Negotiate your retraining into the severance package
Norwegian tax rules let an employer fund education worth up to 1.5 G, roughly NOK 204,800 in 2026, completely tax-free when it is funded in connection with the ending of your employment and it qualifies you for work with your next employer. That ceiling sits above the price of every bootcamp we run. The catch is the order: it has to be written into the sluttavtale before you sign it.
The clause to negotiate before you sign anything
When a job is ending, the most valuable thing you can ask for is often not one more month of pay. Norwegian tax rules treat education funded in connection with the ending of an employment relationship, i forbindelse med opphør av arbeidsforhold, as tax-free income for you up to a ceiling of 1.5 G, as long as the education gives competence you can use when looking for work with another employer. Grunnbeløpet rose by 4.91 percent to NOK 136,549 on 1 May 2026, which puts that ceiling at roughly NOK 204,800 today. G is adjusted every 1 May, so the number moves each year and any figure you find in an older article is out of date even where the rule itself has not changed. Inside the frame, the employer can cover tuition, exam fees, books and materials, travel and extra accommodation. Our bootcamps cost between EUR 5,000 and EUR 17,000, so the ceiling sits above the whole range and the tax rule is very unlikely to be the thing that limits you. Notice which way the relevance test points, because it is the exact opposite of the rule that applies while you are still employed: here the competence has to be useful to a new employer, which makes a career change into web development, data and AI, Cybersecurity or UX/UI precisely the case this exemption was written for. There is no accreditation gate and no authority to apply to. The exemption attaches to the education and its purpose rather than to the school delivering it, so a live online programme run from Germany is no obstacle, and we invoice your Norwegian employer directly. Two conditions decide whether it actually holds. For education lasting more than two months you normally need at least one year of full-time service with that employer behind you. And the employer has to pay the provider or reimburse documented costs, because a cash sum handed to you instead is ordinary taxable salary no matter what you spend it on afterwards. Which brings us to the sentence that matters more than any other on this page: this has to be in the sluttavtale before you sign it. Once you have signed, the terms are settled, and an agreement that says severance pay says exactly that. Before you sign anything, take it to your tillitsvalgt or an employment lawyer.
Your employment has to be ending, and the funding has to belong to that ending. Nedbemanning, restructuring, a negotiated exit or another agreed termination all fit. The exemption is for education funded i forbindelse med opphør av arbeidsforhold, so it lives inside the severance negotiation rather than in the ordinary training budget.
The skills have to point at your next employer, not your last one. That is the reverse of the rule for people still in a job, and it is good news here: retraining for a completely different field is what this exemption is designed to fund. If you are staying in your job instead, the page you want is employer-paid education while employed, where the test runs the other way.
Tenure: education lasting more than two months normally requires at least one year of full-time service with the employer that is funding it. The requirement is assessed against your working hours, so part-time service counts proportionately, for example two years at 50 percent. Courses shorter than two months do not carry this condition.
Nothing here depends on who you are. There is no age limit, no residence condition and no nationality requirement, because this is a tax rule about the education and not a permission regime about you. Internationals working in Norway negotiate it on exactly the same terms as their Norwegian colleagues.
No public body has to approve anything, but your employer does have to agree. There is no entitlement to education money in a severance package and no authority you can appeal to if the company says no. It is a negotiation, the answer belongs to your employer, and the tax rule only tells you how to structure a yes so it stays tax-free.
Timing is a condition in practice, even if the tax rule does not phrase it that way. The money has to be agreed as education funding while the sluttavtale is still being negotiated. Raising it after you have signed puts you in a much weaker position, and reclassifying cash you have already been promised is not something you can do on your own.
Frequently asked questions
How much is 1.5 G right now, and does the number change?
Grunnbeløpet rose by 4.91 percent to NOK 136,549 with effect from 1 May 2026, which puts 1.5 G at about NOK 204,800. G is adjusted every 1 May in the trygdeoppgjør, so the ceiling moves each year and a figure that was correct last spring is not correct now. This matters practically: much of the writing you will find on sluttpakker and education quotes older amounts, sometimes from articles written years ago, and although the underlying rule has been stable the kroner figures in them have not. Check the current grunnbeløp, or ask us and we will confirm what it is when we speak, before any amount is written into an agreement.
