No promise on VAT exception for electric cars after 2021

Minister of Finance Jan Tore Sanner (H) will not promise to maintain the VAT exception for electric cars by 2021, VG can report.

For Norway to give consumers advantages for purchasing electric cars these advantages must be approved by EFTA’s monitoring agency ESA. The Norwegian Association of Electric Cars and The National Association of Car Importers demand that the Finance Minister seeks approval from ESA for another three years of VAT exception. Sanner will make no such promise. In an email to VG he writes:

“We are in dialogue with ESA about extensions on the VAT exception for electric cars. The government’s electric car policy is based on the Granavold platform. It states that we wish to continue the tax advantages for electric cars when it comes to the one-time fees and VAT for this entire parliamentary period.”

The Norwegian Association of Electric Cars and the National Association of Car Importers believe that removing the VAT exception will hinder Norway in reaching its goal that all new cars sold after 2025 should be zero-emission.

The Norwegian VAT exception for electric cars was introduced in July 2001, almost 20 years ago. Today zero-emission cars have no fees on the purchase, neither one-off taxes nor VAT. Moreover, there are discounts when passing tolls, cheaper parking, lower ferry prices, and permission to drive in the bus lane.

In July NTB wrote that a Conservative committee was considering phasing out the electric car advantages starting in 2022. This came out in a planning document the Conservative program-committee was working on.

“The time has come for the Conservative party to discuss how we will reintroduce taxes and fees on electric cars. If we do not, we will have no source of income to finance construction on our road-system.” said the program-committee deputy leader Henrik Asheim to NTB at the end of June.

© NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today