Five-year tax return backlog does not worry Luxembourg finance minister

Some private households have been waiting several years for their tax calculations to be evaluated by Luxembourg tax office officials.

With some from 2020 still outstanding, there are backlogs that span the past three years, DP deputy Claude Wiseler noted in a parliamentary question to Finance Minister Gilles Roth.

Due to the five-year cut-off for amendments, the tax office is prioritising outstanding 2020 returns over later cases. As of January, 0.6% of 2020 tax returns remained open.

Agents try to process tax returns in the order they are received, Roth noted in his reply on Thursday – adding that the backlog has shrunk considerably over the past year. In January 2024, over 2% of 2020 returns were still being processed.

The length of time taken to process tax returns varies considerably, depending on how complicated a household’s finances are, as well as how responsive taxpayers are to questions and requests for further documentation.

Roth disputed the claim that processing times vary significantly between different parts of the country, saying that the statistics show all Luxembourg tax offices perform at a similar level.

At the beginning of last year, 5.26% of 2021 tax returns were still being processed, which had dropped to 2.15% this January. Meanwhile, 33.73% of 2022 returns were outstanding last January, reducing to 7.27% this January.

The extension of filing deadlines from March to December starting in 2022 effectively created delays where they did not exist before, the minister noted, saying that the tax authorities have increased recruitment and digitalisation in response.