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Low reported severity Media Coverage

Woman says Norway's tax agency AI chatbot told her a Swedish passport would do as ID, but the Tromsø office refused it; agency says the chatbot was right

In an opinion piece published by Nordnorsk debatt on 20 June 2026, a communications adviser from Nord-Troms who had moved from Sweden to Norway wrote that she needed to identify herself at a tax office to complete her moving notification. Her Norwegian passport had expired and only her Swedish passport was valid. The Norwegian Tax Administration (Skatteetaten) phone line was closed for the day, so she asked the agency's chatbot on its website, describing her case in detail, and she says it answered that she could identify herself with her Swedish passport. She travelled about four hours each way by bus to the Tromsø tax office, where, by her account, staff said the Swedish passport could not be used, told her she could not rely on the chatbot and should phone instead, and she returned with the errand unfinished. She told kode24 she had to take a whole day off work and was first shocked and then very angry; staff also told her, she says, that she should first have registered her Swedish citizenship on the agency's website. She wrote that a colleague put the same question to the chatbot a week later and received the same answer, and that when challenged the chatbot replied that it lacked data on which ID documents are accepted, marking the reply as answered with artificial intelligence. In a reply on 26 June 2026 an acting department director at Skatteetaten wrote that its AI-based chatbot gave entirely correct information in this case, because a Nordic citizen with a valid passport from another Nordic country can use it at a tax office; he told kode24 the chatbot is instructed to answer from skatteetaten.no and that AI-based technology has a margin of error. The digitalisation minister told kode24 the model may seem to have a little way to go. Whether the chatbot's answer or the office's refusal was wrong is disputed, and the date of the trip is not stated.

AI system
Skatteetaten chatbot
Occurred
Event date unknown
Reported
20 June 2026
Event location
Norway
What the AI did
Communicated with the person
Reported harm
Psychological Distress
Whose AI use
An institution’s AI use
Setting
Public services
Evidence
AI involvement supported · Causal attribution disputed · 4 sources
9 claims: 1 documented, 8 reported. 4 open questions
People reported harmed
1 person

AI system as recorded: Skatteetaten's AI-based chatbot on skatteetaten.no (Norwegian Tax Administration); the agency says it is instructed to answer from the agency's website, and kode24 reports AI was introduced in the chatbot in December 2024

Reported harm

By her account, the woman relied on the tax agency chatbot's answer that her Swedish passport would serve as identification, made a bus trip of about four hours each way and took a day off work, but the Tromsø tax office refused the passport and her moving notification stayed unfinished; she describes shock and anger. Skatteetaten says the chatbot's answer was correct.

Outcome

Unknown

Skatteetaten published a reply saying its AI-based chatbot gave correct information in this case and that the chatbot is quality-assured continuously; the digitalisation minister told kode24 the model may have a little way to go. No source reports whether the moving notification was later completed.

What remains unknown

  • When the chatbot exchange and the trip took place; the op-ed of 20 June 2026 is the earliest dated evidence.
  • The full text of the chatbot exchange; no screenshot was published in the sources read.
  • Whether the chatbot omitted a precondition, such as registering the Swedish citizenship, or the office applied the rules wrongly.
  • Whether the moving notification was completed later.

What the evidence supports

AI involvement: supported. The woman says Skatteetaten's chatbot answered her detailed question that she could identify herself with her Swedish passport, and that she made the trip to the Tromsø tax office because of that answer. Skatteetaten itself calls the chatbot AI-based, says it is instructed to answer from the agency's website, told kode24 that so far in 2026 nearly all of the chatbot's answers are generated by artificial intelligence, and says that in this case it gave the information that a Nordic passport suffices; the reply she quotes to a later challenge is marked as answered with artificial intelligence. Whether the answer was wrong is disputed: the agency says it was correct and the office refused it, while she says staff told her not to rely on the chatbot.

9 claims: 1 documented, 8 reported. What the statuses mean

Reported The woman says she asked Skatteetaten's chatbot whether she could identify herself with her Swedish passport to complete her moving notification, after describing her case in detail, and that it answered yes.

Causal attribution. Her account of the chatbot's answer; the agency's reply says the chatbot gave correct information in this case without quoting the answer.

  • nordnorskdebatt.no(opens in new tab) supports · Norwegian Bokmål
    'Der møtte jeg deres chatbot og stilte spørsmålet mitt til den. Jeg beskrev saken min detaljert og fikk som svar at «ja, du kan legitimere deg med svensk pass».'
  • kode24.no(opens in new tab) supports · Norwegian Bokmål
    'Så hun gikk til nettsiden og fant Skatteetatens chatbot, som bruker kunstig intelligens.'; '«Ja, du kan legitimere deg med svensk pass», skal chatboten ha svart.'
Reported She says she travelled about four hours each way by bus to the Tromsø tax office, where staff said the Swedish passport could not be used, and she went home with the errand unfinished.

Causal attribution. Her account: she made the trip because of the chatbot answer.

  • nordnorskdebatt.no(opens in new tab) supports · Norwegian Bokmål
    'Jeg kom til Skatteetatens kontor i Tromsø etter fire timer på full rutebuss'; 'reise tilbake til Nord-Troms med uforretta sak'
  • kode24.no(opens in new tab) supports · Norwegian Bokmål
    'Dermed satte hun seg på bussen til Tromsø, en reise på fire timer per veg, for å gjøre nettopp det.'; 'satte seg på bussen i fire timer hjemover igjen, med uforrettet sak'
Reported She says office staff told her she could not rely on the chatbot either and had to phone the agency.

Causal attribution. Her account of what staff said.

Reported She told kode24 that, according to staff, she should have registered on the agency website that she is also a Swedish citizen before attending.

Causal attribution. Staff's explanation as she relays it.

