Before you start
From 1 January 2026, the tax withholding account has been discontinued. Tax withholding is paid directly to the Norwegian Tax Administration, no later than the first working day after salary payment.
In Accountflow, this means you link payment(s) to the Norwegian Tax Administration directly in the tax withholding tab for the period you are reconciling.
Whatâs new from 2026
You link payments per month in the Manage payments column.
You can link multiple payment transactions to the same month.
The Linked payments: ID column shows the voucher number/transaction ID for linked payments.
The Last payment date column shows the date of the most recently linked payment.
What is unchanged
Deviation is still the accounting variance between Amount: Altinn and Amount: GL.
You still use Pay day and Comments in the workflow.
The 2025 flow is preserved for historical periods.
Step by step: Reconcile withholding tax in 2026
1. Configure payroll account
Go to Setup & Admin â Reconciliation, and then Payroll settings â Payment Tax.
Map the correct payroll account for payments to the Norwegian Tax Administration to 9901 (ID) â Withheld Tax â Paid Directly. The account you set here, controls which transactions are included in the reconciliation.
Default is account 1920 (based on the standard mapping for SAF-T master account 1920), but you can change it by clicking the pencil icon.
đĄ The new element Withheld Tax â Paid Directly replaces Withheld Tax â Transferred, which should not be used after 2025.
2. Go to the Withholding tax tab
Go to Payroll under Reconciliation in the left-hand menu and select the Withholding tax tab.
Check that you are in the period you want to reconcile in the period selector.
3. Check amounts and deviations
Check Amount: Altinn, Amount: GL and Deviation per month.
If data is missing, fetch payroll reports from Altinn first.
4. Link payment(s)
Click Manage for the relevant month in the Manage payments column.
Click Map transaction to link a single payment transaction to the month.
If the payment is split, tick all transactions included in the payment and click Map selected.
đĄ Note: If the payment to the Norwegian Tax Administration is part of a combined payment (DR remittance voucher), the linked amount may be higher than the reported withholding. The covered amount per month is the basis for the reconciliation.
5. Check that mappings are registered
Check that Linked payments: ID and Last payment date are updated and that the values are correct.
6. Check coverage in Outgoing balance
Scroll down to the Outgoing balance section below the table.
Control that Linked payment total (covered) and Due coverage difference are correct.
7. View details for combined payments
Click on Linked payment total (covered) to open the detailed view.
In the detailed view, you can see the monthly breakdown with:
Reported amount
Linked amount (absolute): Shows the total of the linked transactions.
Covered amount: Shows how much of the reported tax withholding for the month is actually covered.
Deviation after coverage: Shows the remaining amount after coverage.
At the bottom, you can see transaction-level details, including the transaction ID, date, and which month the transaction is linked to.
You can also click the rows Reported due withheld tax and Outgoing withheld tax total to view details.
đĄ Tip: With DR remittance, itâs common for the Linked amount (absolute) to be higher than the reported amount. Use Covered amount and Variance after coverage to see what has actually been reconciled per month.
8. Document and complete the period
Document any deviations in the Comments column.
When youâre done, click Approve to complete the period.
Important about the transition 2025 â 2026
Salary paid in 2025 follows the old rules.
Sixth period 2025 is paid from the tax withholding account by 15 January 2026.
Salary paid from January 2026 follows the new direct payment model.
Bank guarantee is discontinued.
FAQ â Combined payments (DR voucher)
I canât find the âexact tax withholding amountâ on 1920 in the voucher. Is that wrong?
No. With DR remittance, the payment to the Norwegian Tax Administration may be included in the same voucher as other payments. You link the transaction(s), and the system calculates the covered amount for the month.
What is the difference between âLinked amount (absolute)â and âCovered amountâ?
Linked amount (absolute): the sum of the linked payment transactions.
Covered amount: the part of the linked amount that covers the reported tax withholding for the month.
Can I link January to a payment dated in February?
Yes. If the payment relates to the January withholding, it can be linked to the January period even if the transaction date is in February.
Do I need to add a manual comment for documentation?
Usually not. The audit trail is in the transaction reference (transaction ID/voucher reference), which links back to the original transaction in the accounting system.