– The wealth tax is the only reason why I moved to Switzerland, says the property investor.
In some years, he has paid more in taxes in Norway than he has had in income. It didn’t last long.
In this interview, he talks about:
Life as a ski dad
How he got a fortune of almost two billion
Why he cannot pay the Norwegian wealth tax
What he pays in taxes in Switzerland
What could make him move to Norway again
Just outside St. Moritz in Switzerland, father and son Aas strap on their skis. The weather is cloudy. The driver is a bit tired. It’s time for a training ride. Both will take part in La Diagonela, one of the winter’s long-distance races of 48 kilometres. Father Aas will walk a slightly shorter distance.
Success and fun
– I got running shoes when Mathias was ten and I was 45. Then I had to put away the gin and tonic and got running shoes instead. I’m happy about that, says Kjartan Aas with a smile.
SKI CLASSICS: Son Mathias Aas Rolid participates in cross-country skiing all winter. Dad only got Kjartan Aas sneakers when he was 45, he says. Photo: Santiago Vergara/TV 2
All winter long, he follows his son Mathias Aas Rolid (26) around on long-distance runs. Mathias has a full-time job as a skier and participates in Ski Classics, for the team Team Næringsbanken. It has its advantages that the father moved to Switzerland in 2021.
– Very nice for me too. To be able to just swing by and be there between battles instead of traveling up and down to Norway, says Mathias.
If Kjartan Aas had not followed his son around during the season, he would have had a new life in the village of Andermatt, where he lives. With skiing and some trips on the alpine slopes.
In the summer, he might take a bike ride with Bjørn Dæhlie, who lives about an hour and a half away. Kjartan has several Norwegian championships in mountain biking.
Many of the Swiss-Norwegians keep in touch with each other. They meet, for example, at events and dinners organized by Swiss banks.
SUPPORTS DAD: Kjartan Aas and others who move out of Norway are accused of failing the Norwegian splicing team. His son Mathias thinks that is wrong. Photo: Santiago Vergara/TV 2
– I started in the property industry thirty years ago. After all, the conditions were very good and have been doing so all along. It has been successful and fun, he says.
He grew up in Raufoss, with a father who worked at the ammunition factory as a salesman. As a newly graduated economist from BI, he became finance director in the shipping industry. The pay was good. It was easy to get a loan. He struck when a block of flats with 19 apartments in Vålrenga was for sale. This was at the beginning of the 90s. After that, he built up a property empire through the company Opulens.
RICH: He is number 244 on Kapital’s list of Norway’s richest in 2022. His fortune is NOK 1.9 billion. Photo: Santiago Vergara/TV 2
Fortune in bricks and windows
Kjartan Aas owns a number of apartment buildings and properties in central Oslo. Aas is number 244 on Kapital’s list of the country’s richest from 2022. With a fortune of 1.9 billion.
– Why did you move?
– It is only because of the wealth tax that I moved. It was so simple that when the turnover was lower than the tax, then you could not run a business. When you have run the same business for 30 years, it is a shame not to be able to continue.
PROPERTY: Since the beginning of the 1990s, Kjartan Aas has invested in property. Photo: Santiago Vergara/TV2
In the last years he lived in Norway, he paid NOK 27,000 in taxes every day.
Increased assessment rates under the Solberg government took him out of Norway. The assessed values of his properties were previously very low. Then wealth tax was not a problem.
– You have a lot of assets, but you also have income?
– I have a lot of wealth in bricks and I was about to say, window panes, but that doesn’t help. Wealth tax must be paid in cash. Then the income must be higher than the turnover, or it won’t work. There have been several years where I have paid more in tax than I have had in income, he says.
His treasure in Switzerland
In February, he will receive his first payment from NAV as a pensioner. All his income will be dividends from the Norwegian companies. He still has to pay 15 percent tax, so-called withholding tax, to Norway. This is harmonized against the tax that is in his “canton” state, in Switzerland. That tax is zero. Then 15 percent remains in tax.
TAX EVASION: In recent months, at least 30 Norwegians have reported moving out of Norway to Switzerland, which has more favorable tax rules for those with large assets. Photo: Santiago Vergara/TV 2
– It’s quite nice, isn’t it?
– It’s really nice, isn’t it? Ten million in dividends, 8.5 million to buy beer with. While in Norway ten million kroner in dividends is more than ten million kroner in tax. Then it is an easy calculation.
He cannot be in Norway for more than 60 days a year. In Switzerland, he must spend around half the year in the country. These are the rules.
Kjartan Aas has not received many negative reactions to the move directly. The comments he has read in the media and on Facebook are something else entirely.
– Those who have not been close to running their own business, they do not understand what this is all about. When I say that many people have financial baby brains, I mean it.
Aas says that he has to pay suppliers and employees, and give security to everyone. For him, it is impossible to run a property company in Norway under the current conditions.
The Swiss emigrants are criticized for not wanting to pay the splicing team for the nation of Norway. The country that may have made them who they are today.
– What do you say to that ?
– I understand that. If we do not contribute privately then it is in a way a burden. But it is the case that the companies pay a lot of tax then.
Son Mathias has studied economics on a ski scholarship in the USA. He supports his father and the move.
– Dad and Opulens have contributed buckets and pails. And still contributes in buckets and pails. So that he does not contribute, there is no argument at all.
Kjartan Aas is concerned about the survey that was published during the World Economic Forum in Davos last week. That the differences in the world are increasing.
– I have a guilty conscience when I read something like that from Davos, but it has to be that way. I am a supporter of everyone contributing, but you must have a system so that it is a pleasure to contribute.
– What do you feel guilty about?
– No, we who have a lot of values want to contribute. When you see that the richest people in the world are getting richer and richer, and the poorer are getting worse and worse, then you think about it. It is not good.
Will not move back
There is little he misses about Norway. Although he would have liked to have spent more time with his parents. Or just having a coffee with someone he knows on the street. He is very impressed with the Swiss healthcare system. He has no plans to move back.
– If you’re going to an old people’s home, it would probably be nicer to sit with some childhood friends than some old people down here, perhaps.
SHARE THE SKIING: Father and son Aas share an interest in skiing. Here on a training trip near St. Moritz. : Photo: Santiago Vergara/TV
He is not surprised by the flow of billionaires or multi-millionaires out of Norway. Maybe it will be the case that he will soon be able to go out on the streets and meet acquaintances here too, he jokes.
Kjartan Aas thinks he will still be living in Switzerland in ten years.
– I think it’s absolutely fantastic, so if the wealth tax disappears, I won’t move back again. For me, it is much nicer to live here than to repeat the life I have had in Norway year after year.
In La Diagonela, Kjartan Aas came 5th in his class. Mathias had to break due to illness.
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