Tax deductibility

Deduct professional development costs from your taxable income

Any person taxed on his/her income that he/she receives from paid work may deduct professional development expenses from his/her taxable income.

01 Purpose

The professional development costs must:

Have a direct link to the professional activity performed by the employee,
Be paid for by the employee,
Enable the employee to update his/her professional skills and to progress in his/her professional activity (Fortbildungskosten).

Professional training costs (Ausbildungskosten), which cover expenses incurred in order to gain the knowledge required for a future profession or a change of profession, are non-deductible.

Eligible expenses include:

Registration fees for continuing training borne by the employee,
The costs of buying books, insofar as they are purchased on a wholly professional basis (specialist books that are not of general interest).

The location in which the training is held is not taken into consideration.

02 Example

Marie, an assistant caregiver, is attending on-the-job training to become a caregiver

Marie, 25, has worked for a short time in a transition house in Luxembourg as an assistant caregiver. She likes the job and is ready to start studying again.

She registers with a school in Belgium that offers the chance to gain a graduate caregiver diploma (Diplôme d’éducateur gradué) through on-the-job training. The certificate is recognised in Luxembourg. In order to obtain additional paid days of leave, she submits a request for individual training leave to the ministry of national Education and vocational Training (Ministère de l’Education nationale et de la Formation professionnelle - MENFP)

In addition to this special leave, Marie would like to deduct her registration fees from her tax return. She contacts her tax office. If the invoice exceeds the minimum lump sum of €540 that every employee receives, Marie can deduct the fees from her tax return.

03 Process

The employee must deduct the professional development expenses from the tax return relating to the tax year during which the expenses were incurred.

E.g.: If in October 2019 someone pays all of the registration costs for a training course that lasts for 2 years, he/she can only claim these expenses on his/her tax return for the 2019 financial year.

The professional development expenses are classed as fees and can be declared in the corresponding section of the tax return.

Each employee automatically benefits from a minimum lump sum of €540 for each tax year, in order to cover obtaining costs.

If taxpaying spouses both receive income from employment, each person will receive a minimum of €540. Should all of the actual obtaining costs exceed the lump sum minimum, the employee may deduct them on request.

The employee is advised to briefly explain to the tax office how the training attended can assist him/her to progress in his/her professional career.