As an employer, you are obliged to make withholding tax deductions

In Norway, all employees must pay tax as their salary is earned and paid out. As an employer, you are obliged to make withholding tax deductions before you pay your employees’ salaries.

Your obligations as an employer to deduct withholding tax can be summarised in six points:

  1. You must retrieve the employee’s tax deduction card electronically from the Tax Administration. If the Tax Administration notify you that an employee does not have a tax deduction card?
  2. You must calculate the basis for the calculation.
  3. You must apply the tax deduction card to the calculation basis in order to find the correct withholding tax to be deducted.
  4. You must ensure that tax deduction card information is updated for each payroll run.
  5. In connection with each payroll run, you must deduct withholding tax from the employee's gross salary, deposit the withholding tax in a tax deduction account, and then transfer the amount to the tax authorities.
  6. You must document the withholding tax to the employee.

What do I do if an employee wants to deduct more tax than is shown on the tax deduction card?

The employee will not need a new tax deduction card. The employee can contact you as their employer/the payroll office, or alternatively NAV/their pension provider, and ask for  a higher tax deduction.

The Tax Payment Act (Chapter 5 Section 5-5 second paragraph) stipulates that employees must deduct more tax if the employees so requests.

Useful tools for calculating the correct amount of withholding tax and paying tax