Norway is one of Scandinavia's most active e-commerce markets, with high online spending per capita and strong cross-border shopping habits. But Norway sits outside the EU — which means every commercial shipment from an EU country to a Norwegian consumer crosses a customs border and, in principle, triggers Norwegian import VAT. For merchants selling regularly to Norwegian customers, the VOEC number is the mechanism that makes that VAT process seamless instead of friction-filled.
What is a VOEC number?
A VOEC number is a unique tax identifier that allows foreign businesses to collect Norwegian VAT at checkout when selling low-value goods to Norwegian consumers — rather than having VAT collected from the customer at the Norwegian border when the parcel arrives.
VOEC stands for VAT on E-Commerce. It is Norway's equivalent of the EU's IOSS scheme — a simplified VAT registration system designed specifically for cross-border e-commerce. When you are registered for VOEC, your shipments to Norwegian consumers include the VAT in the checkout price, and the parcels clear Norwegian customs without the customer facing additional charges at delivery.
A VOEC number follows the format: VOEC + a 7-digit number, for example VOEC1234567. This number must be included in the shipment data passed to the carrier — it is what Norwegian customs uses to confirm that VAT has been pre-declared.
Why VOEC matters — the problem it solves
Norway's standard de minimis threshold for import VAT is NOK 350 — approximately €30. This is very low by international standards. Without VOEC, almost every e-commerce order from a foreign merchant to a Norwegian consumer will trigger Norwegian import VAT (25%) at the border.
The practical consequence is identical to the pre-IOSS situation for EU imports: the carrier's customs brokerage contacts the customer before releasing the parcel, requests VAT payment, and the customer faces an unexpected charge and a delivery delay. Many customers in this situation either refuse to pay and the parcel is returned, or pay but feel misled and don't order from that merchant again.
For merchants selling regularly to Norway, this creates:
Abandoned deliveries. A returned parcel costs you the outbound and return shipping, plus a refund. The customer is lost.
Customer satisfaction damage. Norwegian consumers who frequently shop cross-border know about customs VAT — but they also know that merchants who have done the work to register for VOEC provide a better experience. Your store looks unprepared compared to competitors who have sorted this.
Competitive disadvantage. Norwegian-based merchants, and foreign merchants who have registered for VOEC, show the full landed cost at checkout. If your checkout shows a lower price but a customs charge appears at delivery, you appear cheap upfront and expensive in reality.
VOEC solves all of this. You collect Norwegian VAT (25%) at checkout, remit it quarterly to the Norwegian Tax Administration, and your parcels clear customs without stopping. The customer sees and pays the total cost at the point of purchase.
What does VOEC cover?
The VOEC scheme applies specifically to:
Physical goods with a value under NOK 3,000 per shipment — approximately €265. This covers the vast majority of standard e-commerce orders. Clothing, accessories, electronics, books, cosmetics, homewares, gifts — if the order value is under NOK 3,000, VOEC is the right mechanism.
Digital services — streaming, software, online gaming, e-books, and similar electronically supplied services are also covered by the VOEC system if your annual sales to Norwegian consumers exceed NOK 50,000.
What VOEC does not cover:
- Shipments with a goods value above NOK 3,000 per shipment — these cross into standard Norwegian customs territory regardless of VOEC registration
- Goods subject to Norwegian excise duties (alcohol, tobacco, certain electronics) — these are excluded from VOEC regardless of value
- B2B sales to Norwegian VAT-registered businesses — VOEC is a B2C scheme
For above-threshold shipments (over NOK 3,000), standard Norwegian customs apply: a customs declaration is required, Norwegian import VAT is collected at the border, and import duties may apply depending on the product category and country of origin.
