Norway Agreement and foreign pension information 106-04025000

In Norway, social security consists of a combination of compulsory public and occupational contribution schemes and additional voluntary insurance. The contributory schemes insure employees against all life events.

The legislation is the responsibility of the Norwegian government and contributions are managed through taxation, but administration and payment of pensions is the responsibility of the centralised insurance agency.

The Agreement with Norway started on 1 January 2007. There are no previous versions.

For Australia:

Department of Social Services (DSS)

For Norway:

Arbeids og sosialdepartementet - Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs

For Australia

Services Australia

Note: the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) is responsible for double coverage provisions.

For Norway:

Ny) Arbeids og Velferdsforvaltning (NAV) - Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration

For Australia:

International Services (CIS)

Note: the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) is responsible for double coverage.

For Norway:

(Ny) Arbeids og Velferdsforvaltning (NAV) - Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration.

Under the Agreement with Norway, information held about customers may be exchanged between the liaison agencies to determine entitlement to payments under the Agreement and under either country’s domestic legislation (Article 28.1).

For information on bulk data exchange, see International Data Exchange Program and auto-indexation of foreign pensions.

The following liaison form is completed by Centrelink International Services (CIS) and sent to Norway.

• AUS187NO - Australia/Norway Agreement on Social Security

For help with creating and completing the liaison form, see Agreement liaisons, NZ CICs and exchange of information.

The following liaison form is completed by Norway and sent to Centrelink International Services (CIS).

Transmittal/Request (N/AUS1)

This liaison form is used in all communication from Norway.

• Personal data of the claimant: provides personal details of the person to whom the liaison relates
• Material attached: specifies the forms or information provided in addition to the liaison
• Information requested: specifies the Australian information required by the Norwegian institution
• Remarks: free text comments
• Date, signature and stamp: certification by the Norwegian institution

Under the Administrative Arrangements, each country will arrange for an agreed report to be and sent with claims for invalidity/disability pensions.

Medical examinations may also be undertaken upon request for foreign pension claim purpose. Generally, the liaison agency will contact Services Australia with the request. There is no provision for reimbursement of costs to either country.

The customer should contact Services Australia if they receive a direct request from the liaison agency to undertake a medical examination. Advise the customer to go through Services Australia’s foreign pension medical assessment process. Where the customer has already undertaken a medical examination based on a direct request from the Agreement partner without consulting Services Australia, the customer should contact the liaison agency to discuss any possible reimbursement options.

If a customer is claiming reimbursement of costs based on undertaking a medical examination requested by Services Australia for foreign pension purpose, consider all evidence provided. For example, if incorrect advice was provided to the customer by Services Australia that caused them to seek an independent medical examination which caused the customer to be out of pocket.

See Customer compensation and Act of Grace.

Samples of forms, foreign documents and translations are available through the Residence and International program homepage.

The Agreement with Norway includes double coverage provisions. Certificates of coverage are used to confirm exceptions.

Any enquiries about double coverage or certificates of coverage should be directed to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) website.

Any queries about taxation of pensions or the requirement to lodge a tax return should be directed to:

• In the other country - the tax authority in the other country
• In Australia - the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) website

For general information on taxation, including issuing Australian payment summaries.

Tax treaty

Australia has a double tax agreement with Norway which avoids the need for the customer to pay tax in both countries.

A person who is 'resident' in one country (according to the definition in the tax agreement) generally only pays tax on pensions in that country.

Tax deductions from income by one country may be allowed as a credit against tax payable in the other country.

Tax deduction

Norwegian pensions may be taxed (skattekort/skattetrekk) at the source.

The gross rate of Norwegian pension, before any deduction, is maintained.

Note: customers may apply to the Norwegian tax authority (Skatteetaten) for an exemption from tax deductions. Customers will need to request a ‘Certificate of Residency’ from the ATO to go with the application for exemption.

Norwegian tax year

Norway uses the calendar year (1 January - 31 December) as the tax year.

Australia has a Reciprocal Health Care Agreement (RHCA) with Norway.

See general information on health insurance and Medicare coverage.

