On December 29, 2017, Norway's Ministry of Finance amended their Bookkeeping Regulations to revise the timeline relating to the mandatory implementation of the Standard Audit File-Tax (SAF-T) mandate. The Ministry now specifies that SAF-T reporting will be required on January 1, 2020 or later. This action was entirely expected as the Norwegian Tax Administration had previously requested the Ministry to adjust the timeline. SAF-T filings are currently (and remain) voluntary for businesses operating in Norway.
While the deadline for SAF-T in Norway may have been temporarily deferred, requirements requiring transactional reporting to governments (sometimes in near real time) are beginning to take hold in Europe and the time remains right to consider a comprehensive and intelligent solution to what will be a growing compliance burden.