VOEC vs IOSS — how they compare
If you already sell to EU consumers and are registered for IOSS, VOEC will feel familiar. The two schemes are structurally similar and exist for the same reason — but they are separate registrations for separate jurisdictions.
| VOEC | IOSS | |
|---|---|---|
| Jurisdiction | Norway | European Union (27 member states) |
| Threshold | Under NOK 3,000 per shipment | Under €150 per shipment |
| VAT rate | 25% (fixed) | Destination country rate (17–27%) |
| Registration | Norwegian Tax Administration | Any EU member state's tax authority |
| Return frequency | Quarterly | Monthly |
| Intermediary required | No — direct registration available | Required for non-EU businesses |
| Applies to | All foreign merchants selling to Norwegian consumers | Non-EU merchants shipping to EU consumers |
The key practical difference for a Nordic merchant: IOSS covers your EU customers, VOEC covers your Norwegian customers. If you ship regularly to both, you need both registrations. If you only sell within the EU, you need neither — intra-EU B2C VAT is handled through OSS.
Do I need to register for VOEC?
The registration requirement depends on whether you are selling goods to Norwegian consumers on a regular commercial basis.
You should register for VOEC if:
- You regularly ship orders under NOK 3,000 to Norwegian consumers
- Norway is a meaningful market for your Shopify store
- You want Norwegian customers to receive their orders without customs delays or surprise VAT charges
There is no minimum annual turnover threshold for physical goods. Unlike the digital services VOEC threshold of NOK 50,000, the physical goods scheme applies regardless of how much you sell. Even a small volume of Norwegian orders benefits from VOEC — both for your customers' experience and for your own customs documentation compliance.
Registration is free and done directly through the Norwegian Tax Administration's online portal — no intermediary is required.
How to register for VOEC
Registration is straightforward and entirely online:
1. Go to the Norwegian Tax Administration's VOEC registration portal. The registration page is available in English: skatteetaten.no/en/business-and-organisation/vat-and-duties/vat/foreign/e-commerce-voec/register/
2. Provide your business details. You will need your company name, address, contact details, and your expected annual sales to Norwegian consumers. For physical goods there is no minimum threshold, but an estimate of sales volume is required.
3. Receive your VOEC number. Processing is typically fast — many businesses receive their VOEC number within a few business days. The number will be in the format VOEC1234567.
4. Configure your Shopify store to collect Norwegian VAT. Update your Shopify tax settings to charge 25% VAT on orders shipped to Norway. Norwegian VAT applies to the goods value and typically to shipping costs as well. Shopify's tax settings can be configured to apply the Norway rate automatically by destination.
5. Add your VOEC number to Packrooster. Enter your VOEC number in Packrooster's location settings so it is applied automatically to every eligible shipment to Norway — see the setup instructions below.
6. File quarterly VAT returns. Each quarter, file a simplified VAT return through the Skatteetaten portal reporting your total sales to Norwegian consumers, broken down by VAT rate. Pay the total VAT collected. Returns are due within 20 days after the end of each calendar quarter.
Common mistakes to avoid
Not registering before you start shipping to Norway at scale. VOEC registration is free and quick. Delaying means your Norwegian customers face customs VAT charges on every order until you register. Register early — it is one of the first things to do when Norway becomes a meaningful market for your store.
Applying VOEC to shipments above NOK 3,000. VOEC only covers individual shipments under the NOK 3,000 threshold. A single order over this value must be processed through standard Norwegian customs — the VOEC number does not exempt it from customs assessment regardless of your registration status. If you regularly take above-threshold Norwegian orders, you need a separate process for those.
Not including the VOEC number in the carrier shipment data. This is the most common operational error. Simply having a VOEC number is not enough — it must be transmitted to the carrier when the label is created, so the carrier can include it in the customs declaration data sent to Norwegian customs. If the VOEC number is missing from the shipment data, Norwegian customs treats the parcel as a standard unregistered import and charges the recipient at delivery. Packrooster handles this automatically when the number is configured in your location settings.
Forgetting to adjust for the NOK/EUR exchange rate over time. The NOK 3,000 threshold is in Norwegian kroner, not euros. As exchange rates move, the equivalent euro value shifts. A product you have priced in euros may occasionally push above the threshold in NOK terms depending on the rate. For stores with products priced close to €250–270, it is worth monitoring whether orders stay within the threshold.
