Basis for employers’ National Insurance contributions

Employers are all business’ or persons who have paid contributions to employer’s National Insurance.

Basis for employer's National Insurance contributions is the collected sum of all taxable wages or other compensation, of which employer's contributions to the National Insurance is calculated. National Insurance contributions are calculated on the basis of all cash benefits, various fringe benefits and some pension obligations.

The basis for employer's National Insurance contributions can be decomposed to:

• Wages and other compensations
• Grants and pension premiums
• Reimbursement of sick pay
• Basis for wage totals

From year 2023, the collected basis used to calculate additional National insurance contributions is included and added to the basis for employer’s National insurance contributions.

Wages and other compensations includes all taxable wages and compensations for labour given to an employee from an employer. (The normal basis for calculation of employer's National insurance contributions). The employer's additional NIC must be calculated on the same basis as the basis for ordinary employer's NIC. This results in parts of the same basis being reported more than once, more specifically the amount of taxable salary benefits exceeding the threshold amount for the legal year. For details and examples of reporting additional NIC, see The Norwegian Tax Administration's a-melding guide.

Grants and pension premiums includes all taxable grants and premiums for pension schemes minus deductables which the employee has been withdrawn (Pension contributions and premiums subject to National Insurance contributions).

Reimbursement of sick pay includes the reimbursement of sick pay from the Norwegian labour and welfare administration which employer will receive. This is deducted from the basis for calculating the employer's contribution to the National Insurance. (The basis for reimbursement of National Insurance contributions).

Basis for wage totals includes wages and other compensations less reimbursement of sick pay

Total basis for employer’s additional National insurance contributions is the collected sum of all taxable wages when the total taxable salary benefits for an income recipient exceed the set threshold amount given by the regulation entering into force on 1 January 2023. For 2023 the threshold amount was 750 000 NOK. For 2024 the threshold is 850 000 NOK. See more information about the additional National insurance contributions on the Norwegian Tax Administration's website.

Enterprises experiencing financial difficulties. From year 2023, enterprises that are considered to be in financial difficulties must generally apply the highest rate (14.1%) in all zones. However, enterprises in financial difficulties can still receive de minimis aid in the form of an annual tax-free amount. For more details, see The Norwegian Tax Administration's websites.

Calculated employer's National Insurance contribution is the conrtribution paid by the employer for employees to the National Insurance scheme. This is calculated as a percentage of employer's contributions to National Insurance. Employer's contributions to the National Insurance are differentiated, so that the rate used is dependent on both industry and geografical location.

Financial activity tax applies to all employers in the financial sector, and it is an extra payroll tax of 5 percent.

Enterprises without employees will not be subject to the financial activity tax, neither on salary nor on profit. Companies that perform investment activities, including passive capital investments in shares etc., with at least one employee, may be subject to the financial activity tax, provided that salary linked to the financial sector activity exceeds 30 percent of the company's total salary expenses.

There are two exemptions and one limitation to the financial activity tax.

• There’s an exemption from financial activity tax liability for enterprises where the salary expenses linked to the employer's financial activities do not exceed 30 percent of the enterprise's total declarable salary expenses.
• There’s an exemption from tax liability for enterprises where the salary expenses linked to VATable financial activity exceed 70 percent of the enterprise's total declarable salary costs linked to financial activities.
• Enterprises that engage in non-economic activity, as defined in EEA law, may limit the tax basis for the financial activity tax on salary to that proportion of the salary expenses linked to economic activity.

For enterprises liable to financial activity tax in accordance with the above criteria, the financial activity tax is assessed on the basis of the enterprise's total salary expenses etc., that are liable to employer's national insurance contributions.

See more information at skatteetaten.no.

Method of calculating employer's National Insurance contributions. There are differnet rules and regulations for which rate and tax-free amount is applicable. One employer can have business' within several different industries. The following categories apply for reporting basis for National Insurance contributions by employers:

• General provision (previous specific code AA)
• Part of central government and health trusts (previous specific code BB)
• Industries excluded from differentiated employer's national insurance contributions (previous specific code CC)
• Road freight transport (previous specific code GG)
• Agriculture and horticulture (previous specific code DD)

Tax withheld (prepayment deductions) is the tax the employer deduct from salaries and fees at the time the salary or the fee is paid to the employee. As an employer, you are obliged to deduct withholding tax from the salary you pay to employees, and how much should be deducted in tax (advance tax) is specified on the tax card for the employee. Special rules apply if you qualify for the simplified regulations for private employers, these prepayment deductions are included.

Sector. This statistic is split down to private and public sector. Public sector includes state and social security administration, municipalities and counties. Private sector is here defined as all employers except public sector. Public enterprises are included in private sector.

Municipality. The statistics for basis for wage totals is split down to municipality level, based on the tax accounts of the Directorate of taxes, as well as information from The Register of Employers and Employees and The Register of End of the Year Certificates (Register of Wage Sums).

Zone for employer's National Insurance contributions

The employer's contributions to the National Insurance scheme are differentiated by goegraphical location of the workplace.

The employer is obliged to pay a certain rate in per cent of the basis of employer's tax for the individual employee following the employee's tax municipal.

For a more detailed spesification of which local municipalities which belong to the different zones see database for Standard Classifications and Classification of zones of employer's contribution to the National Insurance in KLASS.