What you already have through folketrygden
When you invoice through a salary service, employer's tax (arbeidsgiveravgift) is paid on every krone of your work — and that is not money into thin air. It funds your membership rights in the national insurance scheme (folketrygden):
- Sykepenger — 100% of your sykepenger basis from day 17 of an illness. (A sole proprietor gets 80% from day 17 — frilanser status is the better rung here.)
- Dagpenger — Freelance salary income counts toward unemployment benefit rights, which self-employment income does not.
- Pension accrual — The income is pensjonsgivende: it builds your folketrygd retirement pension exactly like salary from a job.
What you do not have automatically
- Sykepenger for days 1–16 — An employee's employer covers the first 16 days of sick pay. A frilanser has no employer, so those days are uncovered by default.
- Occupational injury cover (yrkesskade) — Employers must insure employees against workplace injury. An oppdragsgiver has no such duty toward a frilanser — no salary service can truthfully include this for you without employing you.
- Occupational pension (OTP) — The mandatory 2% workplace pension is an employer obligation. No employment, no OTP — your folketrygd pension accrues, but the top-up is yours to arrange.
- Liability and professional indemnity — If your work can damage property, people or a client's business, nothing covers that by default in any model — employed or not.
What you can buy, and from whom
The gaps above are all coverable, and the first two policies come straight from NAV — not from an insurance broker:
- Frivillig yrkesskadetrygd (NAV) — Voluntary occupational injury cover for frilansere. It puts you on the same footing as an insured employee for workplace injury and occupational illness. NAV sets the premium yearly as a percentage of your expected freelance income.
- Voluntary sickness insurance (NAV) — Moves your sykepenger coverage from day 17 to day 1. Priced yearly by NAV as a percentage of expected income.
- Ansvarsforsikring / professional indemnity (private insurers) — Liability cover priced by trade and turnover. Check your client contracts first — many require it, and the requirement tells you exactly what to buy.
- Private pension saving — Not insurance, but the same gap: with no OTP, a standing monthly transfer to a pension savings product is the frilanser's replacement for the employer's 2%.
Current premium rates and application forms for the NAV policies are at nav.no — the rates change yearly, so check there rather than trusting any article's numbers, including ours.
The honest comparison with "insurance included"
Services that include insurance do so by employing you (egenansettelse), and their fee — typically around 6% — prices that employment in. PayoutPartner deliberately does not employ you: you stay a frilanser, the fee is 4.9%, and you decide which cover your work actually needs. A desk-based translator and a carpenter on scaffolding do not need the same policies, and paying for an employer's blanket cover is only a bargain if you would have bought all of it anyway.
What matters is that you decide with your eyes open: know the day-1–16 gap, know the yrkesskade gap, and close the ones that apply to you. NAV sells the two policies that matter most, directly, to exactly your category.
Frequently asked questions
Am I insured through PayoutPartner?
No. PayoutPartner is your oppdragsgiver, not your employer, and Norwegian law places no duty on an oppdragsgiver to carry occupational injury insurance for frilansere. What you do get through the salary model is folketrygd membership funded in part by the employer's tax paid on your invoices: 100% sykepenger from day 17, dagpenger rights, and pension accrual. Cover for the rest is yours to arrange — most of it directly from NAV.
How do I get occupational injury cover as a frilanser?
Buy frivillig yrkesskadetrygd from NAV. It covers occupational injury and occupational illness on the same footing employees get through their employer's mandatory policy. The premium is set by NAV each year as a small percentage of your expected income — current rates and the application are on nav.no.
What if I get sick during the first 16 days?
By default a frilanser has no sykepenger for days 1–16 — coverage starts at day 17, at 100% of your sykepenger basis. NAV sells frilansere a voluntary sickness insurance that moves coverage to day 1. If your income depends on you showing up, that policy is usually the first one worth its premium.
Do I need liability insurance?
Sometimes your client decides for you: many consulting and construction contracts require ansvarsforsikring or professional indemnity before you start. NAV does not sell this one — it comes from private insurers, priced by trade and turnover. Read your contract before you buy anything.