The Luxembourg government has announced measures to support the Luxembourg economy during the coronavirus crisis. The practicalities of some of these measures were recently clarified by the indirect tax authorities (Administration de l'Enregistrement, des Domaines et de la TVA) and the direct tax authorities (Administration des Contributions Directes). Some of the measures that have been announced are summarised below.
Direct tax measures
Companies and certain professionals experiencing liquidity issues as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic may apply for:
- cancellation of advances on income tax (impôt sur le revenu), corporate tax (impôt sur le revenu des collectivités) and municipal business tax (impôt commercial communal) for the first and/or second quarters of 2020 (the form is available here); advances on net wealth tax (impôt sur la fortune) are not covered by this measure;
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a four-month, interest-free extension for the payment of income tax (impôt sur le rev-enu), corporate tax (impôt sur le revenu des collectivités), municipal business tax (impôt commercial communal) and net wealth tax (impôt sur la fortune) (the form is available here), for taxes due after February 29; the extension does not apply to payroll tax.
Requests for the cancellation of advances and for payment extensions will be automatically accepted by the direct tax authorities. It is possible to request the cancellation of advances for the first two quarters of 2020, in which case the boxes "1st quarter 2020" and "2nd quarter 2020" should be ticked.
Furthermore, the deadline for the submission of tax returns has been extended until 30 June 2020 for both companies and individuals (including taxpayers making, modifying or revoking their tax filing status).
Indirect tax measures
The indirect tax authorities have indicated that due to the coronavirus pandemic, there will be no administrative penalty for failure to meet a filing deadline for VAT returns. This tolerance applies until further notice.
Taxpayers experiencing payment difficulties can contact the Luxembourg indirect tax authorities by e-mail or telephone. Moreover, the authorities will reimburse all VAT credit balances below 10,000 euros.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.