What if my employer refuses to put education in the package?
There is no entitlement here and no authority to appeal to, so a refusal is final in the sense that nobody can overrule it. What is worth trying first is asking your tillitsvalgt or lawyer to raise it as a restructuring of value you are already being offered rather than as an extra ask, since the tax treatment of education funding and of cash is not the same and that difference is a legitimate thing to put on the table for both sides. If the answer stays no, the bootcamp is still within reach: we offer interest-free monthly instalments, up to 60 payments, paid directly to Code Labs Academy, a discount for paying the full fee upfront, and the discounts already listed on the site. Many Norwegian unions also run education stipends that reimburse members whoever provides the course. Two things to be honest about: Norway has no meaningful personal tax deduction for retraining costs, because ordinary work-related expenses are absorbed by the minstefradrag, and NAV can consider letting you keep dagpenger while you study if you apply before the course starts, which is a decision NAV makes case by case and which covers living costs rather than the fee. If you land a new job first, a future employer can fund the course tax-free under the rules for employer-paid education.
Does a foreign online provider count? Do you need to be approved in Norway?
It counts, and no approval is required. The exemption attaches to the education and its purpose, not to the institution delivering it, so there is no Norwegian register we have to appear in, no accreditation to hold and no distinction drawn between classroom teaching and live online teaching. Your employer buys training from a supplier and pays an invoice, exactly as it would for any other purchase, and we invoice the Norwegian company directly in kroner terms agreed in advance. Code Labs Academy is a German company and is AZAV-certified, which is a German quality certification with no legal effect in Norway, so treat it as a credibility signal for the HR file rather than as an argument. Where the door genuinely is shut is public money: NAV's rules for opplæringstiltak require a provider operating in Norway and exclude online courses run by foreign providers, and Lånekassen only supports approved institutions at degree level. We would rather say that plainly than let you spend weeks on an application that cannot be granted.
Can I just take the money and pay for the course myself?
You can, but then it is not tax-free, and that is a large difference on a bootcamp-sized amount. The exemption is written for an employer that pays the provider or reimburses documented costs. An amount transferred to you, or an amount you would be free to keep if you decided not to study, is ordinary salary and is taxed and reported as salary regardless of what you do with it afterwards. Reimbursement is fine and is often the simplest route in practice: you pay, you submit receipts, you sign a statement of the costs, and the employer refunds them within the frame. What breaks it is optionality. If the clause gives you a choice between the money and the course, the tax authorities are looking at money.
I have already signed my sluttavtale. Is it too late?
Usually, yes, at least for that agreement as it stands. A signed sluttavtale is a settlement, and the composition of the package is what you agreed to. It costs nothing to ask whether the company would consider an addendum before the final payment is made, and some will, particularly if the education value is carved out of an amount already committed rather than added to it. Ask your union or lawyer to make that approach rather than doing it informally by email, and do not build your plans on it. In the meantime, treat the course as self-funded and look at the practical routes: interest-free monthly instalments, up to 60 payments, paid directly to Code Labs Academy, the upfront-payment discount, union stipends, and a future employer funding it once you are back in work.
Should I involve a union or a lawyer, and does the education clause need one?
Yes, and it is the advice we would give even if it had nothing to do with us. A severance agreement settles far more than a training budget: notice period, pay, holiday pay, references, competition and confidentiality clauses, and usually a waiver of further claims. An hour with your tillitsvalgt, your union's legal service or an employment lawyer before you respond is the cheapest insurance in the process, and it is common for the employer to cover a few hours of legal assistance, so ask. Bring the education clause to that meeting with the numbers already filled in, our written quote and the curriculum attached, so your advisor is checking wording rather than starting from a blank page.
Get Personalized Advice
Want help navigating tuition and funding in Norway? Book a one-to-one call with an education specialist. We can explain payment plans, share employer-friendly details (like invoices and programme summaries), and point you toward Norway-relevant routes such as employer sponsorship or public support where eligible. The goal is to make financing clear, so you can focus on learning.
