Agefi Luxembourg - novembre 2025

AGEFI Luxembourg 12 Novembre 2025 Économie L e lundi 3 novembre, leministre de l'Économie, des PME, de l'Énergie et du Tourisme, Lex Delles, était à Berlin à l'occasion de la conférenceministérielle «Friends of Industry» pour réaffirmer l'en- gagement du Luxembourg en faveur d'une industrie européenne compétitive, rési- liente et durable. Organisée cette année le 3 novembre à Berlin par le ministèrefédéralallemanddel'ÉconomieetdelaPro- tectionduClimat(BMWK–FederalMinistryforEco- nomic Affairs and Climate Action), la conférence «Friends of Industry» était consacrée aux enjeux ac- tuels de la politique industrielle. L'événement a ras- semblé 21 Etats-membres, ainsi que Stéphane Séjourné,Vice-présidentexécutifpourlaprospéritéet lastratégieindustrielledelaCommissioneuropéenne. Il s'agissait de la huitième édition, inscrite dans la continuitédesprécédentesrencontresorganiséesdans différentes villes d'Europe. L'introduction, assurée par le Pr. Dr. Justus Haucap du Düsseldorf Institute for Competition Economies (DICE), a permis d'ouvrir le débat sur les principaux obstacles économiques qui freinent la compétitivité desentrepriseseuropéennes.Parlasuite,LexDellesa participéàunetablerondeconsacréeaurenforcement de la compétitivité de l'industrie européenne. Cette sessionvisaitàdiscuterlesmesuresprioritairesàmet- tre enœuvre dans un contextemarqué par des défis énergétiques, numériques et géopolitiques. Lesparticipantsontévoquélesactionsprioritairesque devrait entreprendre la Commission européenne, en mettantl'accentsurlesmodalitésd'accompagnement de la transition numérique, face à une concurrence mondialeaccrueetafindevaloriserpleinementlepo- tentieldeladigitalisationetdel'intelligenceartificielle. Lorsdesonintervention,leministreDellesasouligné quelaréussitedelatransitionclimatiquedépendrade la capacité de l'Europe à concilier ambition environ- nementale et compétitivité industrielle, en offrant un cadre prévisible, des mesures de protection efficaces etunmarchéuniquevéritablementintégrépoursou- tenir les investissements durables. Leministreaaussiinsistéquenousdevonsétablirdes marchés qui recourent davantage à des produits dé- carbonisés afind'assurer aux entreprises qui investis- sentdansdesprocédésdeproductiondécarbonésdes marchés de distribution. LexDelles a réitéré l'appel à réduire les barrières qui subsistent entrepays européens afindeprofiterplei- nement d'un marché unique de 450 millions de consommateurs. Il a également souligné que la re- cherche et l'innovation doivent rester au cœur de notre stratégie à long terme car elles sont essentielles pour réduire les dépendances et faire progresser la décarbonisation. Autermedelatableronde,unedéclarationcommune soutenue par le Luxembourg a été présentée. Cette déclarationcommunedeBerlinappelleàune simpli- ficationréglementairefondéesurleprincipedu«think small first», à une accélérationde la transition numé- riqueetdel'intégrationdel'intelligenceartificielledans l'industrie, à la création demarchés européens de ré- férence pour les matériaux et technologies durables, au renforcement de la résilience industrielle, notam- mentviaunemeilleuresécurisationdesmatièrespre- mièrescritiques,ainsiqu'àunegouvernancerenforcée duFonds européende compétitivité. Leministre Delles a souligné : « Par cette initiative, le Luxembourg réaffirme sa volonté de contribuer acti- vementàuneEuropeindustrielleforte,capabledere- lever les défis du XXIᵉ siècle tout en générant de la valeur, des emplois et de l'innovation. » Au cours d'un déjeuner de travail ministériel, les échanges ont permis d'approfondir les questions re- latives au renforcement de la résilience industrielle et des capacités de défense de l'Union européenne. Les discussions ont porté sur la pertinence d'une préfé- rence européennepour soutenir cette résilience et sur les modalités de sa mise en œuvre de façon efficace, cibléeetsanslourdeursadministratives.Lesministres ont aussi échangé sur les retombées industrielles et technologiques des investissements dans la défense, etexplorélesmoyensdemaximiserleurpotentield'in- novation aubénéfice de l'industrie européenne. Source : ministère de l'Économie Lex Delles à la conférence «Friends of Industry» à Berlin « Le Luxembourg contribue activement à une Europe industrielle forte » ©BMWE F urther to executive orders issued by theAdministration of the United States shortly after the (re) election of Donald Trump, the United States (U.S.) and the other members of theG7 are engaged in negotiations on a “side- by-side” approach to theOECD’s Pil- lar Two framework. The aimof the U.S. is to obtain an exemp- tion for U.S.