What to Do After You Get Your Business Permit in Luxembourg

Your business permit in Luxembourg (autorisation d’établissement) has just arrived. What next? In Luxembourg, three public bodies need to know you are now self-employed: CCSS (social security), AED (VAT), and ACD (income tax). Two require active declarations from you; one is handled mostly behind the scenes.

The Ministry of Economy notifies CCSS and some other administrations when your permit is issued, but that does not replace your own declarations. You still have to file them yourself — the deadlines below start from the day you actually start trading.

Step 1: Affiliate with CCSS (within 8 days)

CCSS (Centre commun de la securite sociale) handles health insurance, pension, accident, dependency, and mutual insurance. Self-employed people pay both the employer and the employee share.

What to do:

• Submit the “declaration of entry for self-employed workers” (declaration d’entree)
• If you applied for your business permit via MyGuichet.lu, a pre-filled form is automatically generated in your professional eSpace — review and submit it
• Otherwise, download the declaration d’entree form from the CCSS website and send it by post

What happens next: Within about a week, CCSS sends you a confirmation letter by post with your 13-digit national ID number (matricule) and confirms your health insurance fund (usually CNS). Your first monthly invoice follows shortly after.

CCSS starts billing from day 1 of your activity — not day 1 of income. If you haven’t earned a cent yet, you still owe roughly 680–750 EUR/month at the minimum-wage base. Several alternative contribution paths can reduce this; see below.

Two follow-ups you should know about:

MDE — sick-leave coverage. As a self-employed person you have no sick pay by default. The Mutualite des Employeurs (MDE) covers your income from day 1 of illness. Apply within 3 months of CCSS affiliation for retroactive day-1 cover; miss the window and affiliation only takes effect the following 1 January. Form: download from the MDE forms page.

Choose your contribution path. CCSS bills you on a default base, but several alternative paths exist. Each needs its own form:

For the full picture of how each scenario works and what coverage you get, see our deep-dive on CCSS for self-employed in Luxembourg.

The steps before the permit, and the start-up aid, are in the other guides under becoming self-employed.

Step 2: Register with AED for VAT (within 15 days)

AED (Administration de l’Enregistrement, des Domaines et de la TVA) handles VAT. Filing the initial VAT declaration (declaration initiale) is mandatory within 15 days of starting your activity — even if your turnover will stay below the 50,000 EUR franchise threshold: article 62 of the VAT law requires every taxable person established in Luxembourg to declare the start of its activity, and article 1 of the Grand-Ducal Regulation of 1 December 2009 sets the 15 days. Article 2 of the same regulation lifts the duty when your whole activity is VAT-exempt under article 44 of the VAT law without a right to deduct, as a doctor’s care is. The declaration is how you tell AED about your activity and request the regime that will apply to you: franchise or normal.

You file the initial declaration via the Inscription à la TVA procedure on Guichet.lu — online through MyGuichet or by post. The form has a dedicated section where you indicate which regime you are requesting.

Which regime do you request?

What to do:

• File the initial declaration via Inscription à la TVA on Guichet.lu — online via MyGuichet or on paper
• Information required: identity, business address, IBAN + BIC, activity start date, estimated annual turnover, and the regime you request (franchise or normal)
• Processing time is variable — AED does not publish a target

What happens after:

• If you’re on the normal regime, you receive a Luxembourg VAT number “LU” + 8 digits and start filing periodic VAT returns
• If you’re on the franchise regime, you receive the same LU number — article 62 of the VAT law gives one to every taxable person established in Luxembourg — but you don’t charge VAT and, under article 57bis, file no VAT return unless you supply a service whose VAT a business customer in another EU country owes, or owe VAT yourself, on a service bought from abroad for instance. Each year, notify AED of the previous year’s turnover before 1 March

For when VAT applies and which regime fits you, see what taxes do self-employed pay in Luxembourg and 100,000 EUR EU VAT franchise for small business.

Step 3: Income tax (ACD) — set up, usually no immediate payment

ACD (Administration des Contributions Directes) is notified through your business permit and CCSS affiliation, and in most cases opens your tax file on the back of these. There is no separate registration deadline.

