Employer
The modernisation of public collection and changes to the regulations from 2026 will entail important changes for employers.
Does this apply to you?
This applies to you if you have employer responsibility.
This is new
As an employer, you may be required to make deductions from an employee’s salary (attachment of earnings) to cover unpaid claims.
The Tax Administration, the enforcement officer and municipalities can all decide to implement attachment of earnings on income.
From 2026, we'll start coordinating attachment of earnings from all enforcement authorities, so that one income recipient will only have one deduction from their salary. Attachment of earnings may consist of several claims from different authorities.
There will be a gradual transition to the new scheme. During the transition period, some will still have an attachment of earnings under the old regulations and may then have several attachments of earnings at the same time. Those who have received an attachment of earnings under the new regulations will only have the one attachment of earnings.
As an employer, you may at the same time have some employees with deductions under the old scheme and others with coordinated deductions, so you must therefore be able to manage both.
The requirement for a tax deduction account when paying salaries is phased out from 2026. Employers must pay withholding tax directly to the Tax Administration on the first working day after salary payment, instead of transferring the amount into a dedicated tax deduction account.
Release funds from a tax deduction account
If the enterprise has money left in their tax deduction account when it’s discontinued, there are three possible ways for you to get this money back:
- You use the money to pay withholding tax i 2026 by transferring the amount in the tax deduction account to the Tax Administration. See bank account numbers for the payment.
- If the amount in the tax deduction account is less than NOK 12,000 after payment of the sixth period for 2025, the amount will be automatically released after 10 April 2026. The amount will either be transferred to another account you hold at the bank, or the account will be converted. Contact your bank to find out what applies to you.
- If the amount in the tax deduction account is NOK 12 000 or more after payment of the sixth period for 2025, you must apply for a refund of the money.
There’s no longer any need for a bank guarantee as an alternative scheme to a tax deduction account.
If you have a previous bank guarantee, the Tax Administration will consider it terminated as of 1 January 2026. Neither you nor your bank need to send a formal notice to terminate the guarantee.
Period of notice and grace period
When the guarantee is considered terminated, a period of notice and a grace period begins. Most guarantees have a period of notice of three to six months. This is followed by a grace period of at least twelve months, during which the Tax Administration can report its claims.
The cost of the bank guarantees is usually calculated quarterly. For the first quarter of 2026, the cost has already been incurred because the guarantee covers claims for the 6th period of 2025, which is due on 15 January.
To avoid unnecessary costs for the banks' customers, the Tax Administration will not submit claims under the guarantee after the first quarter of 2026. This means the period will be shorter than the period that normally applies in the guarantees.
You’ll get information about the changes from your bank.
From 1 January 2026, employers must pay withholding tax and attachment of earnings on the first working day after paying salaries. You must pay the deductions directly to the Tax Administration.
The due date for the employer's national insurance contributions remains unchanged.
When employees work in several countries
In some very specific cases, it can be difficult to know how much of the salary is subject to withholding tax in Norway at the time of payment. Employers may then apply to extend the due date for the advance tax deduction to the fifth day of the following month.
The condition for applying is that there’s a real uncertainty about the duty to deduct withholding tax.
These employers can apply for an extension of the deadline
This could be employers with employees who, as part of their normal work arrangements, have employees working in several countries during the same month. Another condition is that the number of days the employee works in each country has not been determined at the time of salary payment.
As a rule, this scheme is not relevant for employers:
- that make salary payments in arrears
- that can use work plans, shift work, or work rotas to determine withholding tax liability to Norway
- where the uncertainty about the advance tax deduction applies to less than 10 percent of the employees whose withholding tax is reported to Norway. We expect employers in these cases to correct the advance tax deduction instead of us granting a general exemption. We’ll process applications according to the organisation number.
Requirements for the application
Businesses that believe they meet the conditions must submit an application. The applicant must be authorised to represent the company.
The application must include:
- the organisation number of the business
- the contact information of the applicant
- the grounds for the application - such as an estimate of the number of affected employees and their share of the workforce
- employee lists, project contracts, employment contracts, or supporting documents from the payroll system.
The application should also contain:
- the period the application covers (unless otherwise stated, approval is normally granted for one year at a time).
How to submit the application
- Open Write to us
- Tick the box for "Other questions" under "What would you like to write to us about? "
- Write "Application for deferred due date for advance tax deductions" in the description of what the enquiry concerns.
Application via lawyer or adviser
You can submit the application via your lawyer, adviser, or other representatives. Any representative who is not a lawyer, auditor, or accountant, must present a written power of attorney from the business that is applying.
Declarations or confirmations from a lawyer, auditor, or advisor can be included as supporting documents, but are not considered sufficient on their own. You must prove real uncertainty about withholding tax liability in order for the Tax Administration to verify the information in the declaration .
Every business must submit its own application with individual information.
You must report attachment of earnings and advance tax deduction on the salary payment dates in the a-melding.
Specific about attachment of earnings
The enforcement authorities calculate an attachment of earnings on the basis of subsistence rates and information about the financial situation. In the calculation, they will take into account irregular payments, such as half tax, holiday pay, and similar.
An attachment order is a notification to an employer to start, change, or suspend an attachment of earnings against an employee. From 2026, attachment of earnings under the new regulations (coordinated attachment of earnings) can be imported directly into the payroll system, providing it's supported by the system provider.