Any queries about:

• Health insurance coverage in the other country - tell the customer to contact the health insurance authority in the other country
• Medicare coverage - direct them to Medicare

Pensioners in Norway may have a health insurance deduction taken out of their Norwegian pension.

The gross rate of Norwegian pension, before any deductions, is maintained.

The official language of Norway is Norwegian.

Telephone country code is +47.

Street address

Title FirstName Surname [Addressee]

Storgata 15 A [Street + house number]

0161 Oslo [Postcode + town/city]

NORWAY

Post Office Box address

Title Surname [Addressee]

Postboks 533 [P.O. Box + number]

2304 Hamar [Postcode + town/city]

NORWAY

Same-sex marriage has been legal since 1 January 2009.

For Australia, the Agreement with Norway (Article 2.1) covers:

• Age Pension
• Disability Support Pension (DSP)

Note:

• Only severely disabled DSP customers:
• may be granted under the Agreement outside Australia (Article 15.2). Non-severely disabled customers may be granted only if they are an Australian resident and in Australia. See Lodgement rules and start day
• can transfer to the Agreement for extended portability in Norway (Article 5.3). See Portability

Claims for Australian payments under International Agreements use the same methods and processes as domestic claims.

Forms to claim an Australian payment in Norway can be obtained by:

• downloading the relevant form from the Services Australia website. See Resources
• contacting Centrelink International Services (CIS)
• contacting the Norwegian authorities

Australian forms needed

All claims:

• AUS140NO - Australian Pension Claim – Social Security Agreement between Australia and Norway

DSP only:

• AUS142 - Work Capacity - Customer Information
• AUS109 - Treating Doctor's Report, outside Australia
• AUS175 - Medical Assessment Report -, Disability Support Pension (Outside Australia)

Note: Norway arranges for the AUS175 to be completed on a case-by-case basis.

Forms can be lodged at any Norwegian social security office.

Under Section 9 of the Administrative Arrangements, the Norwegian liaison agency will:

• accept all forms/documents and date stamp the AUS140 form
• verify the customer’s identity and personal details,
• when necessary, arrange medical forms to be completed, and
• send the form(s) and any supporting documentation to Services Australia with a liaison form specifying periods of coverage in Norway and information regarding Norwegian pensions

See Exchange of information and liaison forms.

If a person is not an Australian resident and in Australia on the date the claim is made, they may use the Agreement to meet the residence rules for claims if, on that date, they are:

• an Australian resident or residing in Norway or another agreement country that accepts claims for Australian pension under another agreement (Article 15.1(a)), and
• physically present in Australia or Norway (Article 15.1(b))

Note: only severely disabled DSP customers can be granted under the Agreement in Norway. Non-severely disabled DSP can only be granted under the Agreement to customers who are an Australian resident and in Australia (Article 15.2).

Claims under the Norwegian Agreement

Claims for Australian payments under the Norwegian Agreement may not be lodged in certain other Australian Agreement countries.

See the Claim lodgement matrix.

Accepting other Agreement claims

Norway will accept claims for Australian benefits under other Australian social security agreements.

Claim lodgement consideration

The customer must also satisfy any other rules under the other agreement and other social security law provisions, including portability.

The normal rules for working out the date the claim is ‘made’ and the start day apply to a claim under the Agreement with Norway. However, the Agreement also allows:

• the date of lodgement of a claim for an Australian payment in Norway to be used as the date of lodgement in Australia (Article 23.2), and
• the date of lodgement of a Norwegian pension as the date of lodgement of the corresponding Australian payment (Article 24) (FP claim = AU claim) if:
• the customer requests or declares periods of residence in Australia on the Norwegian claim, and
• the Norwegian claim, or suitable evidence of the claim, is received by Australia within 6 months of the date of lodgement of the Norwegian claim in Norway

For coding help, see:

• Claims for Australian payments under International Agreements and
• Start Day (CLK)

The Agreement allows:

• totalisation of periods of qualifying Australian residence (any) and periods of coverage in Norway to meet any minimum periods to qualify for an Australian pension, for example, 10 years for Age Pension (Article 16.1)
• the total of any non-continuous Norwegian insurance periods to be considered to be continuous to meet any continuous residence requirement to claim an Australian pension (Article 16.2)

Note:

• Overlapping Australian residence and Norwegian periods of coverage are only counted once (Article 16.3)
• Adjoining periods of Australian qualifying residence and periods of insurance in Norway with a break of up to 3 months on between can be considered to be continuous (Policy)
• See Resources in International Social Security Agreements for examples of totalisation.

