A home office – what can you actually deduct?

For costs tied to the home itself, the room normally has to be used exclusively for earning income – a room that doubles as a guest room does not qualify. An employer can pay NOK 2,240 a year tax-free, or cover documented actual costs. Your own AS can rent a room from you, but only where the tenancy is genuine, and it can make a later sale of the home more expensive.

A dedicated office room – the test is «exclusively»

For costs tied to the home itself, the room normally has to be used exclusively for earning income. A room also used as a bedroom or a guest room normally does not qualify for the special home office treatment. That is the condition most often not met. Work equipment is treated more flexibly. A necessary computer or screen can be work equipment even where you have no dedicated office room.

Employees: NOK 2,240 in 2026

An employer can pay NOK 2,240 a year as a tax-free home office allowance where the employee has a room used exclusively as a home office. An ordinary employee does not normally get an extra personal deduction for the home office, because the costs are covered by the standard minimum deduction. Worth knowing before spending time collecting receipts.

Actual costs instead of the standard rate

Instead of the standard rate, an employer can cover documented actual costs attributable to the home office. Direct costs are attributed directly. Shared housing costs have to be apportioned in a defensible way, and for several such costs Skatteetaten's rules use rental value – not just square metres. That often gives a different result from a pure area fraction.

Computers, chairs and other equipment

An employer can provide necessary equipment or reimburse it without that automatically becoming taxable, where the main purpose is use at work. Phones and broadband follow their own rules for electronic communication. Where an employer funds privately available electronic communication, the maximum income addition is NOK 4,392 a year – regardless of whether the employer covers one service or several.

Can your own AS rent a room from you?

Yes, but there has to be a genuine tenancy. Relevant factors are a written agreement, the company's real right to use the space, the room's suitability for the business, use by customers or other employees, the company's fixtures or stock, and the actual volume of work. The rent has to be at market level. Overpaying can be reclassified as salary or a dividend – and then you have the worst of both.

The rent can be tax-free – but selling the home can cost more

On a genuine long-term letting of a smaller part of your own home, the rental income can be tax-free provided you use at least half the home yourself, measured by rental value. But where the let part is actually used in a business, that part can lose its accrued period of owner occupation. Where the area has been used in a business long enough before a sale, a proportionate part of the gain on the home can become taxable. That is the most important trade-off in this whole article: tax-free rent of a few thousand kroner a year can cost far more in gain tax the day the home is sold. An ordinary home office used in employment without letting it to the employer is treated differently and still counts as use of your own home.

Do you run a sole proprietorship?

Then you cannot rent to yourself – you and the business are the same legal person. Where you have a qualifying home office, in 2026 you can use the standard deduction of NOK 2,240 or documented actual costs. It is the actual exclusive business use – not the deduction itself – that can affect a later sale of the home. Not claiming the deduction therefore does not protect you from the gain tax. Greenleaf can separate cost coverage from a genuine tenancy, assess market rent and calculate how the home office arrangement affects both the company and the owner.

This is general guidance, not advice on your specific case. Deadlines, rates and amounts change – always check the current rules, or get in touch with us.

Is it urgent?

We can work out what actually has to be done, what documentation exists and how quickly it can be sorted. You can also reach us in the evenings and at weekends.

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