How To Register A Business In Luxembourg

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A business permit is granted to the business if applicants satisfy the required legal conditions of qualification (where applicable) and professional integrity. Applicants must be:

professionals operating under their own name if the business is operated by a natural person; or
persons who have real ties to the business. These persons must be:
- an employee of the company; or
- the owner of the company; or
- a partner in the company; or
- a shareholder in the company.

A business permit is required for any person that wishes to engage in the following professional activities as a self-employed person or as a company:

commercial activity (trade, HORECA (hotel, restaurant and café), transports, industry, etc.);
craft activity (food, fashion, construction, mechanical engineering, audiovisual, entertainment, art, etc.);
certain liberal professions which are mainly intellectual in nature.

Special cases

Self-employed sales agents require a business permit as traders. Their salaried representatives are exempt from any specific permit but must carry out their activity under the cover of a business permit granted to their employer. It is therefore advisable to provide them with proof of their employer’s permit and proof of their recruitment.

Lawyers, physicians, dentists, veterinaries or statutory auditors (réviseurs d’entreprises) exercise liberal professions covered by laws other than those governing the authorisation of establishment.

Providers of intellectual services not included in the list of liberal professions must apply for a business permit for commercial activities and services.

Persons who sell their own products (craftwork, artwork, jam, honey, etc.), recycled items or items they did not purchase for commercial purposes, are not considered to be professionals and are therefore not required to have a business permit. However, they must hold a business permit for commercial activities and services if they wish to participate in fairs and markets or if they are operating a dedicated website to sell their goods online.

EU businesses that supply occasional and temporary services in Luxembourg do not require a business permit. Skilled craftsmen and manufacturers nevertheless have to submit a prior notification to the General Directorate for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises.

Non-EU nationals who wish to set up in Luxembourg as self-employed persons must submit their business permit application together with their application for an authorisation to stay as a self-employed person. By doing so, they only have to send in a single dossier to the Minister of Immigration who then transfers the business permit section to the General Directorate for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises.

Prerequisites

The applicant must fulfil the following conditions:

professional integrity;
professional qualification in line with the planned activity:
- for the traders or the trading profession;
- liberal professions requiring a business permit;
- craftsmen;
establishment in Luxembourg; the business permit is only granted if there is a physical installation in Luxembourg that includes an infrastructure suitable for the nature and scale of the concerned activity;
effective and permanent management of the business by the business permit holder who must:
- personally and regularly ensure the effective day-to-day management and direction of the company. In particular, a remote effective domicile may be unfavourable to the applicant. The permanent presence of a third person, even if authorised to commit the business, is not enough to make up for the absence of the business permit holder;
- be connected to the business (as an owner, associate, shareholder or employee of the business);
compliance with tax and business obligations: the business manager must not have evaded business and tax obligations in their previous or current business activities, whether these activities were carried out under their own name or through a company run by said business manager.

The final granting of the business permit requires that the articles of association are filed with the Trade and Companies Register (RCS).

In order to request the permit online via MyGuichet.lu, applicants must have a LuxTrust ‘Private’ or ‘Pro’ certificate and be registered on MyGuichet.lu.

Costs

The stamp duty for the issue of a business permit amounts to EUR 24.

Proof of payment of stamp duty (droit de chancellerie) should be attached to the application in the form of:

either a tax stamp, value EUR 24, purchased at the Registration Duties, Estates and VAT Authority (AED);
or the statement of payment of EUR 24 to the IBAN account LU76 0019 5955 4404 7000, BIC code: BCEELULL of the Diekirch Revenue Office, with the following communication: ‘autorisation de commerce‘.

If the establishment is moving to another address, the applicant must notify this, free of charge, to the General Directorate for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises. In this case, the applicant will receive a new business permit free of charge.

How to proceed

Filing an application

Applicants can submit their application for a business permit in 2 ways, with the first being strongly recommended:

by applying for a business permit themselves online via MyGuichet.lu, using a LuxTrust product.
The system determines which supporting documents need to be attached to the application depending on the information entered by the applicant;
by sending the business permit application by post to the General Directorate for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises.

Anyone can get help with their business permit application by:

contacting the ‘House of Entrepreneurship’ of the Chamber of Commerce and making an appointment at one of their 3 reception desks;
contacting the “Contact Entreprise” team of the Chamber of Skilled Trades and Crafts;
calling the telephone hotline at the General Directorate for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises;
making an appointment at the Reception desk of the General Directorate for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises at the ‘House of Entrepreneurship’.

Application processing time

Applications will usually be processed within 3 months from the receipt of the complete application. The absence of a response before the end of the 3-month period is equivalent to a tacit authorisation.

Appeal

A negative decision regarding an application for a business permit is an administrative decision against which the usual means of appeal (informal appeal, judicial appeal) can be used, provided the legal deadlines are complied with.

It is also possible to file a claim with the Ombudsman.

Issue of the permit

If the business permit is granted, the applicant will be notified by post at the address indicated on the application:

the sole trader (self employed natural person) may then collect their business permit at the Joint Social Security Centre. On this occasion, the entrepreneur can proceed directly with their registration as a self-employed person;
companies (legal persons) receive the business permit by post directly at their registered office.

The business permit takes the form of a card, which should be kept permanently on the operating site and produced on request.

The ministerial authorisation number (business permit number) must be indicated on all letters, mails, e-mails, websites, quotes, invoices, premises and storefronts as well as on the mandatory signs on work sites.