Own work on property now valued at employee wage rate

Owners who build or improve a property themselves must now value that own work at what an employee would have been paid in wages for performing work of equivalent quality.Skatteetaten The previous measure — what it would have cost to have work of the same quality performed by others — is gone from the page on tax when selling a home or other real property.Skatteetaten

The surrounding mechanics are unchanged. The value of own work on new construction (nybygg) or improvements (påkostning) may be deducted from a taxable gain or increase a deductible loss.Skatteetaten The hourly allowance for non-craftsmen must as a main rule be set lower than for a craftsman, for example at the rate for unskilled labour, with rates found on Arbeidstilsynets nettsider. The value of own work is taxable and must be recognised as income in the year the work is performed — except for leisure-time work on the owner's own home or leisure property that the owner uses personally.Skatteetaten

In the gain computation the distinction between improvement and maintenance still decides what counts. Only costs connected to the påkostning enter the inngangsverdi:Skatteetaten Skatte-ABC's inngangsverdi chapter states that the value of the owner's own work on manufacture or improvement of an asset is as a starting point taxable income and enters the inngangsverdi to the extent it has been recognised as income — while the seller's and household's leisure-time work on their own home or leisure property is added to the inngangsverdi even where that work is tax-free. A Skatteklagenemnda decision published 9 July 2024 on realisation of real property illustrates the boundary in practice: the deduction for own work covered only hours tied to the improvement, maintenance hours were excluded, and the number of hours claimed was tested against what the owner could credibly have worked alongside full-time employment.

In practice, sellers who did their own building or improvement work should compute the figure under the new wage-based measure rather than collecting quotes for what a contractor would have charged for the same job, keep the craftsman/non-craftsman rate distinction, and recognise the value as income in the year of performance unless the leisure-time exception for their own home or leisure property applies. Where the property is the owner's own home or leisure property used personally, the value still increases the inngangsverdi even though it is tax-free.Skatteetaten

Legal basis: Skatteetaten's page on tax when selling a home or other real property (Verdi av eget arbeid); Skatte-ABC 2025/2026 I-3-2.3.3 Verdi av eget arbeid; Skatteklagenemnda decision published 9 July 2024 on realisation of real property with deduction for own work.