The network covers Iceland within the Northern Europe region. Payslips there are drawn up in ISK, and dealings with a local firm are conducted in Icelandic.
The business centres where the network is looking for a correspondent as a priority are Reykjavik, Kópavogur, Hafnarfjörður, Akureyri.
The country belongs to the European Economic Area or is covered by the agreement concluded with Switzerland. European social security coordination produces the same effects there as between member states, and the A1 certificate may equally be relied upon.
The answer to this question changes everything: it determines to whom you may entrust your payslips locally, and what you must ask for before signing. It has been verified country by country with the local authorities.
In Iceland, running payroll on behalf of third parties is reserved by law to no registered profession: any company may take it on. The absence of a legal barrier shifts the checking onto you, and that is why the network itself verifies the registration, the tax and social security standing and the insurance cover of every firm before listing it.
L'Islande protège les titres mais pas l'activité : tenir la comptabilité ou établir la paie pour un tiers n'exige aucune licence. Seul l'audit légal est réservé aux löggiltir endurskoðendur, agréés et soumis à l'Endurskoðendaráð, avec obligation d'assurance de responsabilité professionnelle. Pour un partenaire de paie, viser un cabinet dont l'associé responsable est viðurkenndur bókari ou löggiltur endurskoðandi.
Iceland is not a member of the European Union but belongs to the European Economic Area: EU social security coordination and the GDPR apply, as does free movement of workers. The country retains its own currency, the Icelandic króna, in which wages are settled.
The financing of social protection is unusual. The employer contribution, the tryggingagjald, is a tax collected by Skatturinn, the revenue authority, which also maintains the register of companies. Mandatory pension contributions, by contrast, do not go to the State: they are paid to private occupational funds, the lífeyrissjóðir, membership of which is compulsory for the employee. A tax certificate showing no arrears therefore says nothing about whether pension contributions have been paid.
Icelandic is the official language and the language of administrative documents, with English widely spoken. Neither bookkeeping nor payroll is a reserved activity, but the titles löggiltur endurskoðandi and viðurkenndur bókari are protected.
Neither tax nor social security, the first Icelandic question is collective. Agreements negotiated between the unions and employers' organisations set minimum terms that apply in practice to every employment relationship, including where the employer belongs to no organisation. Identify the agreement covering the activity before discussing a salary level at all.
The formalities follow: registering the entity on the register maintained by Skatturinn, obtaining the identification number, and securing a personal identification number for the employee, without which they do not exist for any Icelandic authority.
Given to the employee, the written contract reflects the applicable agreement. The payslip, for its part, shows income tax withheld, the employee's share of the pension contribution and, generally, the union subscription the employer deducts on the union's behalf.
Keep clearly separate, on the payment side, what goes to the revenue authority and what goes to the pension funds: the channels differ, so do the deadlines, and overlooking the second is the commonest failing among foreign employers.
Notice periods set by the agreement, often longer than the statutory minimum, apply on exit, and leave entitlements are settled under the agreement's rules rather than the statute alone, which almost always produces a different figure from the one a European template would suggest.
The network asks 8 documents of any firm wishing to represent it in Iceland. The table gives, for each of them, the exact wording in use locally, the body that issues it and the period during which it remains admissible. These are the terms to use in an application to the local administration.
Of these 8 documents, 6 are required of every applicant and 4 have a limited period of validity, the shortest being 1 months.
| Local wording | Issuing body | Validity | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vottorð úr fyrirtækjaskrá (extrait du registre des entreprises) — kennitála à 10 chiffresCertificate from the Register of Enterprises Particularité islandaise : c'est l'administration fiscale qui tient le registre des entreprises. La recherche publique du fyrirtækjaskrá permet de vérifier gratuitement la forme (ehf. / hf.), la kennitála et les dirigeants avant même de demander l'attestation. | Fyrirtækjaskrá, tenue par Skatturinn (Iceland Revenue and Customs) | 3 months Required | Official website |
| Kennitála (identifiant unique) et virðisaukaskattsnúmer — VSK-númer (numéro de TVA)Icelandic identification number (kennitala) and VAT number La kennitála sert d'identifiant unique pour tout : registre, fiscalité, banque. Le VSK-númer est distinct et n'est délivré qu'aux assujettis à la TVA. L'Islande n'étant pas dans l'UE (mais dans l'EEE), le numéro de TVA islandais n'est pas contrôlable via VIES. | Skatturinn (Iceland Revenue and Customs) | No expiry Required | Official website |
| Vottorð um skuldastöðu við ríkissjóð / skuldleysisvottorðCertificate of tax debt status / no-debt certificate L'attestation couvre les impôts d'État, la TVA et les retenues à la source. Sa durée d'usage est courte en Islande, souvent un mois : ne pas accepter un document de plus de trente jours. | Skatturinn — innheimtumaður ríkissjóðs (recouvrement, exercé par les sýslumenn hors Reykjavík) | 1 month Required | Official website |
| Tryggingagjald — couvert par la même attestation fiscale ; en complément, staðfesting á skilum lífeyrisiðgjalda (attestation de versement des cotisations de retraite)Social security contribution compliance and pension fund contribution confirmation L'Islande n'a pas de caisse unique de sécurité sociale : la contribution employeur (tryggingagjald, environ 6,35 %) est un impôt recouvré par Skatturinn, mais les cotisations de retraite obligatoires (11,5 % employeur, 4 % salarié) sont versées à des caisses privées de branche. Demander une confirmation de la caisse de retraite en plus de l'attestation fiscale. | Skatturinn pour le tryggingagjald ; caisses de retraite professionnelles (lífeyrissjóðir) pour les cotisations de retraite obligatoires | 3 months Required | Official website |
