Can I hire my wife or husband in my company?

I have an ENK in Bergen and my wife has been helping me with jobs since January. I wanted to register her as an employee and pay her a salary, but I’m afraid I did it wrong!

This is one of the most common questions in small family businesses in Norway. A spouse helps with assignments, answers phones, manages the calendar, cleans up after work, or handles customers independently. It is natural to ask whether such a person can be treated like an ordinary employee.

In this article, we explain what hiring a wife or husband looks like in ENK and AS, how to account for a spouse’s work in a sole proprietorship, and what obligations arise when a spouse becomes an employee in a company.

Does the business structure determine whether you can hire a spouse?

Yes. In practice, the key question is whether you run an ENK (enkeltpersonforetak, sole proprietorship) or an AS (aksjeselskap, Norwegian limited company). The rules are different because an ENK is directly tied to the owner as a person, while an AS is a separate legal entity.

If you are still comparing business structures, we discuss the general differences separately in the article ENK or AS - which business structure should you choose in Norway? Here, we focus only on the work of a wife or husband in an already established business.

ENK - spouse’s work without a regular salary

In an ENK, the owner is not their own employee. For the same reason, the owner’s spouse is also not an employee of the ENK. This leads to a very specific consequence: you do not register your wife or husband as an employee in an ENK.

Money paid out from an ENK to the owner or spouse is not lønn (salary). This means that in a typical ENK you do not apply the usual employer obligations to a spouse, such as:

• reporting the spouse as an employee through a-melding (monthly payroll and employment report),
• registering the spouse in the Aa-registeret (employment relationships register),
• calculating arbeidsgiveravgift (employer’s social security contribution on wages),
• withholding forskuddstrekk (tax prepayment deducted from salary),
• calculating feriepenger (holiday pay),
• providing OTP (obligatorisk tjenestepensjon, mandatory occupational pension),
• signing a standard employment contract with the employee.

If you enter the owner’s spouse in an ENK in a-melding as an employee, the report must be corrected. That a-melding should not contain the ENK owner or their spouse as employees.

How do you split income when you both work in the ENK?

A spouse may work in the business and be assigned part of the income from the so-called felles virksomhet (joint business activity of spouses). The condition is simple: both spouses must actually have worked in the business during that income year.

The income split should reflect the actual contribution of work. Among other things, the following are taken into account:

• how many hours each spouse worked,
• the nature of the work, for example supporting or independent,
• who made decisions and bore responsibility for the assignments,
• what market value similar work would have if performed by an outside person.

If the spouses’ work is comparable, a 50-50 split of income may be possible. If the other spouse only performs simple support tasks, their share of income should reflect the value of that work, not automatically half of the profit.

Income assigned to a spouse from an ENK is næringsinntekt (business income), not lønnsinntekt (employment income). In 2026, this matters for trygdeavgift (the Norwegian social security contribution) among other things: for employment income the rate is 7.6%, and for other business income 10.8%. This is not tax withholding, but a part of the annual tax settlement.

How do you report the split in the tax return?

The income split between spouses is reported in skattemelding (tax return). The main business owner attaches a næringsspesifikasjon (business statement) and indicates the percentage share of income. The other spouse reports their share as business income transferred from the spouse.

If you both work in the ENK but do not make a split, the income is generally allocated to the main business owner. Losses from a typical ENK are not split between spouses unless both are responsible for the business.

The official rules for ENK can be found in the description of enkeltpersonforetak, and the practical rules for income splitting in felles virksomhet.

AS - a spouse can be a regular employee

In an AS, a wife or husband can be employed under normal rules. This also applies if you are the sole shareholder, the spouse is a co-owner, or both of you work in a family company.

The condition is practical: there must be a real employment relationship. The spouse should actually perform work for the company, receive pay, and be reported like other employees.

When employing a spouse in an AS, the company must, among other things:

• prepare a written employment contract,
• pay salary through payroll,
• withhold forskuddstrekk from wages based on the tax card,
• submit a-melding every month,
• calculate and pay arbeidsgiveravgift,
• calculate feriepenger,
• provide mandatory yrkesskadeforsikring (occupational injury insurance),
• provide OTP if the program conditions are met.

We discuss the detailed requirements for the contract itself in the article Employment contract in Norway - learn the rights and obligations of employers and employees, and the reporting rules in the article What is a-melding and when must it be sent?

The most important deadlines and rates for AS in 2026

The cost of an employee includes more than the gross amount in the contract. If you want to estimate the cost of hiring, see the article How much does an employee really cost in Norway?

When a spouse works in an AS, you can normally apply the employee minstefradrag (standard deduction from employment income), even if one spouse or both spouses own shares in the company. This is one of the important differences between salary from an AS and income assigned to a spouse from an ENK.

Documentation and risks in a family business

A spouse’s work in a family business should be well documented, because transactions with close persons are more sensitive for tax purposes. Aksjeloven (the Norwegian Companies Act) treats a spouse as a closely connected person, that is, nærstående. This does not mean that hiring is forbidden, but it does mean that the terms must be market-based and logical.

In an ENK, it is worth keeping documentation that shows the basis for the income split:

• description of the spouse’s duties,
• estimated number of working hours,
• scope of responsibility,
• examples of completed tasks,
• justification for the percentage split of income.

In an AS, it is worth having documents typical of ordinary employment:

• a written employment contract,
• realistic pay corresponding to the position and scope of work,
• payroll records and proof of bank transfers,
• submitted a-meldings,
• time records if they are needed in your line of business,
• documentation of holiday and feriepenger,
• confirmation of yrkesskadeforsikring and the OTP scheme.

If the salary in an AS is detached from real work, the company risks a dispute about the nature of the payment. Payments to a shareholder or close person without a real basis may be treated differently for tax purposes, for example as hidden dividends. In 2026, dividends for an individual are effectively taxed at 37.84%.

In practice, orderly accounting and correct payroll handling in an accounting system help a lot (e.g. Efirma.no). For a small family company, it is also worth discussing payroll with an accounting office (e.g. Efirma Regnskap AS) before the first salary is paid.

FAQ - frequently asked questions

Summary

• In an ENK, you do not hire the owner’s wife or husband as an employee. A spouse can work in the business and receive a share of income if they actually contribute work to the company.
• In an AS, a spouse can be employed like any other employee, with a contract, salary, a-melding, forskuddstrekk, arbeidsgiveravgift, feriepenger, insurance, and OTP.
• In a family business, document the real work, the scope of duties, and the market-based nature of the arrangement. This is especially important in an AS and for payments to close persons.

If you need help hiring your wife or husband in your company, call us at: +47 21 38 38 21. We help Poles in Norway get their business and employment matters in order.

Article author: Marcin - marcin@efirma.no