This may be interesting for German residents in this sub. There‘s currently a petition ongoing to amend the tax treaty between Germany and Luxembourg concerning the number of days German residents employed by a Lux employer may work from home without being subject to income tax in Germany (and vice versa). The regular rule is that up to 19 days can be worked from Germany without taxation in Germany. During Covid an exemption rule was/is applied. The petition aims to increase the threshold from 19 to 55 days in the post-Covid world.
Ausweitung der Verständigungsvereinbarung zwischen Deutschland und Luxemburg:Der Deutsche Bundestag möge beschließen,… https://epetitionen.bundestag.de/content/petitionen/_2021/_12/_29/Petition_129162.html
6 comments
Why would Germany accept that citizens work nearly 3 entire months from Germany without buying subject to tax income?
Well it would already be nice if they would align the days to Belgium and France
They’re discussing the terms of the end of WfH ([in French](https://www.lesfrontaliers.lu/societe/fin-du-teletravail-au-luxembourg-des-discussions-sont-en-cours-avec-les-pays-frontaliers/) ).
As usual, it’s all about managing conflicting interests. With more WfH, you buy more in your home country, but Lux restaurants are angry (and they’re a powerful political force, re: the revamp of lunch tickets). Less people on Luxemburgish roads (not that less because less people share their car too), but less tax income for the home country.
Would already be nice if we could have 1 day of WfH/week enshrined in tax treaties. There are calls to create a crossboarder status with 2 days/week, but you’d need to enshrine that at EU level because of the Social Security issue.
This petition is DOA. Luxembourg will not engage in negotiations with Germany, as the latter would demand financial compensation similar to what Belgium or France get.
Out of curiosity, for a “normal” cross border commuter how different would it be to be fully taxed in Germany compared to the actual hybrid situation?
Definition of “normal” person: income around 100k€ gross, financial assets max 200k€.
The way things are now what happens if you work more days than the threshold?
You need to pay social security in Germany? Anything else? If that is the case then it doesn’t seem a big deal to have a 10-15% pay cut to save hundreds of hours commuting.