Business structure

There are a few considerations to make when finding the optimal structure for an individual company or group of companies. Important aspects when reorganising a company or group of companies includes financing and provision of security, liquidity and capital flow, apportionment of risk, tax, VAT and administration.

Corporate structures tend to become more complex with time, especially group companies. Therefore, it is useful to tidy up, remove empty or redundant companies that incur extra administrative, accounting and auditing costs or to optimise the structure to better accommodate the aspects mentioned above. A change of ownership, such as in the case of a business succession, can demand structural adjustments.

Norway has a favourable tax-free regime for company or group reorganisations. Provided in compliance with the Tax and Company Act, transactions such as mergers, demergers, transformations, partial liquidation and intra-group transactions can be conducted tax-free. This is contingent on tax continuity, i.e. the tax position of the acquiring company remains unchanged.

Careful consideration should be given to how a company or group is structured, and RSM Advokatfirma has long and broad experience in providing such advice.

We can assist with:

• Choose the type of business entity
• Choose the optimum corporate structure for tax purposes
• Choose the transaction type in connection with a reorganisation
• Mergers and demergers
• Tax conversion of a general partnership to a private limited company
• Intra-group transactions pursuant to the regulations for supplementing and implementing the Tax Act
• Adaptation to the interest limitation rules
• Adaptation to financial activity tax
• Housing cooperative model for housing development projects
• Plan and implement business successions
• Cross-border mergers, demergers and share swaps
• Labour law in connection with reorganisation processes