  • kode24.no(opens in new tab) supports · Norwegian Bokmål
    'Før hun møtte opp, skulle hun ha registrert på nettsiden deres at hun også er svensk statsborger, forteller hun til kode24.'
Reported She told kode24 she had to take a whole day off work and was first shocked and then very angry.

Causal attribution. Her account of the effects.

  • kode24.no(opens in new tab) supports · Norwegian Bokmål
    'For å være ærlig ble jeg først sjokkert, så fly forbanna'; 'Jeg måtte også ta fri fra jobben en hel dag'
Reported She says a colleague put the same question to the chatbot a week later and got the same answer, and that when challenged the chatbot replied that it lacked data on which ID documents are accepted, marking the reply as answered with artificial intelligence.

Causal attribution. Her account of a colleague's test; no screenshot was inspected.

  • nordnorskdebatt.no(opens in new tab) supports · Norwegian Bokmål
    'Hun fikk samme svar'; 'Jeg har ikke nok data om hvilke ID-dokumenter vi godtar ved oppmøte. Besvart med kunstig intelligens.'
Documented Skatteetaten's acting department director wrote that its AI-based chatbot gave correct information in this case, because a Nordic citizen with a valid passport from another Nordic country can use it at a tax office.

Causal attribution. The operator disputes that the chatbot erred; this places the error, if any, at the office.

  • nordnorskdebatt.no(opens in new tab) supports · Norwegian Bokmål
    'Vår KI-baserte chatbot ga imidlertid helt riktig informasjon i en sak om identifikasjon.'; 'det vi kan si, er at Skatteetatens chatbot i dette tilfellet ga helt korrekt informasjon'; 'Er du nordisk borger og har et gyldig pass fra andre nordiske land er dette tilstrekkelig ved oppmøte på et skattekontor'
Reported Skatteetaten told kode24 that the chatbot is instructed to answer from skatteetaten.no and that AI-based technology has a margin of error, and that so far in 2026 nearly all of its answers are generated by artificial intelligence; kode24 reports the agency began using artificial intelligence in the chatbot in December 2024.

Causal attribution. The operator's description of the AI system.

  • kode24.no(opens in new tab) supports · Norwegian Bokmål
    'Han opplyser at chatboten er instruert i å kunne bruke informasjon frå nettsidene til skatteetaten.no for å svare brukerne.'; 'Med all teknologi som er basert på kunstig intelligens er det en feilmargin. Så det kan skje feil'; 'Skatteetaten begynte med kunstig intelligent i chatboten i desember 2024'; 'Til nå i 2026 så er nesten alle svarene generert av kunstig intelligens'
Reported The digitalisation minister told kode24 that the model may seem to have a little way to go.

Causal attribution. A minister's comment, not a finding.

Sources

4 sources inspected. Sources that repeat one account do not corroborate each other.

How the sources were read, and where the events happened

Read in Norwegian (Bokmal) on 2026-10-28; translation by the research agent, an AI. Opinion piece by the affected person, published 20.06.26. Applies to s1.

Read in Norwegian (Bokmal) on 2026-10-28; translation by the research agent, an AI. kode24 article dated 24 June 2026; it relays her op-ed, interviews her and quotes Skatteetaten. Her account in it is the same witness as s1. Applies to s2.

Read in Norwegian (Bokmal) on 2026-10-28; translation by the research agent, an AI. Reply by an acting department director at Skatteetaten, published 26.06.26 (also republished by kode24). Applies to s3.

Read in Norwegian (Bokmal) on 2026-10-28; translation by the research agent, an AI. kode24 article dated 25 June 2026 with the digitalisation minister's e-mailed comment. Applies to s4.

Event countries: Norway. Affected-person countries: Norway. Court countries: Unknown.

The trip and refusal took place at the tax office in Tromsø, Norway, reached by bus from Nord-Troms; she had moved from Sweden to Norway and writes as a communications adviser in Nord-Troms. No court was involved.

Reviewed for publication 2026-10-28: Published as a concrete adverse experience after a public agency's AI chatbot answer: the affected person's own account of the answer, the trip and the refusal, the agency's reply confirming its AI-based chatbot gave that information while disputing that it was wrong, and national tech-press coverage with the agency's and the minister's comments.

People described

A dual Swedish and Norwegian citizen living in Nord-Troms who had moved from Sweden to Norway and needed to complete her moving notification

People reported harmed in this case

1 person

1 AI participant · 0 other people harmed

One person: the op-ed author who used the chatbot and made the trip. Her colleague who repeated the question reports no harm and is not counted. Exact 1.

Counted once within this case. The same person may appear in other cases. This count does not establish AI causation.

Tags

#public-service-chatbot#tax-administration#identity-document-answer#wasted-trip#operator-disputes-error

Cite this case

Compiled per our published methodology: verification statuses, sourcing standards, and corrections process.

APA

NOPE. (2026). Woman says Norway's tax agency AI chatbot told her a Swedish passport would do as ID, but the Tromsø office refused it; agency says the chatbot was right. AI incidents. https://nope.net/incidents/2026-norway-tax-agency-ai-chatbot-said-swedish-passport-would-do-as-id-tromso-office-refused-it-after-long-bus-trip

BibTeX

@misc{2026_norway_tax_agency_ai_chatbot_said_swedish_passport_would_do_as_id_tromso_office_refused_it_after_long_bus_trip,
  title = {Woman says Norway's tax agency AI chatbot told her a Swedish passport would do as ID, but the Tromsø office refused it; agency says the chatbot was right},
  author = {NOPE},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {AI incidents},
  url = {https://nope.net/incidents/2026-norway-tax-agency-ai-chatbot-said-swedish-passport-would-do-as-id-tromso-office-refused-it-after-long-bus-trip}
}

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