About making deductions from an employee’s salary
As an employer, you may be instructed to make deductions from an employee’s salary, including their holiday pay, to cover an unpaid claim the employee has. This is called an attachment of earnings.
Does this apply to you?
This applies to you if you have employer responsibilities. It may also apply to you if you're a client.
When to carry out an attachment of earnings
You'll receive information if you’re required to deduct from an employee's salary and holiday pay, also known as attachment of earnings.
You’ll get information on how to carry out and pay the attachment of earnings in each case.
It’s important that you carry out and pay the attachment of earnings exactly as instructed, so your business does not become liable for the amount to be deducted.
As an employer, you're required to carry out the attachment of earnings, regardless of whether the employee consents.
Gradual transition to new schemes from 2026
The modernisation of government debt collection and the new Central Government Collection Act from 2026 mean that there will be a gradual transition from old to new schemes in the period 2020–2029.
This means that, as an employer, you may have some employees with deductions under the old scheme and others under the new scheme at the same time. You must therefore be able to handle both schemes in parallel during this period.
Deductions under the old scheme
Attachments of earnings that were established under the rules and schemes that applied in 2025 will continue for the deduction period, or until you receive notification to stop the deduction.
As long as the employee is not covered by the new scheme with a single, coordinated deduction, all deductions for this employee will be treated as they were in 2025, when they fell under the old scheme. This also applies to the establishment of new deductions that are on hold at a future date.
Attachment of earnings under the old scheme means that at the payment is made in different ways for different types of claims.
Claims relating to tax and employer’s national insurance contributions – own employees
The most common tax claims are underpaid tax and advance tax.
Attachment of earnings for these claims against salary recipients must be paid on the first working day after salary payment and reported in the a-melding.
Payment information for taxes and duties
More about attachment of earnings in the a-melding
Claims for tax and employer’s national insurance contributions – self-employed persons who work for the business
The most common tax claims are underpaid tax and advance tax.
Attachment of earnings for these claims against self-employed persons must be reported in settlement lists.
Payment information will be found in the settlement list sent to the employer.
Retrieve settlement list for attachment of earnings (tax)
Other duty claims – such as VAT, excise duties, and customs duties
Attachment of earnings that are meant to cover claims related to value added tax (VAT), excise duties, customs duties, etc., must not be reported via the a-melding.
You’ll receive information from us about the KID and account number you must use.
KID and bank account numbers for the payment of taxes and duties
You’ll find payment information in the letter you’ve received regarding the attachment of earnings.
You must always use the KID number shown on your invoice. Enter the full KID number. If there is a hyphen at the end of the KID number, you must enter that too.
If you cannot pay using a KID number, you must enter a national identity number, organisation number, or case reference number when making payments to us.
We collect on behalf of, among others:
Arbeidstilsynet
Barne- og familiedepartementet
Barne,- ungdoms- og familiedirektoratet (Bufdir)
Brønnøysundregistrene
Datatilsynet
Digitaliseringsdirektoratet
Direktoratet for byggkvalitet
Direktoratet for medisinske produkter
Direktoratet for mineralforvaltning
Direktoratet for samfunnssikkerhet og beredskap
Diskrimineringsnemnda
Enova
Finanstilsynet
Fiskeridirektoratet
Forbrukertilsynet
Forsvarsbygg
Forsvarsdepartementet
Helsedirektoratet
Helseklage
Husbanken
Justervesenet
Justis- og beredskapsdepartementet
Kartverket
Kontoret for voldsoffererstatning
Kulturdirektoratet
Kunnskapsdepartementet
Lotteri- og stiftelsestilsynet
Luftfartstilsynet
Lånekassen
Medietilsynet
Mesterbrevnemnda
Miljødirektoratet
Norec
Norges vassdrags- og energidirektorat
Norsk filminstitutt
Norsk pasientskadeerstatning
Nærings- og fiskeridepartementet
Oslo Børs og Finansdepartementet
Pasientreiser HF
Politiet
Regjeringsadvokaten
Sjøfartsdirektoratet
Statens sivilrettsforvaltning
Statens vegvesen
Statistisk Sentralbyrå
Sysselmesteren på Svalbard
Advokattilsynet
Tolletaten
Utdanningsdirektoratet
Utenriksdepartementet
You’ll find payment information in the letter you’ve received regarding the attachment of earnings.
You must always use the KID number shown on your invoice. Enter the full KID number. If there is a hyphen at the end of the KID number, you must enter that too.
If you cannot pay using a KID number, you must enter a national identity number, organisation number, or case reference number when making payments to us.
If you, the employer, cannot deduct the entire or part of the amount, you must contact us.
It's important that you state the payment amount, if any, and the reason why you're not paying the full amount.
If the employee believes the deduction is generally too high, they can apply for a lower deduction.
If you're making deductions from the salary of an employee who is laid off or on long-term sick leave, and you stop the salary payment, you must contact us to inform us as soon as possible.
If the employee has resigned, you must contact us to inform us as soon as possible. If the employee has resigned and you do not inform us of this, you’ll get reminders to make deductions from their salary.
You must also report via the a-melding that the employee has resigned.
Please contact us if you’ve paid too much and have questions for us about this.
Trekk etter ny ordning
From 2026, all enforcement authorities, including the Collection Authority in the Tax Administration, will begin to gather their claims in one coordinated attachment of earnings per employee. There will be a gradual transition to the new scheme for attachment of earnings from the period 2026–2029.
If an employee gets a coordinated deduction, all other deductions must be terminated. The coordinated deduction will then be the only attachment of earnings for the employee.
You must report attachments of earnings for tax and coordinated attachments of earnings in the a-melding. From January 2026, the a-melding will distinguish between tax-related attachments of earnings under the current scheme and the coordinated attachment of earnings. They must be reported using two different codes in the a-melding. If you have a payroll system, the payroll system must be adapted to this.
The enforcement authorities send out attachment orders on an ongoing basis as the cases are processed. The deduction has a start date and must start from the first possible payroll run after the start date. You should make sure the attachment of earnings is registered as close as possible to the payroll run.
If you have several salary payments per month, a percentage deduction must be deducted from each payment. Deductions should be distributed among the payments.
Some employees receive salary payments several times per month. If the monthly amount is fixed, you can choose how to distribute the deduction across the salary payments of that month. If the deductions are at a percentage rate, this percentage rate must be deducted from every salary payment.
If the employee has several employers, a percentage deduction will normally be deducted from all the employers. The exception is if one employer represents a very small part of the total salary sum.
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 what the attachment order states, even if the employee asks for this, but the employee can pay directly to the Collection Authority.
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. The Collection Authority will reconcile the payment with the a-melding and can see why the deduction amount is too low.
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 believes the deduction is generally too high, they can apply for a lower deduction.
If the employee is on sick leave or laid off, we’ll see this in the a-melding. You do not have to let us know.
If the employee has resigned, we will see this in the a-melding. It's therefore important that you report the resignation in the a-melding.
If you paid too much, you do not have to do anything. If there's any remaining debt in the attachment of earnings, we'll take the amount as an extra payment. If everything has been paid off, we'll pay the excess directly to the employee.
Information for employees with salary deductions
Under the new scheme, you’ll only get the following information to protect the employee’s privacy:
- who’s being 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 the overview of their claims and deductions by logging in to skatteetaten.no or politiet.no. They’ll also find information in the letters from the Tax Administration and the police (enforcement officer) in Altinn.