs Duty

Key Takeaways

• Norway is not in the EU - it’s part of the EEA/EFTA, so none of the EU’s IOSS scheme, €150 threshold, or flat customs duty rules apply here. Norway runs its own separate system.
• Norway’s standard VAT (MVA) rate is 25%, with reduced rates of 15% on foodstuffs and 12% on passenger transport, hotel accommodation, cinema and similar services.
• Norway’s own low-value scheme, VOEC (VAT On E-Commerce), lets registered foreign sellers collect Norwegian VAT at checkout on items valued under NOK 3,000 each - and those parcels are exempt from customs duty entirely.
• Foodstuffs, alcohol, tobacco, weapons, pharmaceuticals and certain excise-taxed goods are excluded from VOEC regardless of value and always go through ordinary customs clearance.
• Orders over NOK 3,000, or bought from a seller not registered for VOEC, have VAT and customs duty assessed at the border, plus a carrier handling fee charged on delivery.

How Norwegian Import Rules Work

Norway sits outside the EU customs union and the EU VAT area, even though it’s closely tied to the EU through the European Economic Area (EEA) and EFTA. That means a parcel crossing from anywhere, including from an EU country, into Norway is a genuine import under Norwegian rules, and Norway builds those rules around its own scheme rather than the EU’s IOSS system.

The standard Norwegian VAT rate, known as MVA (Merverdiavgift), is 25%. Two reduced rates also apply depending on the category: 15% on foodstuffs, water supply and wastewater services, and 12% on passenger transport, hotel accommodation, cinema tickets, broadcasting, and museum, amusement park and sporting event admissions. A separate 11.11% rate applies narrowly to sales of wild marine resources. These rates took effect from 1 January 2026, set by the Norwegian Parliament (Stortinget).

For low-value goods, Norway uses VOEC (VAT On E-Commerce), a scheme it introduced on 1 April 2020 - notably ahead of the EU’s own IOSS, which launched over a year later. VOEC lets a foreign online seller or marketplace register with Skatteetaten (the Norwegian Tax Administration) once its sales into Norway exceed NOK 50,000 a year, then collect Norwegian VAT directly at checkout on items priced under NOK 3,000 each. That threshold is based on the item’s own price, excluding shipping, insurance and tax, and it’s applied per item, not per order or per invoice.

Goods that qualify under VOEC (value under NOK 3,000, bought from a VOEC-registered store, for private use) are exempt from customs duty entirely, even for product categories that would normally attract a tariff. The VAT is already baked into the price you paid at checkout, so the parcel clears the border with minimal friction and typically no extra fee on delivery.

Orders that don’t qualify, either because the item is priced at NOK 3,000 or more, or because the seller isn’t VOEC-registered, are handled the old-fashioned way: VAT is assessed at the border rather than collected at checkout, ordinary customs duty applies according to the item’s tariff classification, and the carrier (commonly Posten Norge/Bring, or another courier) typically adds its own customs clearance handling fee before releasing the parcel. For the wider picture of how non-EU European countries handle imports, see the Europe customs duty guide.

Norway-Specific Considerations

VOEC predates the EU’s IOSS and works differently in a few key ways. Both schemes let a foreign seller collect destination-country VAT at checkout on low-value goods, but they’re independent systems with independent thresholds, registration processes and rules - a seller registered for the EU’s IOSS is not automatically covered for sales into Norway, and vice versa. Before 1 April 2020, Norway used a NOK 350 duty-and-VAT-free threshold for all imports; VOEC replaced that with a scheme where qualifying parcels are VAT-and-duty-handled at checkout instead, while goods outside the scheme lost that old low-value exemption.

Several categories are excluded from VOEC no matter how cheap the item is. Foodstuffs (including food, beverages, supplements and vitamins), alcohol, tobacco, weapons, pharmaceutical products, and goods subject to Norwegian excise taxes (such as sugar, beverage packaging, lubricating oils and certain greenhouse-gas-emitting appliances) can’t be sold through VOEC. These must always clear through ordinary customs procedures, with duty and VAT assessed regardless of value - a NOK 50 bag of coffee from a foreign store is still subject to the same clearance process as a NOK 5,000 item.

Two different Norwegian authorities split the work. Tolletaten (Norwegian Customs) is the overall customs authority, responsible for border control, tariff classification and clearance of goods outside VOEC or in excluded categories. Skatteetaten (the Norwegian Tax Administration) administers the VOEC scheme itself: seller registration, VAT collection rules and compliance for e-commerce VAT specifically. If you’re dealing with a VOEC-eligible parcel, Skatteetaten’s rules govern it; if it needs full customs clearance, Tolletaten does.

Handling fees for non-VOEC parcels vary by carrier and aren’t a single fixed number. Posten Norge/Bring publishes tiered customs service pricing for parcels that need full clearance, with a standard customs-agreement clearance charge around NOK 216 (covering up to three line items, with a per-item surcharge above that) as of its most recent published price list, while other carriers such as PostNord apply their own separate handling surcharges. VOEC parcels, by contrast, are designed to move through with no such fee since the VAT was already settled at checkout.

Frequently Asked Questions About Customs Duty in Norway

What is VOEC and how is it different from the EU’s IOSS?

VOEC (VAT On E-Commerce) is Norway’s own scheme for collecting VAT on low-value imports at checkout, introduced 1 April 2020. It’s conceptually similar to the EU’s IOSS, which launched over a year later, but it’s a completely separate system with its own NOK 3,000 per-item threshold, its own seller registration process through Skatteetaten, and its own rules. Being registered for one scheme doesn’t cover sales made under the other.

What happens if my order is over NOK 3,000?

Once an item’s price reaches NOK 3,000 or more (excluding shipping and insurance), it no longer qualifies for VOEC’s checkout-collected VAT and duty-free treatment. Instead, the parcel goes through ordinary customs clearance: VAT is charged at the border, customs duty applies according to the item’s tariff category, and the carrier typically adds its own handling fee before delivery.

Are there items VOEC never covers regardless of value?

Yes. Foodstuffs, alcohol, tobacco, weapons, pharmaceutical products, and certain excise-taxed goods (like sugar, beverage packaging and some appliances) are excluded from VOEC entirely. Even a low-value item in these categories must go through full customs declaration, with duty and VAT assessed as if the low-value scheme didn’t exist.

Does Norway being outside the EU change anything for orders shipped from an EU country?

Yes. Because Norway isn’t in the EU customs union, a parcel from a French or German seller into Norway is a genuine cross-border import, subject to Norwegian VAT and Norway’s own VOEC rules, not the EU’s IOSS or €150 threshold. The seller’s location within or outside the EU doesn’t change which Norwegian rules apply.

Who actually handles my parcel at the Norwegian border?

For VOEC-eligible parcels, VAT is already collected and the paperwork is largely digital, so clearance is fast with minimal carrier involvement. For everything else, either Tolletaten (customs) or the delivering carrier (commonly Posten Norge/Bring, or another international courier) handles duty and VAT assessment and typically charges its own handling fee before releasing the parcel to you.