| StarfsábyrgðartryggingProfessional liability insurance La starfsábyrgðartrygging est une condition de l'agrément des löggiltir endurskoðendur (experts-comptables assermentés). Pour un simple bókari ou un prestataire de paie non agréé, elle n'est pas légalement imposée et doit être exigée par contrat. | Assureur agréé sous le contrôle de la Seðlabanki Íslands (Banque centrale, qui a absorbé la Fjármálaeftirlitið) ; exigée des löggiltir endurskoðendur | 12 months Required | Official website |
| Viðurkenndur bókari (comptable agréé) ou löggiltur endurskoðandi (expert-comptable assermenté)Recognised bookkeeper or certified public accountant / statutory auditor Le titre de löggiltur endurskoðandi est protégé et son registre est tenu par le FLE et l'Endurskoðendaráð. Le titre de viðurkenndur bókari est également protégé mais l'exercice de la tenue de comptabilité et de la paie n'est pas réservé : demander l'un des deux titres est un filtre de qualité, pas une exigence légale. | Endurskoðendaráð (conseil de surveillance des experts-comptables) et Félag löggiltra endurskoðenda (FLE) ; le titre de viðurkenndur bókari est délivré à l'issue d'un examen organisé sous l'égide du ministère chargé de l'économie | No expiry Where applicable | Official website |
| Vegabréf eða ökuskírteini framkvæmdastjóra / stjórnarmannsPassport or driving licence of the managing director or board member Le vottorð du fyrirtækjaskrá nomme le framkvæmdastjóri et les membres du conseil avec leur kennitála : contrôler la concordance. L'Islande n'ayant pas de carte nationale d'identité généralisée, le passeport ou le permis de conduire fait foi. | Þjóðskrá Íslands (Registers Iceland) | No expiry Required | Official website |
| Persónuvernd — lög nr. 90/2018 (transposition du RGPD via l'accord EEE)Compliance with the Icelandic Data Protection Act (GDPR under the EEA Agreement) L'Islande est membre de l'EEE : le RGPD y est transposé par la loi n° 90/2018 et les transferts depuis la France ne sont pas des transferts hors UE. Pas d'enregistrement général : demander le registre des traitements et l'accord de sous-traitance. | Persónuvernd (Data Protection Authority) | No expiry Where applicable | Official website |
The force of collective agreements is the dominant feature. In Iceland they do not supplement the law: they constitute the substance of what applies to pay, leave, premiums and notice. An employer reasoning from the statute alone will arrive at the wrong level of remuneration, and often by a wide margin.
Private pension provision is compulsory. Occupational funds collect their contributions directly, outside the tax channel, and the employee may in addition make a supplementary payment that the employer matches under the agreement.
The scale of the market, finally, matters as much as qualifications do. The population is small and the number of firms limited: a partner's availability, its capacity to absorb seasonal peaks and its independence from your local competitors deserve as careful an examination as its credentials, and they are harder to establish from a distance.
Deux singularités islandaises à connaître. D'abord l'administration fiscale, Skatturinn, tient aussi le registre des entreprises : l'extrait d'immatriculation et l'attestation de dettes viennent du même guichet, ce qui simplifie beaucoup le dossier. Ensuite, la retraite n'est pas gérée par l'État mais par des caisses de branche privées (lífeyrissjóðir) auxquelles l'affiliation est obligatoire : une attestation fiscale « à jour » ne dit rien du versement des cotisations de retraite, il faut une confirmation séparée de la caisse. À noter aussi que l'Islande est dans l'EEE mais pas dans l'UE : le RGPD s'y applique et il n'y a donc pas de difficulté de transfert de données, en revanche le numéro de TVA islandais n'est pas vérifiable dans VIES.
The network opens 3 partner slots in Iceland, not one more. No firm is listed there yet: all 3 slots therefore remain open to applications.
No listed partner in Iceland has asked to appear in the public directory. The contact details of a firm are passed on to the client only when an assignment is awarded.
Filing an application does not amount to admission: every request is reviewed one by one. There is no minimum turnover requirement, and the partner selected invoices its fees directly.
Submit an application: we review your file, we check the documents required on the ground and we give you an answer, whether it is positive or not.
Iceland protects titles without reserving the activity, so we look for a firm whose responsible partner is a viðurkenndur bókari, a certified bookkeeper, or a löggiltur endurskoðandi, a state-authorised public accountant. The company register extract and the tax arrears certificate come from the same office, Skatturinn, which lightens the file; we do, however, require separate confirmation that pension fund contributions have been paid, since no tax certificate covers them. Professional indemnity cover is required contractually where it is not already attached to the authorisation.
Describe your requirement. No firm is listed in Iceland yet: we review the request, then entrust it to a local firm that the network identifies and vets, or to the partner of a neighbouring country covering this territory. Your contact details are passed on to the selected firm alone.
Request a provider in IcelandMobility is rarely arranged one country at a time. The neighbouring profiles follow the same outline.
These countries account for most of the requests received: each one has, in addition to its profile, six pages devoted to a single aspect of local payroll.
The information gathered on this page comes from the registers, administrations and bodies listed below, consulted when the reference base was compiled. It is given for guidance and does not replace the advice of a professional established in Iceland.