European Union: Cross-border Workers In Luxembourg: What Is The Current State Of Play With Belgium, Germany And France?

Luxembourg and Belgium have agreed to extend their coronavirus-related agreement on frontier workers until the end of 2020. This article explains the current status of arrangements with Belgium, France and Germany on cross-border workers.

According to a Ministry of Finance press release dated 24 August 2020, Luxembourg and Belgium have agreed to extend until 31 December 2020 the amicable agreement of 19 May 2020 concerning the situation of cross-border workers in the context of the fight against the spread of Covid-19 (see here and here ). As a reminder, the 19 May 2020 agreement provides that activity carried out at home as a result of measures taken to combat the Covid-19 pandemic is considered to be carried out in Luxembourg, and that associated remuneration therefore remains taxable in Luxembourg.

The Minister of Finance also recalled in his press release that the application of the amicable agreement with Germany is automatically extended by one month if none of the contracting States renounces the agreement at least one week before the end of the deadline. The agreement is therefore valid until further notice (see here ).

As regards teleworking by French cross-border workers, the amicable agreement concluded between France and Luxembourg on 16 July 2020 provides that working days worked at home between 14 March 2020 and 31 August 2020, solely due to measures taken to combat the Covid-19 pandemic by the French or Luxembourg governments, are to be excluded from the 29-day count (see here ). Discussions are still ongoing to possibly extend the agreement beyond 31 August 2020.

As a consequence, the telework days carried out in accordance with the provisions described above continue not to be taken into account for calculating tolerance thresholds that apply in tax matters:

• Belgian cross-border workers (24 days): until 31 December 2020;
• German frontier workers (19 days): until the agreement concerned is rescinded, and;
• French cross-border workers (29 days): until 31 August 2020.

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.