According to the Regulation to the Value Added Tax Act § 9-3-3, the transfer of adjustment liability must be documented by a “written, signed agreement.”
The purpose of this formal requirement is to ensure notoriety that the duty to adjust in the event of a change in use of the capital asset has been transferred to the buyer/recipient of the capital asset. The wording of the regulation “written, signed agreement” has not intended to exclude digital signing.
The possibility of digital signatures replacing physical signatures is presumed by the Act of June 15, 2018, on electronic trust services, which establishes that EU Regulation 910/2014 on electronic identification and trust services for electronic transactions in the internal market is also applicable as Norwegian law
Regarding the question of whether X’s signing solution is sufficiently secure and reliable to meet the formal requirement of a “written, signed agreement” in the Value Added Tax Regulations, we refer to X’s description of its signing solution on its website as an advanced electronic signature according to the EU’s eIDAS Regulation.
An advanced signature, according to Article 26 of the Regulation, implies that it is uniquely linked to and identifies the signatory, is generated using signature data that the signatory has full control over and is linked to other electronic information in such a way that changes to the document can be detected.
Agreements signed through such an advanced signature are, in our opinion, based on at least the same level of notoriety as a physically signed document.
Therefore, we consider X’s signing solution to fulfill the requirement for a written signature under Value Added Tax Regulations § 9-3-3.Regarding the question of whether those authorized to sign as registered in the Brønnøysund Register can sign, or whether, for example, the CEO and/or the person with power of attorney can do so, we note that the purchase and sale of capital assets require signatures or authorization on behalf of the company.
An adjustment agreement entered into in connection with such a transfer can, as a starting point, be signed by the CEO and/or a person with power of attorney. However, we reserve judgment for cases where the latent adjustment liability is significantly substantial in relation to the size of the company.
Source: skatteetaten.no
