What are

Przeglądając swój lønnslipp – payslip from your Norwegian job – you may come across items that seem rather puzzling at first glance. "Fri bil"? "Fri telefon"? Unfortunately, these are not salary extras, but they are not ordinary deductions either.

What do they actually mean? And why do they affect your net pay? In this article we explain what lies behind these terms and how they can affect the amount of your salary in Norway.

“Fri bil” – private use of a company car

Fri bil is an item on the lønnslipp showing the value assigned to private use of a company car. In Norway, private use of a company car (for example, commuting home) is treated as additional taxable income. In other words, if your employer makes a car available to you and you also use it outside your work duties, the value of that “free car” (fri bil) is added to your income. This amount is not paid in cash – it is used only to calculate tax, which means you feel it as a deduction from your salary (your net pay is lower by the tax due on this benefit).

How is this amount calculated? Norwegian tax rules set a standard value for this benefit based on the list price of the vehicle when new (including optional extras). For example:

• In 2025, 30% of the car's value up to NOK 362 300 is added to the employee's income, and 20% of any amount above that value.
• For older vehicles (over 3 years old) or vehicles used extensively for work (more than 40 000 km/year), a reduced initial value is used (75% of the car's list price), which lowers the tax base. When both conditions apply, only 56.25% of the list price of a new vehicle is taken into account.
• The amount is then divided by 12 – this gives the monthly deduction.

The employer is obliged to report this non-cash income every month in the system – that is why it appears on your payslip.

Do you always have to pay tax on a company car? There is a small exception. If you use a company car privately only occasionally – no more than 10 days a year and up to 1000 km a year – no tax liability arises from this. In such cases it is useful to keep a logbook (kjørebok) confirming such limited use. Once this limit is exceeded, regardless of the kilometres driven above the threshold, the “fri bil” benefit will be charged.

“Fri telefon” – private use of a company phone

Similarly to a car, fri telefon on the lønnslipp means the benefit you receive when your employer covers the cost of your company phone (or Internet) used privately.

Norwegian tax law provides a flat-rate value for this benefit. If your employer pays for a phone, subscription or home Internet, a fixed amount is added to your income (naturally, for tax purposes only). At present, the employee is taxed on a maximum of 4 392 NOK per year, regardless of whether the company covers higher bills. This corresponds to adding around 366 NOK per month to income (for a full year of use). The amount of 4 392 NOK is the cap – if the employer pays for several services (phone, Internet) or very high bills, only this maximum value is still charged.

In practice, this means that a line fri telefon (sometimes also described as fri internett/fri EKT) will appear on the lønnslipp each month with an amount of around 366 NOK. As with the car, this is not extra pay, but a value on which tax is calculated.

It is worth adding that if an employee does not use the company phone privately at all (for example, leaves it at work and does not take it home), then no charge is applied. However, in most cases simply having a company phone outside working hours is treated as the possibility of private use, so the flat-rate tax is normally charged.

Other deductions on a Norwegian payslip

In addition to the fri bil and fri telefon items, Norwegian payslips include a range of other deductions and additions:

• Skatt / Forskuddstrekk (tax withholding) – this is the amount taken from your salary for income tax. In Norway, the employer is obliged to deduct tax according to your tax card (percentage rate or table). The withholding amount appears on every payslip, and at the end of the year it is settled in the annual tax return. This means you pay tax as you go with each salary payment, avoiding a large balancing payment at the end of the year.
• Pensjonstrekk (pension contribution) – some employers deduct part of the contribution to an employee pension fund from salary. In the public sector, for example, it is standard for 2% of salary to be paid into the state pension fund (for example, KLP) – the payslip may show a line Pensjonstrekk 2%. In the private sector, most companies finance the mandatory occupational pension contribution (OTP, Obligatorisk Tjenestepensjon) entirely themselves, but if your employer requires employee participation in the contribution, you will see the relevant amount as a deduction.
• Trekk i lønn for ferie / Ferietrekk (deduction for holiday pay accrual) – the Norwegian holiday system provides for payment of feriepenger (holiday pay) instead of normal salary during holiday. The standard feriepenger rate is 10.2% of annual earnings (set aside in the previous year). When holiday time comes (usually once a year, for example in summer), your employer pays out the accumulated feriepenger and at the same time makes a deduction corresponding to salary for the holiday period. This means you do not receive a double payment for the holiday period – feriepenger replace salary. On the payslip this may appear as a line “trekk i lønn for ferie”, often calculated as a full monthly salary plus a fraction of the following month.
• Other deductions – depending on your situation, other deductions may also appear on the lønnslipp, for example enforcement deductions or repayment of overpayments (often marked as trekk), group insurance contributions, private medical subscriptions paid by the employer, etc. If you have tax arrears or a fine to be collected, the employer may receive an instruction to deduct from your salary (trekk i lønn) in favour of the authorities – this situation will also be recorded on the payslip.

Summary

The terms “fri bil” and “fri telefon” shown on a Norwegian payslip relate to private use of a company car and phone. These are non-cash benefits which, under Norwegian rules, are taxed as part of your income.

In practice, the company adds a specific amount to your gross salary for tax purposes (you do not receive this money "in hand", but you pay tax on it). This means you pay tax in advance on the benefits you receive from a company car or a phone used privately.

On the lønnslipp you will also find other deductions, such as tax withholding (skatt), possible pension fund contributions (pensjonstrekk), union fees (fagforeningskontingent) or deductions related to the payment of feriepenger. It is worth reading your payslip carefully – all these items will help you understand how your salary is calculated and what taxes and charges are taken from it.

Do you have questions about taxes in Norway?

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Author of the article: Marcin – marcin@efirma.no