Published on 05/08/2026 · Sources last reviewed: 05/08/2026 · Our method

Working in Luxembourg

Luxembourg employs close to half a million people, including 229,000 cross-border workers. It is the second market Relokea opened after Switzerland, and this page gathers what we have established from official sources — each time with the authority that says it and the date we read it.

The cross-border area

Source: STATEC, 2024 data.

Belgian cross-border workers live 72.7% in Wallonia — the districts of Arlon, Bastogne and Verviers, French-speaking, with a German-speaking minority to the east. The Luxembourg area therefore speaks French and German.

What is deducted from pay

Employee share, 2026 rates:

• Health: 3.05% — 2.80% benefits in kind and 0.25% cash benefits.
• Pension: 8.50% — the overall rate rose from 16% to 17% on 1 January 2026.
• Long-term care: 1.40%, borne by the employee alone.

Source: Centre commun de la sécurité sociale, social parameters, consulted 04.08.2026.

Tax classes: being married is not enough

Since the 2018 tax year, a non-resident who is married but not jointly assessed falls into class 1 — the least favourable. It is the most frequent surprise for married cross-border workers, and many discover it on their first payslip.

The way out is called assimilation to resident status: on request, as soon as 90% of worldwide income is taxable in Luxembourg, you obtain class 2 and residents' deductions. The threshold is assessed each year and per spouse.

Source: Administration des contributions directes (art. 157ter L.I.R.), consulted 04.08.2026.

Remote work: two thresholds with nothing in common

This is where mistakes cost the most, because two entirely different rules carry the same word.

The tax threshold, in days

Sources: bilateral treaties and circulars of the Administration des contributions directes, consulted 04.08.2026.

Three traps the single figure hides:

• It is a cliff, not an allowance. On the 35th day it is not the excess that switches: it is the whole of the pay relating to days spent outside Luxembourg that becomes taxable in the country of residence.
• The count goes beyond remote work. Business trips and training count, and any fraction of a day counts as a full day.
• France pro-rates, Germany does not. On part-time or an incomplete year the French threshold falls proportionally; the German one does not move.

The social security threshold, in percent

It comes from the European framework agreement on cross-border telework, in force since 1 July 2023. Below 50% of working time you remain affiliated to Luxembourg social security; at 50% and above, affiliation switches to the country of residence.

Two precisions that matter: the 25% floor is not a switching threshold but the scope of the agreement, and staying below 50% is not enough — a joint employer/employee application and an A1 certificate are required.

Source: Centre commun de la sécurité sociale, consulted 04.08.2026.

Family allowances

• €315.04 per month per child;
• + €23.81 from age 6;
• + €59.44 from age 12.

Source: Caisse pour l'avenir des enfants, amounts in force at 01.06.2026 (index 992.24), consulted 04.08.2026.

Two features with no Swiss equivalent

Automatic wage indexation. An index step raises wages, the minimum wage, contribution ceilings and allowances all at once. It occurs on an unpredictable date: the index moved twice in 2026, on 1 January and then 1 June.

No currency risk. The euro is the currency on both sides of the border. A Luxembourg cross-border worker does not face the swings a Swiss one faces when paid in francs and spending in euros.

Going further

• The right to work there — for non-Europeans: residence or work authorisation, labour market test, Blue Card, and the five months the law allows the administration.
• Getting your diploma recognised — two procedures exist and most people apply for the wrong one: the one for your title costs €75 and grants no right to practise.
• Looking for a job — every vacancy is declared to ADEM before publication, so the official channel sees openings first. And the language the law requires is not the one you would assume.
• The impatriate tax regime — 50% of gross pay exempt, capped at €400,000. The eight conditions, the order of operations that decides everything, and why it is closed to cross-border workers.
• Arrival procedures — the statutory deadlines, the event each one runs from, and the two procedures that are not yours to do.
• Renting in Luxembourg — deposit cut to two months, agency commission split: what the 2024 reform changed, and what you pay on signing.

What we have not collected yet

Out of honesty, and because a missing figure beats an invented one: the benefit-in-kind scale for company cars is being reformed — the official page is flagged as such, and collecting now would guarantee collecting outdated data. Also missing: the detail of meal vouchers and childcare vouchers.

Since the first version of this page, four subjects have been collected and verified: rents across the area (whose Luxembourg figures we do not publish, for lack of an honest comparison with French rents), wages and shortage occupations, the impatriate regime, arrival procedures and the health cover of the insured and their family.