Do you have employees working in Norway? Foreign enterprises with business activities in Norway are obligated to declare employment and income information for personnel working in Norway. This also applies to personnel who are non-taxable to Norway. All foreign contractors must report information in the Assignment and employee register.
The system for reporting tax in Norway is called a-melding and must be submitted electronically every month.
What must be reported on the a-melding
The a-melding should contain information about the following:
- salaries
- pension
- remunerations
- tax deducted
- employments in the given period
- As a reult of changes to Section 7 of the OTP Act effective from 1 January 2021, the employer has a duty to provide information in the a-melding concerning whom they have entered into an occupational pension agreement with.
Status of employment must be declared, even if the employees have not received a salary/remuneration.
An income recipients’ leave of absence must also be declared if it continues for 14 days or more. Both paid and unpaid leave of absence must be declared.
Download free guide: Individual income tax return to Norway
How to submit the a-melding
The a-melding is submitted through Altinn – the official Norwegian online portal.
Please note that the tax office has a new solution for direct registration of the a-melding. This is a simplified solution called A10.
This solution is not yet up and running for all employments but is recommended to be used by the employers who report their employees in the Assignment register. The solution and this guidance are works in progress and will be continuously updated.
The a-melding can be submitted in one of the following ways:
- An accountant, advisor, solicitor, or another representative with access to Altinn can submit the a-melding for you
- You can register the a-melding directly in Altinn
- You can submit the a-melding from an Altinn-integrated payroll system
- You can submit the a-melding in the new solution, called A10
Please note that you are no longer allowed to submit the a-melding on paper.
The a-melding is sent from the legal unit (organization) registered in the Register of Legal Entities. Consequently, the system can only be used if the enterprise has applied for and received a Norwegian organization number.
Also read: A brief guide to your Norwegian tax return
Due dates
The a-melding must be submitted by the 5th of the month after the payouts were made. The deadline is the next working day if the 5th is a Saturday, Sunday, or public holiday.
Example: Information about salaries paid out on the 21st of March must be submitted on or before the deadline, the 05th of April. It does not matter if these salaries are March salaries or payments in arrears for February. The a-melding submission deadline is determined by the payout date.
The employer can submit the a-melding as often as they want. This is usually done if they have several payout dates in a month.
Note that tax amounts must be transferred to the tax office bi-monthly within the 15th of the following tax period.
For more information: Do the right things when doing business in Norway
Feedback
The tax office carries out automatic checks for every a-melding that is submitted.
The feedback states what was reported and highlights errors which must be corrected. The feedback also contains information on payments of the employer`s National Insurance contributions and payroll withholding tax, accountant number, and KID number. It is therefore important to check the feedback.
Source: Guidance - Direct registration of a-melding in Altinn
You are welcome to contact us if you have any questions.
Article first published 19 February 2018 - Updated February 2023
Find out more about Magnus Legal’s tax services on our webpage: Corporate tax in Norway