Treating VOEC as a complete solution for all Norwegian VAT. VOEC covers consumer VAT on low-value goods. It does not cover import duties (which apply to goods above certain duty thresholds for specific categories), excise goods, B2B sales to Norwegian companies, or Norwegian corporate tax obligations if you have a physical presence in Norway. For most Shopify e-commerce operations, VOEC covers the relevant obligation — but it is worth being clear about what falls outside it.
How to add your VOEC number in Packrooster Shipping
Once you have your VOEC number, adding it to Packrooster takes under a minute and means it is applied automatically to every eligible shipment to Norway — no manual entry per order required.
Steps:
- Open Packrooster Shipping in your Shopify admin
- Go to General Settings
- Find your shipping locations (these come from your Shopify shipping locations)
- Press the Edit button next to the relevant shipping location
- Enter your VOEC number in the VOEC field
- Save
Packrooster automatically includes your VOEC number in the carrier's shipment data for orders shipped from that location to Norwegian addresses where the order value is under NOK 3,000. This is what enables the pre-cleared customs status that prevents VAT being charged at delivery.
If you ship from multiple locations, each location can have its own VOEC number configured. Packrooster applies the correct identifier per location automatically.
Don't have Packrooster Shipping yet? Install it from the Shopify App Store.
Learn more about Packrooster →
Frequently asked questions
What is the Norwegian VAT rate under VOEC? Norway's standard VAT rate is 25%, which applies to most consumer goods. A reduced rate of 15% applies to food products, and 12% applies to passenger transport, cultural events, and certain other services. For most e-commerce products — clothing, electronics, accessories, homewares — the standard 25% rate applies.
Is VOEC registration free? Yes. There is no registration fee and no ongoing cost to maintain VOEC registration. The only obligation is filing quarterly VAT returns and remitting the VAT collected from Norwegian customers.
How often do I need to file VOEC returns? Quarterly. Returns are due within 20 days after the end of each calendar quarter: Q1 (January–March) return is due April 20, Q2 (April–June) is due July 20, Q3 (July–September) is due October 20, and Q4 (October–December) is due January 20. Returns are filed through the Norwegian Tax Administration's online portal.
Does VOEC apply if I sell to Norwegian businesses (B2B)? No. VOEC is a B2C scheme covering sales to private consumers. Sales to Norwegian VAT-registered businesses are handled differently — the Norwegian business handles Norwegian VAT on their own VAT return through the standard reverse charge mechanism. For B2B sales to Norway, you do not collect Norwegian VAT at checkout and VOEC does not apply.
What happens to orders over NOK 3,000? Orders above the NOK 3,000 threshold are outside VOEC and subject to standard Norwegian customs. The carrier's customs brokerage handles Norwegian import customs clearance, and the customer may face Norwegian customs VAT (and potentially import duty) at delivery, collected before the parcel is released. For merchants with significant above-threshold Norwegian order volumes, using a carrier DDP service — where the carrier collects and remits the Norwegian VAT and any duty on your behalf — provides a similar customer experience to VOEC for those higher-value orders.
Can I use VOEC for digital services as well as physical goods? Yes, but with a different threshold. For digital services (streaming, software, e-books, online courses), the VOEC system applies once your annual sales to Norwegian consumers exceed NOK 50,000. Below that threshold, digital service sales to Norwegian consumers do not require VOEC registration. Physical goods have no minimum threshold — any volume of sales triggers the registration obligation.
How does VOEC relate to the general Norwegian customs requirement? Even with VOEC, Norway is still outside the EU Customs Union — every commercial shipment from the EU to Norway crosses a customs border. VOEC handles the VAT side of that crossing for qualifying shipments. Customs documentation (CN22 or CN23) is still required on shipments to Norway. What VOEC changes is that qualifying shipments are pre-cleared for VAT — customs processes them without stopping to collect VAT from the recipient. The shipment still crosses the border; it just crosses it faster and without customer friction.
