DIA Ladder vs Real Estate Calculator: Norway Wealth Tax, Return per Year, Tax Later
Written by Hans Goldstein, EA, licensed insurance agent · CA 4273294Admitted to practice before the IRS
Short answer: put in your ages, your savings, the years you will live in Norway and the size of the ladder. The calculator shows four strategies side by side, then the yearly return on the same money in a Norway home, a home with a rental unit, three DIAs or the bank, whether they return to the US or stay for life with nursing-home years at the end, what the heirs get, and what the same ladder does to your US tax if you stay home. The defaults are my parents’ kind of case: 70 and 68, $3 million, 10 years in Norway. Payout rates are modeled from a mortality curve, not quotes. Educational, not tax advice.
Change any number and the results update. Tap the first field to start; you will see the full breakdown after you leave an email. The page is open to search engines in full, so nothing here is hidden from anyone who reads it as a text page.
Four strategies, judged at the year they leave Norway
DIAs only vs Norway real estate: return on the same money
What pencils for most families: return, wealth tax, heirs, nursing-home clawback
The paycheck: SPIA now, DIAs step it up
Norway wealth tax per year
Prongs priced
If they stay in the US: tax later
Joint life, 100% to the survivor, no death benefit. Payout rates are modeled on a mortality curve calibrated to Sept to Oct 2026 published single-life SPIA quotes, with a 6% insurer load. Real quotes will differ. Illustration, not tax advice and not a quote.
How to read it
- Four strategies. The same living costs are paid from one bank account in all four. “Family value at exit” is cash, plus the home after a 2% selling cost, plus the expected value of the annuity payments still to come, after US tax. Wealth tax is the 2026 Norwegian schedule (1.0% above NOK 1.9 million per person, home counted at 25% of value).
- DIAs vs real estate. The return is a yearly rate (IRR) on the same dollars, after Norwegian wealth tax, Norwegian income tax and US tax. The DIAs are measured over the lives of the parents, the real estate over the years in Norway, so compare the yearly rates, not the totals. Wealth tax in this table is charged at the 1% margin, which assumes other wealth already uses up the allowance.
- What pencils for most families. The table near the end puts $1 million in a home, a home with a rental unit, three DIAs or the bank, in two cases: they return to the US after the years entered, or they stay in Norway for life with nursing-home years at the end. It shows the yearly return if the second parent dies at 90 and at 95, the wealth tax, and what the heirs get. In the nursing home Norway charges up to 75% to 85% of income, not of capital, so a house is not charged and annuity checks are.
- The order of the starts matters. Checks received while you are a Norwegian resident are taxed at 22% on the gross amount. Start the DIAs after the move-out year and Norway never taxes them. See the 5-year page.
- If they stay in the US. The last block compares the ladder with a bank account paying the same paycheck: the ladder reports nothing while the DIAs wait, and only part of each check is income. It is deferral, not forgiveness.
A worked example with the parents at 70 and 68 is in the case study. The method and the other numbers are in the ladder article.
I am a US-licensed insurance agent and can only help while you still live in the US. I do not give Norwegian tax or legal advice. Annuity checks in the model are illustrations from a mortality model, not quotes, and long deferrals are the most likely to be overstated.
Married? Make the income outlive either of you. In Norway only the sponsoring spouse’s income counts, so the annuity is owned by and pays the sponsor. A joint and survivor payout then keeps paying the other spouse after the sponsor dies. If a single-life annuity is on one spouse and that spouse dies first, the payments stop, and the surviving spouse may have to show income of their own at the next renewal. A joint and survivor annuity, which keeps paying until the second death, or a separate annuity on each spouse closes that gap. Joint and survivor pays less per dollar than single life, so ask for both quotes and compare.
Frequently asked questions
Related reading
- Moving to Norway from the US: the hub
- SPIA plus 3 DIAs: the homemade COLA
- Case study: parents 70 and 68, 10 years in Norway
- Moving to Norway for 5 years: wealth tax and annuities
- Norway wealth tax and real estate: why real estate is king
- Wealth tax by country and US annuities
Sources
- Skatteetaten: Wealth tax rates 2026
- Skatteetaten, Skatte-ABC 2025/2026 F-24 Livrenteforsikring (F-24-2.1 wealth, F-24-5.1 income)
- IRS: United States and Norway income tax convention (Articles 18, 22, 23)
- 26 U.S.C. 72 (exclusion ratio; 72(q)(2)(I) and 72(u)(4) immediate annuity; 72(q)(2)(D) life payments)
- 26 U.S.C. 86 (Social Security benefits in gross income)
- 26 U.S.C. 1014 (basis of property acquired from a decedent)
Goldstein & Co. LLC dba Goldstein Insurance Services · Hans Goldstein, licensed insurance agent, CA lic. #4273294 · NPN 20602398 · 213-414-2808 · hans@hansgoldstein.com
Education, not tax, legal or immigration advice. Rules, thresholds and exchange rates change; confirm with the consulate or immigration authority and a local tax adviser before you act, and get answers in writing. Hans Goldstein is a licensed insurance agent (CA 4273294) and can only offer annuities to residents of states where he is licensed. Annuity payments are guaranteed by the issuing insurer’s claims-paying ability, not by any government. Payout figures are illustrations from a published survey, not quotes. Immediate annuities are generally irrevocable.