Norwegian period of coverage:

• means a period of insurance in Norway. That is a period:
• where a person has made contributions to the Norwegian social security scheme, or
• of residence as defined by Norwegian legislation
• means either period of insurance may be used when totalising for Australian qualification purposes, as long as they are certified and don’t overlap
• must be certified by the Norwegian Competent Institution.

To be able to use the totalisation provisions, a person who is not an Australian resident at the date of lodgement must have at least 12 months Australian Working Life Residence (WLR) (of which 6 months must be continuous (Article 16.4(a)).

Note: unlike WLR for rate, this period cannot be rounded.

No minimum WLR is required if the person is an Australian resident at the date of lodgement (Article 16.4(b)).

The Agreement allows the ongoing residence requirement for DSP to be met by customers who reside in Norway (Article 5).

For customers outside Australia, the Agreement with Norway (Article 17.3) refers to the overall rate calculation contained in section 12(1) of the Social Security (International Agreements) Act 1999.

This means customers paid under the Agreement have:

• a proportional rate according to their Australian Working Life Residence (WLR)
• the Rate Limiter/Limited Rate applied
• additional child amounts S14A, SS(IA) 1999) are included in the proportional rate
• their Norwegian pension proportionalised (Randisi concession) for use in the income test using denominator of 300 (Article 17.3)

Note:

• In some circumstances their partner’s WLR may be used. See Working Life Residence (WLR)
• Autonomous customers who are paid a proportional rate and in receipt of a Norwegian pension will also have the Randisi concession applied to their Norwegian pension (Article 17.5)

Non-proportional rate extension

Customers paid under the Norwegian Agreement and temporarily outside Australia, cannot have their non-proportional portability rate extended if they are unable to return to Australia

Returns to Australia

The proportional rate continues to apply for the first 26 weeks of a temporary return to Australia (Article 17.4).

• For returns to Australia before 9 June 2018, manually code Temporary Return to Aust Ind on the Residence Savings (RSS) screen.

Customers in Australia under the Agreement are generally paid a direct deduction rate (Article 17.6).

This Agreement includes a comparison rate in Australia (Article 17.8).

Departures from Australia

The inside Australia rate continues to be paid for the first 26 weeks of a temporary departure from Australia (Article 17.7).

Payments under the Agreement

Under the Agreement, provided the customer remains qualified, Australian payments are payable indefinitely in both countries, that is, for temporary or permanent absences (Article 5.1).

This only applies to severely disabled Disability Support Pension (DSP) customers (Article 5.3). Policy advice is that non-severely disabled DSP paid under the Norwegian Agreement is portable to Norway only for the same period as an autonomous DSP customer departing Australia. See Portability of payments.

Third country portability under the Agreement

There is no portability to third countries for a customer paid under the Agreement.

If necessary, a customer who receives an autonomous payment that stops being payable due to portability reasons can transfer to the Agreement to continue payment if:

• the payment is covered by the Agreement,
• the customer meets any payment limitations, such as severely disabled, and
• the customer is able to meet the lodgement provisions of the Agreement.

If transferred to the Agreement, all Agreement rules apply to the customer, including portability and rate of payment.

See Transfers to international social security agreements.

A person who has sufficient Australian qualifying residence (or an exemption) can transfer from the Agreement to autonomous only if they are an Australian resident and in Australia.

On return to Australia, system processing will automatically transfer from the Agreement to autonomous if the person is an Australian resident who has only used the Agreement to extend their portability while outside Australia.

Former resident provisions may affect customers who transfer to autonomous if the leave Australia again with 2 years of becoming an Australian resident.

