Costs for pension, sickness benefits, insurance and membership fees
If you incur expenses relating to your own pension scheme, additional sick pay insurance or disability and accident insurance or membership fees, you may be entitled to deductions.
Pension savings
If you have a voluntary pension saving scheme in accordance with the Defined-Contribution Pensions Act section 2-3, subsection 2, you're entitled to a deduction for your expenses. The maximum saving is 7% of the calculated personal income before deducting premiums for the pension scheme until 12G.
You can also get a deduction for risk benefits, such as disability pension in accordance with the Act relating to occupational pensions, benefits to the surviving spouse and deposit-exemption for disability in accordance with the Company Pension Act. The deduction entitlement for this premium comes in addition to the above-mentioned maximum limit.
Sickness benefit
As a self-employed person, you can take out insurance in order to obtain better cover. The premium for voluntary sick-pay insurance can be deducted in the tax return.
Sick-pay for self-employed persons (Altinn)
Disability and accident insurance
Voluntary occupational injury insurance from NAV is deductible up to NOK 700.
Membership fees
Enterprises may be entitled to a deduction for membership fees to some types of organisations.
The enterprise can claim a deduction for fees to some types of nationwide professional and industrial organisations with the main purpose of safeguarding their members’ general financial interests. This includes, for example, memberships in industry organisations or other relevant organisations linked to the enterprise.
The enterprise is not entitled to a deduction for the part of the membership fee that goes towards an insurance premium or other purposes outside of the organisation’s activities.
The enterprise is not entitled to a deduction if the employee has claimed a deduction for trade union fees.
The deduction is limited to the maximum amount of the trade union deduction or up to two per thousand of the total salary paid.
Industrial organisations:
- The Confederation of Norwegian Enterprise (NHO)
- Virke, the Federation of Norwegian Enterprise
Professional organisations:
- The Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (LO)
- The Confederation of Vocational Unions (YS)
The enterprise can claim a deduction for membership fees to associations that safeguard the employers' interests in relation to their employees.
For associations that have a mixed function, the enterprise is entitled to a deduction only for the part of the activity that concerns the employer's activity and not the rest of the enterprise's activities.
Does not apply:
- to industrial organisations, that is, organisations that primarily safeguard the members’ financial and business policy interests
- if the employer refuses to enter into a collective agreement with an employee who is unionised
The deduction cannot exceed two per thousand of the total salary paid.
The Norwegian Fishermen’s Association is a professional and industrial organisation with both employees and employers within the fishing industry as members.
The total deduction cannot exceed the maximum amount for a trade union deduction or up to two per thousand of the total salary paid.
The enterprise can claim a full deduction for a membership fee it pays to a service organisation as an operating cost. This applies if the organisation functions exclusively as part of the members' activities and the enterprise would otherwise have been entitled to a deduction for this expense.
Example:
An agricultural enterprise can claim a deduction for the membership fee it pays to an accounting team for them to keep the accounts on behalf of the enterprise.
There is no amount limit for the right to deduct membership fees paid to a service organisation. The deduction for this membership fee is in addition to the deduction for association fees.