Who can apply for SkatteFUNN?
Before you apply for SkatteFUNN, you must clarify whether you have issues in the project that neither you nor other professionals in the industry know the answer to and that you plan to use research or development to find out. Your company must be liable to pay tax in Norway and be registered in the Brønnøysund Register Centre.
Go straight to:
Does your company qualify for support?
Does your project qualify for funding?
Combine SkatteFUNN with other support schemes
Does your company qualify for support?
The SkatteFUNN scheme is for companies of all sizes, industries and types of companies that are registered in the Brønnøysund Register Centre and are liable to pay tax in Norway.
- Is the company liable to pay tax in Norway?
In order to receive support from SkatteFUNN, the company must be liable to pay tax in Norway. There is no requirement for the company to be in a tax position. If the company makes a profit, the support comes in the form of a tax reduction over the tax settlement. If the company makes a loss, the support comes as a payment via the tax assessment. If the applicant company is not liable to tax, the application will be rejected. - Is the company a sole proprietorship without employees?
Unpaid work input does not provide a basis for a deduction. Sole proprietorships and other enterprises that do not have employees cannot enter salary expenses as a basis for tax deductions. Project work carried out by persons with a connection to the company, who do not have an employment relationship and a documentable agreed salary, are considered unpaid work input. Sole proprietorships can only receive support for employment relationships that are paid and that can be documented. - Is the company older than three years and has lost more than half of its equity?
If the enterprise has lost more than half of its equity and is older than three years, it will fall under the definition of Enterprise in difficulty. The company cannot be a company in difficulty at the time we approve the application, and must give us a declaration that you are not a company in difficulty when you receive the decision. Read more about companies in difficulty.
Does your project qualify for funding?
The project will
- aim to develop or improve an existing product, service or production process
- generate new knowledge or use existing knowledge in new ways, i.e.
- address an R&D challenge (problem) that has no known solution today
- describe how you will proceed systematically to obtain new knowledge
- be targeted and delimited, and it must be possible to separate the project from the normal operations and activities of the company
Activities that are not eligible for funding
Ordinary business-oriented product development without a research character is not considered a research and development project, and can therefore not be approved as part of a SkatteFUNN project. Examples of this are:
- Activity with the character of ongoing operations. This includes routine or regular changes to goods, services, production lines, production processes, existing services, or other ongoing activity. This applies even though such changes may entail improvements.
- Modification and change of the company's goods, services or production processes, when this does not require the development of new knowledge or new skills or the use of existing knowledge in new ways.
- Organisational development, training or competence measures.
- Customer or market research.
- Installation or adaptation of purchased production equipment.
- Artistic, musical, cinematic, literary or similar activity.
- Activity that consists of creating facilities for production.
- Acquisition, construction or improvement of real property, vehicles, ships or aircrafts.
- Mapping of and exploration for mineral deposits, natural resources or the like, unless it is a question of developing new or improved methods and techniques.
- Membership fees, or shares to fund joint research where this is not linked to the implementation of a specific collaborative project in which the company is actively involved.
- Control, quality assurance and validation of ongoing production and delivery of goods and services.
Combine SkatteFUNN with other support schemes
It is possible to combine SkatteFUNN with other support schemes.
There are restrictions on the proportion of funding an R&D project can receive from the public sector. If the size of the support exceeds the permitted share, the support from SkatteFUNN can either be reduced or cancelled completely. Read about the significance of the state support rules for SkatteFUNN projects.
The order you apply for the various support schemes is important. We recommend applying for grants from other support schemes first, and possibly SkatteFUNN later. Read more about incentive effect and combination of policy instruments here.
Messages at time of print 17 August 2024, 11:17 CEST