Cash sales also include card and Vipps payments when the customer pays on delivery. If you are required to keep accounting records, you generally need a cash register system with a product declaration. There are exemptions, but sales must still be documented.
Is Vipps the same as a cash register system?
No. Vipps is a payment solution. A cash register system records and documents sales. Digital payment does not in itself remove the requirement for a cash register system.
The Norwegian term kontantsalg, or cash sales, therefore means more than payments with notes and coins. What matters is when the customer pays for the goods or service. Altinn explains the distinction between payment and a cash register system.
This guide is for businesses required to keep accounting records: those obliged to record and document their financial transactions. The rules were checked on 2 November 2026. SamfunnPrep has more explanations of Norwegian services and obligations.
A card terminal is not automatically a cash register system either. Some solutions combine both functions. Ask the supplier what your solution actually does before you start taking payments.
Is an online order always an internet sale?
No. An online order can result in an ordinary cash sale if the customer pays when collecting the goods from you. A mobile phone being involved is not enough.
Skatteetaten, the Norwegian Tax Administration, distinguishes between different sales methods. Consider the whole purchase, not just the payment button:
| Situation | What distinction matters? | Practical check |
|---|---|---|
| The customer chooses and pays at your premises using Vipps | Ordinary cash sale on delivery | How is the sale recorded? |
| The customer orders online and pays on collection | Ordering online does not make it an internet sale | How is payment on collection documented? |
| The customer orders and pays before later delivery | Advance payment needs a separate assessment | How are the advance payment and subsequent delivery recorded? |
Sales that actually fall under the internet-sales rules are treated differently. If you have several sales channels, your accountant should assess each one. Do not simply apply your online shop's procedure to payments at the counter.
When can you be exempt from using a cash register system?
A general exemption covers cash sales not exceeding NOK 50,000 excluding VAT during an accounting year. This is a documentation rule, not a tax-free allowance.
Skatteetaten's explanation of low cash sales specifies that the threshold is assessed using cash sales from fixed business premises. Sales covered by other exemptions, such as qualifying itinerant sales, are not included in this threshold.
There is also an exemption for itinerant or sporadic cash sales whose combined total does not exceed three times the National Insurance basic amount, called 3 G, excluding VAT in an accounting year. Itinerant and sporadic sales do not each have a separate threshold.
Itinerant means the business does not operate from a fixed, equipped sales location. Sales at trade fairs can be an example. However, a market stall rented on a continuing basis is not automatically itinerant. Whether sales are sporadic depends on how regularly they occur. See Skatteetaten's explanation of these terms.
Describe where, how often and how you sell. Low turnover alone does not determine which exemption you can use. Monitor developments so you notice when sales approach the relevant threshold.
How do you document sales without a cash register system?
An exemption from a cash register system is not an exemption from documentation. Specific alternatives exist for the exemptions covering low, itinerant or sporadic cash sales.
You can document sales:
- consecutively in a bound book with pre-numbered pages
- by retaining copies of dated, pre-numbered sales documents, such as a duplicate receipt book
- with a dated and signed statement of goods and cash handed out and returned
Skatteetaten describes these options in its guidance on low cash sales. You must issue a receipt if the customer asks for one.
Choose a procedure suited to your sales method and clarify its contents with your accountant. A list of incoming payments in an app does not itself explain which goods or services you sold. You must be able to link payments to sales documentation.
Can you use a cash invoice instead?
Some businesses can use a kontantfaktura, or cash invoice, as an alternative. This is not a general solution for every shop wanting to avoid a cash register system.
Skatteetaten's statement on cash invoices describes a narrow exemption. It covers, among others, businesses where identifying the customer is normally necessary to deliver the goods or service and which already use invoicing solutions.
Ordinary retail or service businesses do not qualify simply by starting to collect customers' personal data. Some industries also have specific rules to follow.
If you qualify to use cash invoices as an alternative, you must use them for every cash sale, whatever the amount. The invoice must meet the usual content requirements. It must show the buyer's name together with either their address or organisation number. Writing “paid with Vipps” on a random slip of paper is not enough.
Ask for a specific assessment before choosing this solution. Explain how you normally identify customers, deliver and invoice.
How do you choose a cash register system?
Check that the system has a produkterklæring, or product declaration. This means the supplier has declared that it meets the requirements, not that Skatteetaten recommends it for your business.
Use Skatteetaten's list of cash register systems with product declarations. A system can be removed if it no longer complies and the supplier withdraws the declaration.
Ask whether the solution covers your payment methods, receipts, daily closing and transfers to your accounting records. Also ask for a demonstration of correcting errors and handling returns.
Taking card payments only does not give a general exemption. Skatteetaten's questions and answers about cash register systems specify that these solutions must also comply unless the business qualifies for an exemption. The physical equipment the system needs is a separate question.
What must you do at the sale and at the end of the day?
When using a cash register system, record sales immediately. The general rule is that the customer must receive a sales receipt. Altinn describes an exception when payment is integrated with the system, recorded automatically, and the customer does not want a receipt.
At the end of the day, print or save a Z report, summarising that day's records. Reconcile the cash on hand and the report from each payment terminal against it. Reconciliation means checking that the figures agree.
Explain any differences. The documentation must show who counted the cash and reconciled the sales. Agree who does this if several people work in the business.
Before your first day of sales, you should be able to explain the payment flow from the customer paying to the sale being documented and checked. If anything is unclear, contact the supplier, accountant or Skatteetaten with a specific description. SamfunnPrep's practical tools can help you further with Norwegian services and terminology.
