Employer's national insurance contributions when you run a mixed-activity enterprise
If you as employer are engaged in activities that give the right to a reduced employer’s national insurance contribution rate and activities that, due to sectoral exemptions, are not eligible for the reduced rate, you’re considered to run a mixed-activity enterprise.
Endring fra 2022
Fra 2022 gjelder ikke reglene om blandet virksomhet for sektorunntatte aktiviteter innenfor finans- og forsikringssektoren eller hovedkontorvirksomhet mv.
Dersom du som arbeidsgiver har slike finansielle aktiviteter mv. som hovedvirksomhet kan du ikke benytte redusert sats for noen del av virksomheten. Dette gjelder selv om du også driver med andre aktiviteter som ikke er sektorunntatt.
Change from 2022
From 2022, the rules on mixed-activity enterprises do not apply to sector-exempt activities in the finance and insurance sector or head office activities, etc.
If you as employer have such financial activities, etc. as your main activity, you cannot use the reduced rate for any part of the enterprise. This applies even if you also carry out other activities that are not sector exempt.
Each activity must be assessed
Employers engaged in several types of business activity must specifically assess each individual activity carried out in the enterprise and decide whether one or more activities are covered by one of the sectoral exemptions.
Each sector-exempt activity in the steel or coal sector will generally result in you as employer having to use the high rate for all salary costs. This will apply even if only a small proportion of the total activity is sector-exempt activity.
Using a reduced rate on parts of the salary costs
Employers who run a mixed-activity enterprise in the steel or coal sector can apply the reduced rate to the proportion of the salary expenses that is linked to associated activities covered by the differentiated rates scheme. However, this presupposes that the employer has established a clear separation of accounts.
Accounting separation
A clear separation of accounts means that it should be possible to check what proportion of the employer’s salary expenses is associated with the various areas of activity. For more information on the requirements for a clear separation of accounts, see the Directorate of Taxes’ report on employer's national insurance contributions to the National Insurance Scheme (in Norwegian only).
It is the employer who decides whether to establish a clear separation of accounts, or whether not to establish such a separation and therefore pay employer’s national insurance contributions at the highest rate on all salary expenses.