Information on investments abroad

Have you received an administrative decision from Statistics Norway regarding your duty to provide information in the survey ‘Information on investment abroad (RA-0638)’? This web page gives you information on:

• changes in the requirements as of the financial year 2018
• what to report
• how to submit the questionnaire

Changes in the RA-0638

Statistics Norway will be subject to new requirements from Eurostat (the European Statistical Office). These requirements impose a statutory duty to report according to the EU legislative acts. This means that the following changes to form RA-0638 will be applicable as of the financial year 2018:

- Changes have been made to all Excel worksheets and it is recommended that you read through this information carefully. A new worksheet entitled ‘Example’ has been added to show an example of a correctly completed questionnaire. The questionnaire to be completed is found in the worksheets ‘Company 1 (Fill in)’, ‘Company 2 (Fill in)’ etc.

- Section 2 in the ‘Company 1’ worksheet. Information on foreign Companies:There is now only one field for ‘Official or internal ID code in native country’. Reporting of this information is still voluntary.

- Section 4 in the ‘Company 1’ worksheet. Balance sheet and income statement information for foreign companies with Norwegian ownership from at least 20 per cent: A new variable is to be reported: ‘Currency of investment’. Valid currency codes can be found in the worksheet ‘Country (ISO 3166) and currency (ISO 4217) codes’.

- The items ‘Set aside dividend included in own funds’ and ‘Set aside dividend included in debt’ have been removed from the questionnaire.

Item 5 in the ‘Company 1’ worksheet. Information on foreign subsidiaries with Norwegian direct or indirect ownership.

- Two new variables are to be reported: Employee benefits expense and ‘Gross investments’.

- The definition of ‘turnover’ has changed. Indirect taxes relating to sales, corresponding to item 3300 in Income statement 2 from the Norwegian Tax Administration, are now to be deducted from turnover.

Information to be reported

Statistics Norway compiles overviews of Norwegian companies’ activity abroad by looking at subsidiaries and other direct investment enterprises. We therefore need accounting information from directly owned subsidiaries and associated companies. Additionally, we need turnover, employee numbers, labour costs and gross investments for each foreign subsidiary, both directly and indirectly owned.

The information shall be reported electronically in an Excel workbook made up of multiple worksheets:

• The first worksheet (Start) gives information about the questionnaire and refers to further guidance.
• The second worksheet (Guidance) provides definitions that are relevant to the questionnaire and a figure showing what information needs to be specified for the different ownership types.
• The third worksheet (Example) gives an example of a properly completed report for one of the situations described in the figure from the Guidance worksheet.
• The fourth worksheet (Country and currency codes) contains country and currency code lists and can be helpful when filling in the information in the Company worksheet.
• The fifth worksheet (Industry codes) includes an industry code list and can be helpful when filling in the information in the Company worksheet.
• The remaining worksheets contain the questionnaire that is to be completed; (Company 1), (Company 2) and so on.

It is possible to report for several Norwegian investors in a single Excel form, in which case a separate Excel worksheet must be completed for each investor (Company 1, Company 2 etc.). Information on foreign companies with a Norwegian investor is filled in line by line working downwards in the worksheet.

For more information, see the DOCUMENTS in the column at the right.

Your answers are valuable

The information collected in this questionnaire is used as input in the statistics ‘Direct investment’ and ‘Norwegian subsidiaries abroad’. These statistics are published on our website (www.ssb.no) and reported to international organisations including Eurostat, OECD and the IMF. Additionally, some of the information is used in the calculations of the Norwegian national accounts.

Who needs to complete the survey?

Norwegian companies (Norwegian investors) with a direct investment of at least 20 per cent in a foreign company must report. Information needs to be given for each foreign company with this type of investment and for all subsidiaries in the same enterprise group (see figure in the ‘Guidance’ worksheet). The questionnaire applies to the financial year 2019. In cases where a company uses a different financial year, the questionnaire will apply to the last published accounts in 2019.

The questionnaire must be answered regardless of any activity in the company during the period to be reported.

How to submit the questionnaire

The information must be reported electronically via Altinn. For more information, see ‘How to answer surveys in Altinn on behalf of an enterprise’, located under DOCUMENTS in the column at the right.

Only those who have been assigned the relevant role can answer surveys on behalf of the company in Altinn. In order to complete this questionnaire, you need to have one of the following roles:

• reporter/sender
• responsible auditor
• accountant without signing rights
• accountant with signing rights

If you do not have one of the roles above, senior management can delegate this role on behalf of the company.

If you have questions regarding login or roles, contact Altinn on (+47) 75 00 60 00, or find more information at www.altinn.no/en

The duty to report

The statistics are important for Norwegian society, and you have a statutory duty to respond. If you do not submit the information by the deadline, a compulsory fine will be imposed on the company. For more information, see:

• The duty to provide information, and the right to collect information: Statistics Act, Section 2-2
• The right to impose a compulsory fine: Statistics Act, Section 2-3
• The right to enforce the collection of a fine and demand payment for costs: Tax Administration Act
• The right to appeal an administrative decision: Public Administration Act, Chapter VI

The submission deadline is specified in the company’s inbox at Altinn.