Tax card
If you are liable to tax in Norway, your employer must withhold tax from your pay.
All persons who have a taxable earned income must have a tax card. The tax card indicates how much tax is to be withheld. If you have a very low income, you may get a tax exemption card. If you do not give your tax card or tax exemption card to your employer, or if you do not present a tax card when you have reached the tax-exempted amount, your employer must withhold 50% of your income as tax.
Tax withheld by your employer is offset against the final tax assessed in June or October in the year following the income year.
Applying for a tax card or a tax-exemption card
You may order a copy of the tax card or submit the form for applying for a tax card or tax exemption card at www.skatteetaten.no or by sending an SMS. You may also contact your local Tax Office.
When you order a tax card on the internet, you enter your national ID number and will then get the card you have ordered in the mail. If your order by SMS, you either enter KOPI, SKJEMA or FRIKORT (copy, form, tax-exemption card), your national ID number (11 digits) and send the SMS to 02111. You will only be charged the ordinary call rate.
You must always give your tax card to your employer. When you leave your job, your employer must return the tax card to you. If you have a tax-exemption card, you must make sure that the employer has recorded your wages on the back of the card.
Payroll withholding tax on work performed in another Nordic country, and transfer of tax (the Nordic treaty on payment and transfer of tax)
If you work for an employer in your country of residence but are going to perform work in another Nordic country, you or your employer must submit either form NT 1 or form NT 2 to the tax office. This will ensure that your tax is deducted in the correct country. If you are liable to tax in your country of residence (i.e. if you stay for less than 183 days in the country of work), you should complete form NT 1. If you are liable to tax in the country of work, you should complete form NT 2. This applies if you stay there for more than 183 days, if your employer has a permanent establishment there, and (in some countries) if you are hired-out personnel.
In certain cases the Nordic treaty on payment and transfer of tax allows the tax authorities to transfer tax between countries. If tax has been withheld from your income from employment in one Nordic country and the same income proves to be taxable in another Nordic country, the tax that has been withheld can be transferred to the country in which the tax is payable. Any tax transferred pursuant to this treaty is always deemed to have been paid on time, so you will not be charged interest etc. on the amount transferred. However, if the amount paid is insufficient to cover the tax payable to the other country, you yourself will have to pay the excess tax, plus any interest due on that amount.