Holiday pay in Norway (feriepenger): how it works
By Kalkulatorbanken · Last updated
Figures and rules are for 2026 and checked against the sources at the bottom of the page. Norwegian version of this guide.
Norwegian holiday pay (feriepenger) is not a bonus. It is the salary you earned last year, paid out so that you have money while you are off work. The statutory rate is 10.2% of last year's pay, 12% if you have five weeks of holiday, and a supplement applies from the year you turn 60. Because it is based on last year, newcomers get a surprise: in your first year in Norway there is little or none.
Prefer to run your own numbers? Open the Norway Holiday Pay Calculator 2026.
In short
- You earn holiday pay in one calendar year and receive it the next, so the pay you got in 2025 decides your holiday pay in 2026.
- The Holiday Act gives 10.2%. Five weeks of holiday, by contract or collective agreement, normally means 12%.
- If you did not work in Norway last year you have a right to the time off, but no holiday pay to receive.
- Statutory holiday pay is taxable but has no tax withheld in the holiday year. The exception is the PAYE scheme for some foreign workers, where tax is always withheld.
You are paid for last year's work
Holiday pay is earned during one calendar year (the earning year) and paid in the next (the holiday year). What you were paid in 2025 is the basis for the holiday pay you receive in 2026. Salary, bonuses, commission and overtime count. Travel and accommodation allowances, and holiday pay you already received during the earning year, do not.
Holiday pay exists because Norwegian holiday is, in effect, unpaid leave. Employers are not required to pay ordinary wages on the days you take off, so the money you earned last year takes the place of your salary. The Holiday Act gives every employee 25 working days of leave, which is four weeks and one day because Saturdays count as working days.
What this means if you are new to Norway
If you did not work in Norway last year, you have no holiday pay to receive, but you still have the right to the holiday itself. The Norwegian Labour Inspection Authority adds that your employer can only demand that you take holiday if you have accumulated holiday pay with your current or a previous employer. If you want time off in your first year, expect it to be unpaid or to be agreed with your employer. The money from your first months of work then arrives the following year.
To see the effect on a payslip, try the holiday pay calculatorwith last year's pay and this year's monthly salary.
10.2%, 12% and the over-60 supplement
The statutory rate is 10.2% of the basis. A fifth week of holiday is not a legal right. It comes from a collective agreement, your employment contract or workplace practice, and the rate is then normally 12%. The higher rate pays for the extra week, roughly 18% more money for about 20% more days off, so it is not a free extra.
| Pay in 2025 | 10.2% | 12% |
|---|---|---|
| NOK 300,000 | NOK 30,600 | NOK 36,000 |
| NOK 500,000 | NOK 51,000 | NOK 60,000 |
| NOK 700,000 | NOK 71,400 | NOK 84,000 |
Over 60
If you turn 60 during the holiday year or are older, you get 6 extra working days of holiday and the rate rises by 2.3 percentage points, to 12.5% (or 14.3% with five weeks). The supplement applies only to pay up to six times the National Insurance basic amount (6G). For 2026 payouts the relevant G is the one in force on 31 December 2025, so 6G is NOK 780,960.
The cap matters at high salaries. On a basis of NOK 1,000,000, a 62-year-old gets NOK 119,962, not the NOK 125,000 that the headline rate suggests.
What lands in your account in June
The Act says holiday pay is paid on the last regular payday before the holiday. Many employers instead pay it all in one month, often June, and deduct salary for the holiday days in the same payslip. A month of salary covers 26 working days on a six-day week, so the deduction is monthly salary × days ÷ 26. The Tax Administration describes the same calculation for employers.
Worked example
Alex moved to Norway and started a job on 1 August 2025 at NOK 40,000 a month, so earned NOK 200,000 in 5 months. Alex takes all 25 holiday days in June 2026, and the employer settles everything on the June payslip.
- Holiday pay 2026: NOK 200,000 × 10.2% = NOK 20,400
- Salary deducted for 25 days: NOK 40,000 × 25 ÷ 26 = NOK 38,462
- June pay before tax: NOK 40,000 − NOK 38,462 + NOK 20,400 = NOK 21,938
That is far below a normal month. A year later Alex has a full earning year behind them (NOK 480,000), and the same June looks very different: holiday pay of NOK 48,960 and a June payslip of NOK 50,498 before tax.
The first June is thin because the holiday pay reflects only a few months of work, while the deduction is for a full month's holiday. To estimate a June payslip after tax, there is also a June salary calculator (in Norwegian).
Tax on holiday pay: why June is tax-free
Holiday pay is taxable income, but employers must not withhold tax from statutory holiday pay paid in the holiday year. The Tax Administration explains the logic: your yearly tax is collected over 10.5 months, so no tax is withheld in the holiday pay month and only half in November or December. A normal month therefore has a higher deduction than you would get by dividing the year's tax by twelve (10.5 months, not 12). The tax is not gone, it is moved to the other months.
The same exemption covers holiday pay under a collective agreement up to 12.34% of the basis. It does not cover the 2.3 percentage points over-60 supplement: tax is withheld on that part.
The PAYE scheme has no tax-free month
The Tax Administration states that holiday pay cannot be paid without tax being deducted if the employee has a tax deduction card with deductions in all 12 months. This is the case under the PAYE scheme (kildeskatt), which applies to foreign workers on short stays in Norway and to the first year of tax residence. Under it the deduction is the same every month, with no tax-free month and no reduction before Christmas. See the guide to the tax deduction card and the withholding tax calculator.
Calculate with your own numbers
Norway Holiday Pay Calculator 2026 uses the 2026 rates and shows the working step by step. It takes under a minute. You do not need to log in or have BankID, and what you type stays in your browser.
Calculate your holiday pay →