Australian payments may be issued to customers outside of Australia. If the customer intends to be outside of Australia:

• long-term (12 months or longer), their Australian payment may be issued to an overseas bank account. See Overseas Bank Account Details (OBAD) for payment requirements by country
• for less than 12 months, payment will generally continue to their normal Australian bank account every 2 weeks

See Delivery of payments to Centrelink customers outside Australia.

For Norway, the Agreement covers the National Insurance legislation for particular payments.

Main payments

• Alderspensjon - Old Age Pension (AGE)
• Uførepensjon - Disability Pension (INV)
• Gjenlevendepensjon - Survivor Pension (SUR)
• Gjenlevende ektefelle - Widow/er
• Barnepensjon - Orphan
• Arbeidsavklaringspenger - Rehabilitation benefits (REB)
• Krigsinvalidepensjon - (War injury Pension) (NWI)

Supplementary payments/Allowances

• Særtillegg/Tilleggspensjon - Special supplement
• Minste pensjonsnivå - Minimum supplement
• Forsørgingstillegg - Dependents supplement for spouse or child
• Arbeidsavklaringspenger (AAP) - Work assessment allowance

The following known payments are paid by the Norwegian authorities but are not covered under the Agreement:

• Tjenestepensjoner - Occupational pension
• Gravferdsstønad - Funeral benefit

For help with:

• Assessment of Norwegian pensions, see Assessment
• Coding of Norwegian pensions, see Eligibility and Coding

The requirement to claim Norwegian pensions applies to Norwegian AGE and INV.

• Customers may voluntarily claim SUR
• Customers may voluntarily claim Orphan pension using the SUR claim pack

See Foreign pension claims.

Eligibility and coding of foreign pensions tab contains detailed information on Norwegian payments that are subject to CFP legislation.

Claim packs are available for AGE, INV and SUR.

Claim packs are issued through the Foreign Pension System (FPS). See Assisting customers to claim a foreign pension.

Specific requirements for Norwegian claims

The customer is to complete and provide the following:

AGE claim:

• Application for retirement pension (NAV 19-01.05)

INV claim:

• Claim for disability pension (NAV 12-06.05)
• Attachment to Norwegian claim form (old age pension, disability pension): Periods of residence and work in Norway (N/AUS3)

SUR claim:

• Application for benefits for surviving spouse/partner/cohabitant and surviving child(ren) (NAV 17-01.05)

Requests for additional information

If information provided with the claim for Norwegian pension is incomplete, Norway will send requests for information in Norwegian direct to customers.

Receipt of foreign pension claim by Services Australia

Under the Administrative Arrangements, Norwegian forms can be lodged in Australia at any service centre. See Processing a foreign pension claim.

• All foreign pension claims and supporting documents must be scanned, and
• The original foreign claim form and (copies of) supporting documentation must be sent in paper form to Centrelink International Services (CIS). See Processing a foreign pension claim

Centrelink International Services (CIS) only:

CIS will complete the following or arrange for the following to be completed as necessary and attach the documents to the foreign pension claim to send to the agreement country. See Agreement Liaison Detail (ALD) for method of transmission.

Include the partner’s citizenship status in the ‘other information’ field on the liaison as they may be entitled to a supplement.

All claims:

• AUS187NO - Australia/Norway Agreement on Social Security

For help with creating and completing the liaison form, see Agreement liaisons, NZ CICs and exchange of information.

INV only:

• Job Capacity Assessment (JCA) report
• Copies of existing Australian medical information. See Foreign pension medical assessments.

Enquiries about claims for Norwegian payments in Norway or a third country should be directed to the Norwegian social security authorities.

Norwegian payments may be paid by direct deposit in Australia.

Any queries about the non-payment of Norwegian pension should be directed to the Norwegian pension authorities.

Other benefits or private pensions are paid monthly or annually.

Agreement pensions are paid as 12 regular monthly payments per year. There are no bonus payments.

Norwegian pensions must be recorded in the source currency - Norwegian Krone (NOK). Official statements provide the foreign currency amounts.

Amounts recorded in source currency on the Foreign Pensions Details (FPD) screen must not be changed to the Australian dollar amount.

Note: payments into Australia are made in Australian dollars.