-parentedmultina- tional groups from the top-up taxes (Income InclusionRule and the Undertaxed Profits Rule) foreseen by Pillar Two by recognizing the U.S. do- mestic minimum tax regime (GILTI) as functionally equi- valent. While the legal basis for such an arrangement may be sound, politi- cal hurdles persist, and critics argue that carving out U.S.-based groups risks under- mining the global effectiveness and cohe- rence of Pillar Two. Rumours had recently circulated that negotiations were shifting away from the “side-by-side” ap- proach, potentially provoking a strong reaction from (Trump) the U.S. These negotiations are rais- ing doubts about the future of Pillar Two. Regardless, for the time being the global minimum tax is a reality within the EU and in-scope groups must navigate a new labyrinth of compliance. The rules target multinational enterprise groups (MNEs) and large-scale domestic groupswith con- solidated annual revenues exceeding €750 million that have any presence inLuxembourg, even a sin- glepermanent establishment. Tobenoted that, gen- erally speaking, investment funds fall outside the scope of the rules. Forin-scopegroupswithapresenceinLuxembourg, the clock is tickingon the reporting for the threenew taxes: the Income InclusionRule (IIR) and theQual- ified Domestic Minimum Top-up Tax (QDMTT), botheffective forfiscal yearsbeginningonor after 31 December 2023, and the Undertaxed Profits Rule (UTPR), which kicked-in last December 2024. Earlier this year, the DAC9 Directive (1) came into ef- fect in order to standardize the Pillar Two compli- ance obligations to facilitate centralized filings and consistency across the EU jurisdictions with a tem- plate of the GloBE Information Return. On24thJuly2025,theLuxembourgGovernmenthas issued a draft Grand Ducal Regulation (2) , releasing its proposed transposition of the template, which will be soon available for all Luxembourg in-scope entities toperformtheir Pillar Two reportingobliga- tions on the public electronic portal. Determining the Pillar Two status of your Luxem- bourgentitiesiscritical,beittheUltimateParentEntity (UPE),anintermediateparent,orsimplyaconstituent entity, the first filing deadline approaches in March (or June) 2026. Here is a roadmap tonavigate filing requirements. Registration obligations The first compliance requirement is the registration of all Luxembourg constituent entitieswith the Lux- embourg Tax Authorities ( Administration des Contri- butions Directes ) via electronic filing. This initial return serves primarily for identification purposes and necessitates a group-wide analysis to determinereportingresponsibilitiesacrossthegroup (providingidentificationdetails,groupaffiliation,fis- cal year information, and designated reporting enti- ties for all reporting requirements). However, this registration does not require the submission of de- tailedfinancial figures. Theregistrationmustbecompletedwithin15months following the end of the first in-scope fiscal year. In practical terms, this means that for a Luxembourg companywhosefirstin-scopefiscalyearendsonDe- cember 31, 2024, the registrationmust be completed by 31st March 2026. This deadline is extended to 18 monthsfortheinitialtransitionalyear(i.e.inthesame case, due by 31st June 2026). This obligation applies toevery in-scopeLuxembourgentitywithinagroup and must be completed by each entity separately. Furthermore,anysubsequentchangestothesubmit- tedinformationmustbereportedtotheLuxembourg TaxAuthorities within a 15-month period. This also applies to deregistration in the event of a migration, sale, liquidation, or if the group falls below the rev- enue threshold. Failuretomeettheseobligations,includinglate,incor- rect, or incomplete submissions,may result inafixed administrative penalty of €5,000. TheAnnual GloBE (3) InformationReturn This is the backbone of Pillar Two: ade- tailed, standardized OECD return due by electronic filing within 15 months of each fiscal year-end (from the first in- scope year). The GloBE Information Return is a detailed and compre- hensive breakdown of fi- nancial data to compute each jurisdiction’s Effec- tive Tax Rate (ETR) where the group is pre- sent. This includes the precise