BSU, boligsparing for ungdom, is the one savings account in Norway that pays you back through your tax bill. Put money aside for a first home before you turn 34 and the state hands back a tenth of it as a straight cut to the tax you owe. The rate is lower than it once was, and there is now a firm condition attached, but the account still beats an ordinary savings account for most young people who do not yet own their home. Here is how the scheme works for the 2026 income year, what the deduction is worth, and the rules that decide whether you keep it.
What BSU is
BSU is a dedicated savings account you open with a Norwegian bank while you are young, with the money earmarked for housing. Two things make it different from a normal high-interest account. First, banks usually pay their best savings rate on a BSU account, often a point or two above what the same bank offers on other deposits. Second, and this is the part people open the account for, you get a tax deduction each year on what you pay in.
You can save up to NOK 27,500 in a single year, and up to NOK 300,000 over the life of the account. Those two caps have held steady into 2026. There is no minimum: you can pay in nothing one year and the full amount the next, and gaps between years do not cost you anything. The account can only be opened once per person, so once you have used it up or closed it after buying a home, that is the end of the scheme for you.
The tax deduction, and how much it is worth
The deduction is 10 percent of what you deposit in the year, taken straight off your assessed tax rather than off your taxable income. Pay in the full NOK 27,500 and you cut your tax by NOK 2,750. Pay in NOK 15,000 and the reduction is NOK 1,500. The saving is a direct credit, so it is worth the same to everyone regardless of which bracket-tax step they sit on.
That 10 percent is worth pausing on, because it used to be double. Until the 2023 income year the rate was 20 percent, and the maximum deduction was NOK 5,500 a year. The budget deal for 2023 halved it to 10 percent, capping the yearly benefit at NOK 2,750, and it has stayed there for 2024, 2025 and now 2026. Fill the full NOK 300,000 lifetime cap and the total tax handed back across all your saving years comes to NOK 30,000, against the NOK 60,000 the old rate would have returned.
One catch decides whether you get the deduction at all: you must not own a home. If you already own residential property on 31 December, wholly or in part, as a main home or a second home, you get no BSU deduction for that year. You can still keep the account and its interest, but the tax break is gone the moment you become an owner. The deduction is there to help people save toward a first purchase, not to reward those who have already made it.
You need enough tax to deduct against, too. The credit cannot take your tax below zero, so a year with very little income can waste part of it. It is worth checking your likely tax first: the Norway income tax calculator shows what you would owe on a given salary, and the Norway salary calculator works the same figure back to a monthly net.
What the money can be used for
The saved balance has to go toward your own home, and Skatteetaten reads that fairly broadly. It covers buying a place, the costs that come with a purchase, paying down the mortgage on a home you have bought, and improvements to it. Upgrades that count include an EV charging point, a heat pump or solar panels, so the account keeps working after you own the property. What it cannot fund is a holiday cabin, furniture, an extra plot of land, or a caravan or other mobile unit.
Break that rule and the bill arrives as extra tax. If you withdraw the money for something outside the scheme, the tax office adds back the deductions you claimed in earlier years as additional tax for the year you broke the rules. Take out only part of the balance for a non-housing purpose and only the matching share of past deductions is clawed back. In short, the deduction is a loan against good behaviour: keep the money pointed at a home and it is yours, spend it elsewhere and you repay it.
A worked example
Say you open a BSU account at 24 and pay in the full NOK 27,500 every year. Each year your tax drops by NOK 2,750. After 11 years of full deposits you reach the NOK 300,000 lifetime cap, having taken NOK 30,000 off your tax along the way, on top of whatever interest the account earned. If your bank pays, say, 4 percent on the balance, the interest compounds on a pot that is growing every year, and the total at the end is meaningfully more than the NOK 300,000 you put in. You can model that growth for your own rate and deposit with the compound interest calculator, and check how long it takes to hit a target balance with the savings goal calculator.
The deduction alone is a guaranteed 10 percent return on each year’s deposit, before any interest. No ordinary savings account offers that. The trade is the strings: the money is meant for a home, and the tax break disappears once you own one. For a young saver who has not yet bought, filling the BSU account first, then any spare cash into a normal account, is usually the right order.
For the wider picture of how Norwegian tax fits together, from the flat 22 percent on ordinary income to the bracket tax and national insurance, see the take-home pay guide.
FAQ
Who can open a BSU account? Anyone who is a member of the Norwegian tax system and is under 34. You can keep saving and claiming the deduction up to and including the income year you turn 33. The account is opened once per person and cannot be reopened after it is settled.
How much do I save in tax? Ten percent of what you pay in during the year, up to NOK 2,750 if you deposit the full NOK 27,500. It is a direct cut to your assessed tax, so it is worth the same to every saver, provided you have enough tax to deduct it against.
Why is the rate 10 percent when I have seen 20 percent quoted? The rate was 20 percent until the 2023 income year, with a maximum deduction of NOK 5,500. The 2023 budget agreement halved it to 10 percent and NOK 2,750, and that has been the rate ever since, including for 2026.
What if I already own a home? Then you get no deduction for that year. Owning any residential property on 31 December, in whole or in part, removes the tax break, though you keep the account and its interest. The scheme is aimed at first-time buyers.
Can I use the money for anything? Only for your own home: buying it, the associated costs, paying down its mortgage, or improving it, including an EV charger, heat pump or solar panels. Spend it on a holiday cabin, furniture, land or a caravan and the tax office reclaims the deductions you have already had as additional tax.
Sources: Skatteetaten deduction for young people’s housing savings (BSU), Skatteetaten BSU rules and permitted uses. This is general information, not financial or tax advice.