Norwegian payments are increased for Consumer Price Index (CPI, or cost of living) changes annually in May, but payment and notices are not actually received until July.

See Foreign pension coding for information on the date of event to use for coding.

For information on bulk data exchanges and auto adjusted CPI increases, see International Data Exchange Program and auto-indexation of foreign pensions.

• directly deducted (Article 17.6) and ignored in the income test (Article 8(8)(zc) Social Security Act 1991) for customers paid under the Norwegian Agreement who are in Australia
• proportionalised and assessed as ordinary income (Article 17.3) for customers paid:
• under the Norwegian agreement who are outside Australia
• autonomously who are on a long-term outside Australia rate
• ordinary income (not proportionalised) for customers paid:
• autonomously who are inside Australia
• under another agreement other than Norway or New Zealand, who are inside or outside Australia

See Rate Calculation for when a direct deduction or proportional rate is applied.

Note: each member of a couple is deemed to receive half of the total amount received by the couple (Article 17.9).

• Tjenestepensjoner - Occupational pension

A pension for employees working in either the private or public sector. The scheme provides benefits that are in addition to national insurance.

These payments are exempt income for customers paid under the Agreement or autonomously, who are outside Australia and for the first 26 weeks of a temporary return to Australia (Article 17.1):

Norwegian means tested benefits and social assistance payments

• means tested Norwegian benefit or supplement
• Norwegian benefit that covers specific cost, and
• Norwegian social assistance payments

These include:

• Særtillegg/Tilleggspensjon - Special supplement

A special supplement (Særtillegg) is granted to a person who has contributions in Norway but has either no or a very low supplementary pension (Tilleggspensjon). The rate depends on the customer’s marital status and partner’s income.

• Arbeidsavklaringspenger (AAP) - Work assessment allowance

May be paid to a customer when their work ability due to an illness or an injury. As a rule, this payment can be paid for up to 3 years.

• Forsørgingstillegg - Dependent (spouse/child) supplement

From 1 January 2022, spousal dependent supplement for old-age pension is no longer granted. Customers in receipt of this payment will receive a lower dependent supplement from 1 January 2023 until 1 January 2025. From January 2025, no one will receive this supplement.

Customers that are eligible to receive the child dependent supplement will continue to receive it.

• Krigsinvalidepensjon - War injury pension

Includes payments under:

• War Pension Act of 1946 for members of the Resistance Movement and Civilians
• War Pension Act of 1946 for Military Personnel
• Amendment Act, of 1968
• Amendment Act 1951, Chapter IV

War injury pension is exempt from the income test for autonomous or Norwegian Agreement customers in all circumstances (including direct deduction rates) if paid to their partner who does not also receive an Australian pension or DVA Service pension (Article 17.2(a)). Otherwise, assess as ordinary income in all other circumstances.

War injury payments for medical and dental treatment made to recipients of NWI are exempt in all circumstances including direct deduction (Article 17.2(b)).

• Gravferdsstønad - Norwegian Funeral benefit

Norwegian Funeral benefit (Gravferdsstønad) may be exempt from the income test if payable as a reimbursement to the person who incurred expenses associated with the bereavement.

Otherwise, the amount is assessable for 12 months from date of receipt (s1073 Social Security Act 1991) See Treatment of Lump Sums.

The Agreement includes indirect embargo provisions (Article 26.2) but they are not used.

Arrears debts for customers and partners are raised under s1228A Social Security Act 1991 and recovered by normal methods under the Act. See Comparable Foreign Payment (CFP) lump sum arrears debts.

Where an arrears period is not provided, the arrears period end date can be assumed to be the end of the month prior to the date on the official notice or liaison form.

A contravention debt may also occur if the customer does not advise of the grant of their Norwegian pension within their notification period. See Foreign pension coding.

Life certificates (Leveattest) are issued by Norwegian pensioners each year in April. Customers generally need to respond by beginning of June.

Certificates are multilingual.

Norwegian Life Certificates can be certified by an officer of Services Australia.

For information on helping customers with life certificates, see Assisting customers to maintain an existing foreign pension.

Customers in Australia are sent notices at grant and will generally receive monthly pension certificates and an annual statement.