You may only apply for a subsidy for employees that were fully or partially laid off on 31 August 2020. The employees must have been working the entire period for which you are applying for a subsidy, up until 1 October.

The correct way to lay off employees (in Norwegian only) (NAV)

You cannot apply for a subsidy for employees that were laid off after 28 May. Nor can you apply for a subsidy for employees that were brought back by the enterprise before 29 May.

By employees, we mean workers who work in the enterprise and who receive salaries or other remuneration for their work from the employer. Apprentices are also considered employees according to this scheme.

Freelancers/contractors (in Norwegian only) and self-employed persons/businesse (in Norwegian only) are not considered employees, meaning you cannot apply for a subsidy for them. Self-employed persons/businesses may apply on behalf of their employees, but are not considered employees themselves.

You may only apply for subsidies for employees that are registered as laid off in the Aa Register.

If one or more of these points apply to your enterprise, you cannot apply:

• The enterprise has entered bankruptcy proceedings.
• The enterprise has notified the courts and asked them to initiate bankruptcy proceedings.
• The enterprise is registered as in the process of being wound up in the Register of Business Enterprises.
• The enterprise has persons with leading roles that have been disqualified from running a business.
• The enterprise has creditors that have secured a special entitlement to payments made to the applicants account, meaning the subsidy cannot be used to cover salary costs.

An enterprise that have entered bankruptcy proceedings according to chapter VIII of the Bankruptcy Act will not be granted or paid a subsidy. In this context, an enterprise has entered bankruptcy proceedings from the moment the district court has ruled that the bankruptcy proceedings should be initiated (‘start day’). Nor will enterprises that have a petition for bankruptcy submitted against them according to the rules in chapter 16 of the Companies Act or the Public Limited Liability Companies Act be granted a subsidy.

Enterprises that are in negotiations with their creditors in accordance with the temporary Act relating to restructuring to remedy the financial problems as a result of the Covid-19 outbreak (Restructuring Act), are not considered to have entered bankruptcy proceedings. These enterprises may therefore apply for subsidies.

The enterprise must meet all the criteria relating to:

• Running a legitimate operation
  • Enterprises that offer cleaning or staffing services, employees' health services or asbestos removal, must be approved and registered by the Norwegian Labour Inspection Authority according to the applicable rules.
  • Vehicle garages must be listed in the Norwegian Public Roads Administration’s register.
  • Electrical enterprises must be registered in the Electrical Enterprise Register.
  • Enterprises are otherwise required to obtain the necessary approvals, certifications or licenses that are required in their sectors.
• Being able to document their complete ownership structure.
• If the enterprise is liable to pay tax: Having paid taxes, duties and advance tax deductions that were due before 29 February 2020. Tax-exempt institutions must be up to date with any tax returns for VAT and advance tax deductions.
  
  Important information

  If you have arrears that fell due before 29 February 2020, you must settle these before you can apply. After you make the payment, you should wait a few days before applying to allow for the payment to be registered.

• The enterprise must have submitted mandatory reports, returns and statements (in Norwegian only) that fell due before October 1th.

If the enterprise was established before 1 January 2019, the enterprise must also have submitted their tax return for wealth and income, as well as annual accounts for 2018.

Sole proprietorships (ENK) and companies (AS) must have had a drop in revenue of more than 10 percent for the month for which you are applying for a subsidy.

How to determine the drop in revenue for the subsidy-month

Institutions or organisations that fall under section 2-32 of the Taxation Act, and that do not carry out taxable activities, are not required to have a drop in revenue. In these cases, a subsidy of NOK 10,000 per monthly FTE is granted.

If the enterprise is an institution or organisation that also carry out taxable activities, you may choose to have the subsidy calculated in the same way as for sole proprietorships (ENK) and companies (AS) or as for tax-exempt institutions or organisations.

Incorrect or missing information in your reports in the application month may lead to your application being rejected, so make sure that:

The enterprise is registered in the Aa Register

The employer must be registered in the State Register of Employers and Employees (Aa Register) with all the relevant information regarding the employees’ employment relationship for the period of May to and including September. You may only apply for subsidies for employees that are registered as laid off in the Aa Register.

Freelancers/contractors (in Norwegian only) and self-employed persons/businesses (in Norwegian only) are not considered employees and should not be registered here. Self-employed persons/businesses may apply on behalf of their employees, but are not considered employees themselves.

You have reported all required information, and the reports are correct

As an employer, you have a duty to report all your employees to the register via the a-melding.

Before you apply for a subsidy, you must have reported all required information and the a-melding must be submitted correctly.

If you find errors in your reports, you must correct the errors before you apply for a subsidy.

In order to apply for a subsidy, you must have brought back employees that were laid off as per 31 August 2020 by the start of the month for which you apply for a subsidy. You may apply for July and August or just August.

The employees must have been brought back to at least the same percentage of employment as before the layoff. You cannot receive subsidies for employees that are only partially brought back from a layoff.

Example:

• An employee with a full-time equivalent (FTE) position (100 percent) who was laid off 50 percent as per 31 August must be brought back to an FTE position of 100 percent.
• An employee with a FTE position of 50 percent who was laid off 100 percent as per 31 August must be brought back to an FTE position of at least 50 percent.
• An employee with a FTE position of 100 percent who was laid off 100 percent as per 31 August, who is brought back to an FTE position of 80 percent, is not eligible for a subsidy.

You must ensure that you have reported the correct percentage employment and degree of layoff in the a-melding before applying for a subsidy.

Employees working on an hourly basis

The enterprise may not apply for a subsidy for employees without a permanent percentage of employment. If an employee is hired by the hour, the enterprise must convert the hours to a percentage of employment.

You may only apply for a subsidy for the number of hours stipulated in the employee’s contract of employment, even if the employee worked more hours than stipulated in the application month.

In order to meet the requirements, the employee must have at least the same number of hours as before after being brought back from lay-off.

Sick leave and other types of absence

The employees' salary costs cannot be covered by the national insurance scheme or other public subsidy schemes. The employees must be brought back to active work. You cannot apply for subsidies for employees who are on sick leave and where the salary costs are covered by the national insurance scheme at the start of the application month. If an employee is reported sick during the application month, you can still apply for a subsidy.

Example
The employee is on sick leave from 3 October until 2 November. You can apply for a subsidy for October, but not for November.

You will only be granted a subsidy for employees that have worked the entire period for which you are applying for a subsidy, and who are still working up until 1 February.

You may not apply for a subsidy for employees that have been brought back from lay-offs and have either quit their jobs or been dismissed by the employer before 1 February.

The employee may take out holiday in October/November/December, but not unpaid holiday/leave.

You cannot apply for a subsidy for employees who have been brought back to work if you have simultaneously laid off, made redundant or reduced the working hours of other employees who fulfil the same function/perform the same tasks in the period of 31 August up until 1 January.

If an employee in a comparable position quits their job, you may apply for a subsidy.

By comparable position, we mean positions that completely or significantly fulfil the same functions. It is up to the employers to consider whether the employees’ positions are comparable, and they must be able to document the employment relationships if they are asked to do so.

Example
The enterprise has four bartenders. One of the bartenders was laid off as per 31 August 2020 and is brought back to work. In October, another bartender in the enterprise was laid off. The enterprise does not fulfil the requirements and cannot apply for a subsidy for any employees.