Do I Need to Register for a Small Side Activity in Luxembourg?

Short answer: yes, you need to register. There is no minimum income threshold for self-employment in Luxembourg. Whether you earn 500 EUR or 50,000 EUR per year, if you regularly provide services or sell goods for money, you need a business permit (autorisation d’établissement).

There is no “hobby exemption” in Luxembourg

Unlike some other countries, Luxembourg does not have a threshold below which your activity counts as a “hobby” and doesn’t need to be registered. If you regularly provide services or sell goods in exchange for payment, that is a business activity — and you need a business permit under the law of 2 September 2011 on the right of establishment.

This applies to all kinds of small activities:

• Dogwalking or pet sitting
• Tutoring or coaching
• Selling handmade products through your own website or at fairs and markets
• Freelance design or translation work
• Any service you provide regularly for money

The key word is regularly. A one-time sale of your old furniture is not a business. But if you routinely offer a service or sell products — even part-time, even for small amounts — you need to register.

One exception: selling what you make yourself. According to Guichet.lu’s page on the business permit, people who sell their own creations (crafts, artwork, jam, honey and the like) are not treated as professionals and need no business permit — unless they sell at fairs and markets or through a website dedicated to their products.

The steps after this answer, from the legal form to the registrations, are gathered under becoming self-employed.

What registration means in practice

Getting a business permit doesn’t mean heavy bureaucracy. For most small activities, especially those with no qualification requirement (like consulting, e-commerce, or coaching), the process is straightforward:

• Business permit — apply through MyGuichet.lu or on paper to the Ministry of Economy, as Guichet.lu’s page on the business permit describes
• CCSS (social security) — register after you receive your permit
• VAT — whatever your turnover, article 62 of the VAT law has you declare the start of your activity to the AED, and gives you a VAT number; the grand-ducal regulation of 1 December 2009 on that declaration allows 15 days from the start. 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. If your turnover is under 50,000 EUR, that initial declaration (déclaration initiale) is where you ask for the VAT franchise regime (régime de franchise), as the AED’s FAQ on the franchise explains (no VAT on invoices, but you also cannot deduct input VAT on your business purchases — equipment, software, rent, etc.)

But I earn very little — do I still pay social security?

This is where the only “threshold” exists. According to the CCSS, you can ask for an exemption from contributions if your income is below 1/3 of the minimum wage (901.25 EUR/month until May 2026 and 923.78 EUR/month since 1 June, so 10,972.71 EUR for 2026).

If you’re below this threshold and ask for it:

• You pay no CCSS contributions
• But you are also not covered against any risk under the self-employment head — no pension rights, no health coverage, no accident insurance from this activity. If you have no other coverage (e.g., from employment), you are uninsured.
• You still must register — the exemption is about contributions, not about the obligation to have a business permit

Without that request, you stay insured and keep paying contributions, whatever your income.

The CCSS exemption does not remove the need to register. You still need a business permit even if your income is too low for CCSS contributions.

Quick reference