determination of GloBE Income and Cov- eredTaxes for each jurisdiction, whichdetermines if a top-up tax lia- bility arises. The returnmust then specify the identi- fied Pillar Two liabilities of top-up tax at the level of each jurisdiction and its allocation. But there is good news: Luxembourg allows a “des- ignatedentity”tofileonbehalfofallLuxembourgen- tities,centralizingresources.Currently,thedesignated filing entitymust be aLuxembourg entity.However, this is set to change. Legislative amendments are al- readyunderwaytoallowforeignentitiesinqualifying jurisdictionstobedesignated.Adraftbill(4)currently under review is expected to enable this expansion, with eligibility anticipated to extend, at a minimum, to all EUmember states. The Luxembourg TaxAuthorities have the authority to audit the GloBE Information Returns under their standard investigatory powers, subject to a 10-year statute of limitations. Afailure tonotify or providing incorrect information can trigger a €5,000fine. But a failure tofile the return itself risks a staggering penalty of up to €250,000. En- tities can challenge any penalties directly before the Administrative Tribunal, which offers a potentially faster resolution to disputes, as it bypasses the need forpre-litigationadministrativeprocedureagainstthe LuxembourgTaxAuthorities. The Top-UpTaxReturn Timetopayup.ThefinaltaxliabilityfortheIIR,UTPR and QDMTT are determined via self-assessment of eachgroup, drawndirectly fromthedata reported in theGloBE InformationReturndiscussed above. This returnmust befiledby the entity responsible for the settlement of the tax liabilities and is due within 15months, with payment required no later than one month after filing. Late payments incur monthly 1% interest.UndertheIIR,theLuxembourgparententity is responsible for its settlement, though all in-scope Lux entities are jointly and severally liable up to their portion. With respect to the Luxembourg QDMTT, theQDMTTdesignatedentityisthepayor,againwith joint liability across the Luxembourg entities. For the UTPR, whichwill be reportable only as of fi- nancial year 2025 (i.e. reportableonly15 to18months aftertheendofsuchperiod),theUTPRdesignateden- tityisalsothepayor(thecostcanbesplitbasedonlocal substance). ABrief Reprieve: the Transitional Rules Acknowledging the administrative burden, Luxem- bourg offers simplified rules for the first year falling within the Pillar Two scope. The deadlines for regis- tration, the GloBE Information Return, and the Top- UpTaxReturn are all extended to 18months. GroupsbenefitingfromtheCbCRSafeHarbour (5) also getaone-yeartransitionalperiodoncetheynolonger qualify. While this extension provides temporary re- lief,thedatapreparationandinternalcoordinationre- quired remain substantial. Takeaways Withmultiplereportingrequirementsandsignificant penalties on the table, proactive preparation is essen- tial. As the Pillar Two compliance framework is still takingshapeinanever-evolvingmultilateralcontext, Luxembourg-basedentitiesshouldproactivelyassess their group structures, financial reporting standards, andtaxpositionstoensurefullcompliancewithPillar Twoobligations.Inaddition,asmentionedearlier,on- going discussions among the U.S. and the other G7 members have introducednotable uncertainty. Consequently,theimplicationsforcross-bordercom- pliance, especially forU.S. parentedgroups and their subsidiariesoperatinginLuxembourg,arestillevolv- ing. Therefore, early engagement with tax advisors, understandingofthejurisdictionalnuancesandmon- itoringofpotentialevolutionswillbekeytomanaging risks and leveraging opportunities under this new global tax regime. Elise BOSCHER, Associate, Baker McKenzie Luxembourg Andrea ADDAMIANO, Counsel, Baker McKenzie Luxembourg 1)CouncilDirective(EU)2025/872of14April2025amendingDi- rective 2011/16/EU on administrative cooperation in the field of taxation 2) Projet de règlement grand-ducal portant exécution de l’article 50, pa- ragraphe5,delaloimodifiéedu22décembre2023relativeàl’imposition minimale effective pour les groupes d’entreprises multinationales et les groupesnationauxdegrandeenvergure 3)GlobalAnti-BaseErosion 4) Projet de loi 8591 submitted in July 2025 currently being exam- inedattheLuxembourgParliament 5) Set of simplifyingmeasures applicable to groups whichmeet certainconditionsunderbasedontheirCountry-by-countryRe- portingdata. Global minimum tax (Pillar Two): navigating Luxembourg compliance