Holiday pay (feriepenger) is calculated from the salary paid to you the year before and is usually paid in June. The standard rate is 10.2%, or 12% if you have five weeks of holiday through a collective agreement.
Example: If you earned NOK 500,000 last year, you get 500,000 × 0.102 = NOK 51,000 in holiday pay. At 12% it is NOK 60,000. If you are 60 or older at the standard rate, you get NOK 11,500 extra, NOK 62,500 in total.
The rules are in section 10 of the Holidays Act (ferieloven) and section 11. The key points:
You get 10.2% of your holiday pay basis, which is the salary paid out to you the year before. If you earned NOK 500,000 last year, your holiday pay is NOK 51,000. At 12% it is NOK 60,000.
The basis is salary for work paid out during the earning year, which is the year before the holiday pay is paid. Overtime pay counts. Last year's holiday pay, expense allowances for car, meals and lodging, and benefits in kind do not.
By law, holiday pay is paid on the last regular payday before your holiday. Most employers pay it in June. Collective agreements may have other rules.
When you receive holiday pay, your employer usually deducts regular salary for the days you take off. This is called ferietrekk (holiday deduction). Holiday pay replaces your salary while you are off, so the June payout is less than salary and holiday pay combined.
Holiday pay is taxable income, but with the standard tax table (tabelltrekk) no tax is withheld from ordinary holiday pay. That is because the year's tax deductions are spread over the other months. The extra for those aged 60 and over is still taxed.
You get 12% if you have five weeks of holiday through a collective agreement or your employment contract. The law gives 25 working days of holiday, which is four weeks and one day, and 10.2% holiday pay.
If you turn 60 during the holiday year, you are entitled to six extra days off and a rate 2.3 percentage points higher. The extra is only calculated on the part of the basis up to 6G, six times the National Insurance basic amount.
When you leave, all earned holiday pay must be paid no later than the last regular payday before you leave. In your first year with a new employer you have the right to take holiday, but you get no holiday pay from them, since it has already been paid. Many therefore take unpaid holiday the first year.