Contracting offer to move to Luxembourg. How to approach business side ?

[Banksy]

Hi All, [have read every Lux thread]

I used to contract in the 90s in London. Since then I've been perm in the UK until put on the bench.

Since the job ended I'm in Amsterdam as my girlfriend is permanently working here. I'm not registered in NL.

Today I've been offered a 9 month contract at EUR 900/day in Luxembourg over the phone, a place I know nothing about except what I found on CUK. The rate sounded very good till I started thinking more. I need to weekend commute (inconvenient flight times / EUR 350-500 for 1 hour) between Amsterdam and Lux.

Need place to stay obviously but the biggest concern: how best to organise the legal structure and what is the realistic take home income % ? I have zero interest in potentially dodgy offshore and similar schemes I've seen floated.

Given location and possible tax headaches I'm thinking of passing up the offer.

Any advice on taxation (and accommodation options that I can quit at short notice) would be very gratefully received.

Thanks.

[BlasterBates]

If you are working in Lux, just go through an Umbrella and be employed. Don't agree to splitting your salary, i.e. send half of it offshore, get it fully taxed in Luxembourg. As you are living in the Netherlands then you should give this address to your Umbrella company, you will then be registered in Luxembourg as a "international commuter", i.e. your main residency is in the Netherlands. Your main residency is always where you and your partner live. You should register in the Netherlands now that you are earning money. You will also need declare your Luxembourg earnings in the Netherlands, though they will take into account any tax you paid in Luxembourg, and I suspect you will pay no extra tax. When I worked in Luxembourg I lived in Germany and I didn't pay any extra tax. There is a European directive that states working across a border should not be disadvantageous so I would expect the Netherlands would respect that rule. However the Netherlands will want to tax other forms of income such as interest on investments.

Now with regard to accomodation, I would go for a hotel, by not renting a flat makes clear this is not your main residency. You should then be able to claim this as expenses from the Lux authorities and reduce your tax bill.

a) Take advice from a Lux accountant
b) Take advice from a Netherlands accountant

The above two points are an absolute must.

[BlasterBates]

In order to offset travel expenses you must have proof that it was for business. You need documented evidence that you worked on the days you stayed in the hotel. I failed on that one but then I didn't take my own advice of seeing a Lux accountant

[Banksy]

Hi Blaster .... that's very welcome advice indeed. Really appreciate your comments and I hope others will benefit in future too.

Banksy

[clearedforlanding]

WBS. Compliancy is a big issue us LU following the ongoing Connexion debacle.

Regarding transport, I would really recommend driving this one. It's about 3:45 which is probably less than you would spend farting around at both airports + flights. Flyerstats show heavy delays on that route, and getting back into AMS on a Friday is never fun.

KLM Cityhopper AMS-LUX is one of the most difficult flights I know (the most ridiculous being their AMS-HUM) to price sensibly.