What happens:

• A tax file is created under your 13-digit national ID matricule
• In your first year of activity there is no annual tax to pay yet. Advances usually wait for your first assessment, but the ACD’s FAQ says it bases them on the last assessment or, when there is no earlier return or assessment, on an estimate of your income — so it may ask for advances in your first year
• Your first Form 100 is due by 31 December of the year following your first tax year. The same deadline applies whether you file electronically via MyGuichet, by PDF submission, or on paper
• Form 100 is filed with one of two profit-computation annexes: Form 110 (commercial / craft profit) or Form 152 (receipts-minus-expenses method, common for liberal professions)
• Quarterly advance payments (bulletins d’avance) usually begin after ACD has issued your first tax assessment (bulletin d’imposition), typically several months after your first Form 100 is processed, unless it has already set them on an estimate. Payment dates once they begin: 10 March, 10 June, 10 September, 10 December

What to do:

1. Track your profit from day 1 — keep clean records of income and expenses; you will need them for next year’s Form 100
2. Budget for the first tax bill — your first Form 100 may result in a one-off payment of the full year’s tax (if no advances were set). Plan cash flow accordingly
3. Once your first assessment arrives, advance payments are set from it automatically

Step 4: Open a business bank account

For sole traders, a dedicated business bank account is not legally required — you can use your personal account. But it is strongly recommended:

• Keeps business and personal finances clearly separate (easier bookkeeping, cleaner tax return)
• Required by some banks if you exceed certain turnover or want a business card, lines of credit, payment terminals
• Signals professionalism to clients and suppliers

Practical tip: Open the account before you send your first invoice. Banks take 1–3 weeks to approve a business account and will ask for your business permit, ID, and a simple activity description. Start this process as soon as your permit arrives — not when the first invoice is due.

Step 5: Activity-specific registrations and authorisations

Once your permit is issued, some activities require additional steps — a registration with a professional body, a sector authority, or a specific licence. The most common cases:

• Commercial activity in your own name — registration with the RCS on lbr.lu within a month: article 15 of the Loi du 19 décembre 2002 sets one month from the event for every registration the law requires. Registering also makes you a member of the Chambre de Commerce: under the law reorganising the Chambre de Commerce, membership starts on the day of registration.
• Company (SARL, SARL-S, SA) — its beneficial owners declared in the RBE within a month, as Guichet.lu’s page on the RBE explains.
• Crafts — membership of the Chambre des Métiers (Section A or B) is automatic: the law reorganising the Chambre des Métiers makes a craft business a member from the day its permit is granted.
• Architect / consulting engineer — mandatory registration with the OAI (Ordre des Architectes et Ingenieurs-Conseils).
• HORECA (restaurant, cafe, hotel) — declaration to ALVA (Administration luxembourgeoise veterinaire et alimentaire) for food safety; alcohol licence if you sell alcohol.
• Doctor / dentist / pharmacist / nurse / midwife / vet — separate autorisation d’exercer from the Ministry of Health and Social Security.
• Transport (goods or passengers) — for international transport, the Community licence (licence communautaire) and additional vehicle / financial guarantee requirements.

Other regulated professions (lawyer, expert-comptable, reviseur d’entreprises, real estate agent, etc.) have their own professional-body or insurance steps — check with the relevant body for your activity.

Step 6: Check if you qualify for the €12,000 start-up aid

If you are a first-time entrepreneur — no business permit in your name in Luxembourg and you have not run your own business abroad in the last 10 years (salaried employment abroad doesn’t count) — your activity is commerce or craft, your business is a micro-enterprise, and you have non-residential premises, you may qualify for a one-off cash grant of up to €12,000 (paid as 6 monthly instalments of €2,000) under the aide à la primo-création d’entreprise.

6-month deadline. You must apply within 6 months of your business permit being issued — there is no extension after that. If you might qualify, prepare your application in parallel with the post-permit steps above.

See our deep-dive on the €12,000 start-up aid in Luxembourg for the full eligibility checklist, documents, and the MyGuichet procedure.

Professional liability insurance

Professional liability insurance (assurance responsabilite civile professionnelle) is mandatory for some activities (real estate agents, architects, doctors, lawyers) and strongly recommended for most others. It protects you if a client sues over a mistake in your work. Premiums vary from a few hundred euros a year for low-risk consulting to several thousand for high-risk professions.

One mistake on one project can cost more than an entire year of premiums. Insurance is cheap peace of mind.

Timeline at a glance

Quick reference

For more on the big picture, see how long does it take to set up as self-employed in Luxembourg.