A new era of tax reporting: Luxembourg tests pre-filled declarations

Since the beginning of April, the Luxembourg tax administration has activated the 2024 filing process: the forms are now available on MyGuichet.lu, and some are already rushing to complete their obligations as early as possible. However, back in March, 20,000 households received a special invitation to participate in a pilot programme with pre-filled and simplified declarations.

It is about automatic preparation of data based on information from the previous year: if a taxpayer has no capital gains, rental property or other complex circumstances, he can simply check the information and sign the finished form. For the first time in Luxembourg's history, the state is taking a step towards partial automation of taxation.

Those who did not receive a pre-populated form or did not use it should complete the regular PDF, paper version or use the electronic assistant on the MyGuichet platform. The deadline, as before, is 31 December. If the deadline is missed, a 10 per cent penalty may be imposed. The earlier the return is filed, the faster it will be processed, including refunds or additional taxes.

Notably, the tax administration, previously criticised for slow processing, claims to have almost completely eliminated the accumulated backlog. While 25,000 backlogs were in the works in June 2022, less than 200 remain by August 2024.

This digital modernisation and the attempt to introduce pre-filed returns could be a prologue to a deeper transformation of the tax system.