Attachment orders will also be sent as letters to the main organisation number (legal entity) in Altinn. If your payroll system does not support importing attachment orders, they must be registered manually.
Attachment orders for coordinated deductions contain information about the individual the deduction applies to, the start date for the deduction, and the amount or percentage to be deducted. They do not contain an end date or a deduction balance. You must continue the deductions until you receive a new attachment order with a change or suspension.
In the event of deductions under the old regulations, you will receive an attachment order as before.
During the transition period, employers may still receive attachment orders under the current scheme in Altinn or by post. This means that the employer must be able to manage attachment of earnings under both the old and the new regulations until all attachment of earnings under the old regulations are finished.
Attachments of earnings that have been established under the old regulations must continue during the deduction period or until you receive notification to stop the deduction. As long as the employees do not have a coordinated deduction under the new regulations, all deductions for this employee must be processed as before. This also applies to the establishment of new deductions that are on hold with a future date.
About making deductions from employees’ salaries under to the current scheme
If an employee gets a coordinated deduction, all other deductions must be terminated. If there are future deduction orders on hold, these must not be started. The coordinated deduction will then be the only attachment of earnings for the employee.
The enforcement authorities send out attachment orders on an ongoing basis as cases are processed. The start date can fall on any day of the month. You should make sure the attachment of earnings is registered as close as possible to the payroll run.
The attachment will be stated as a percentage of gross salary or as a fixed amount.
- Percentage deductions:
You must deduct percentage deductions on every salary payment. Expense allowances and benefits in kind must be excluded from the deduction.
Employees who have several employers will usually receive percentage deductions from all their employers. Employers that make up a very small share of the total salary may be exempt.
- Fixed amount:
If the deduction amount is fixed, the income may sometimes be too low to cover it, for example, during unpaid leave. You must then deduct as much as possible. We will reconcile the payment with the a-melding and will be able to see why the deduction amount is too low.
In months with holiday pay or half tax, you must follow the attachment order, whether it’s a fixed amount or percentage deduction. You cannot deduct more than the deduction order states, even if the employee asks you to.
If the employee is without pay for a month, for example, in employment with hourly wages, the enforcement authorities will see this in the a-melding.
If the employee pays off the claim after the payroll deduction, the collection authority in the Tax Administration will refund the employee. You do not have to do anything.
Employees who believe the deduction is generally too high can apply for a lower salary deduction.
Coordinated attachments of earnings under the new regulations must be paid to the collection authority in the Tax Administration the day after salary payment. The new account number and KID number are stated in the deduction order. The KID number is unique to each employee, and must be used for the duration of the attachment of earnings.
In the event of a payment of one deduction that is intended to cover several claims, we will distribute the payment to the creditors.
The attachment of earnings under the old regulations must also be paid on the first working day after the salary payment from and including January 2026, as opposed to payment by period. Attachment of earnings for tax is paid as before – in one total sum to the same account number as before. The KID number for these deductions can be automatically generated by the payroll system, or you can generate the KID number manually.
Other attachments of earnings under the old regulations will continue to be processed as they are today.
The payment deadline for employer’s national insurance contributions has not changed, and must still be paid by the regular reporting periods.
Attachment of earnings under the new rules must be reported in the a-melding under the code "utleggstrekkSamordnet".
Please note that attachment of earnings for tax (under the old regulations) must still be reported in the a-melding under the code "utleggstrekkSkatt".
Both types of attachment of earnings must be reported with the salary payment date for the deduction.
It's important that you do not mix deductions under the old and new regulations. The deductions must be reported under separate codes and paid to separate accounts.
Preparations you must make
The payroll system must be able to manage attachment of earnings under both the old and the new regulations.
Before you start using the new solutions for attachments of earnings, you must give power of attorney to your system supplier so they can exchange data on your behalf. You do this in Altinn. Your system supplier can help you with this.
Employers must pay withholding tax on salary directly to the Tax Administration and not via a dedicated tax deduction account. This means that you can close the tax deduction account.
Release funds from a tax deduction account
If the enterprise has money left in their tax deduction account when it’s discontinued, there are three possible ways for you to get this money back:
- You use the money to pay withholding tax i 2026 by transferring the amount in the tax deduction account to the Tax Administration. See bank account numbers for the payment.
- If the amount in the tax deduction account is less than NOK 12,000 after payment of the sixth period for 2025, the amount will be automatically released after 10 April 2026. The amount will either be transferred to another account you hold at the bank, or the account will be converted. Contact your bank to find out what applies to you.
- If the amount in the tax deduction account is NOK 12 000 or more after payment of the sixth period for 2025, you must apply for a refund of the money.
Information for employees with salary deductions
To safeguard the employee's privacy, under the new regulations, you'll only receive information about:
- who’s having their salary deducted (national identity number or D number)
- the amount or percentage rate you must deduct
- when to start making the deductions
You’ll no longer be able to inform the employee about which claims the deduction is based on or who the creditor is.
The employee can find information about their attachment of earnings in letters from Altinn by logging in to the enforcement authorities' websites.
Related information
What do the New Collection Act and the digitalisation program The Future of Public Collection entail for you if you’re