Hvor mange prosent skatt bør man trekke?

Your trekkprosent lands around 36% at 480 000 kr, not 22% and not 50%. The 22% is only the alminnelig inntektsskatt; on top of that you pay trygdeavgift at 11.4% because you're næringsdrivende, not the lower rate for lønnsmottakere, and then trinnskatt kicks in on the higher brackets. That works out to roughly 105 600 kr in alminnelig skatt, 54 720 kr in trygdeavgift, and about 13 000 kr in trinnskatt, so your total is around 173 000 kr, which is 36% of 480 000.

The trekkprosent isn't a flat rate; it's the total expected skatt divided by your brutto inntekt, so it rises with what you earn because trinnskatten steps up. At 650 000 kr you'd be closer to 40%, at 700 000 kr maybe 42%, and at 35 000 kr a month it drops to the high 20s. People quoting 34% are usually on an ordinary lønn around 550 000 kr with standard fradrag, and 44% is typically someone above 750 000 kr or with a second job.

The real risk is underpaying, because Skatteetaten will add renter and can even estimate your skatt and force a 50% trekk if you skip the skattekort altogether. Fill it out at skatteetaten.no, or just call them on 800 80 000; they'll walk you through it. Setting 50% like your friend said just hands the state an interest-free loan until the oppgjør in July.

34% is not much for a freelancer, it's pretty normal around your income. The thing that catches people out is trygdeavgiften at 11.4% for næringsdrivende, so don't calculate with the lower rate. And seriously, call Skatteetaten at 800 80 000 if the kalkulator overwhelms you; they'll fix your skattekort over the phone.

With variable income I set mine to 38% on the skattekort and run the Skatteetaten kalkulator every quarter. Last year I overpaid by 14 300 kr because I forgot pensjonssparing, but getting it back in July beats owing renter.