Luxembourg raises €40.5 million under tax amnesty

Luxembourg has so far recovered around €40.5 million under a two-year tax amnesty it introduced on 1 January 2016.

The figure includes a 10% charge on recovered taxes in 2016 and a 20% levy last year.

The information came from Finance Minister Pierre Gramegna in a written response on Monday to a question from MP Serge Wilmes, a member of the CSV.

A total of 68 people took advantage of the amnesty over the first nine months of 2017, Gramegna said.

That compares with 221 people over the whole of 2016.

“Luxembourg has adopted a cautious approach and has not budgeted the revenue to be collected” under the amnesty, Gramegna said.

The amnesty allowed people who had, knowingly or unknowingly, committed tax fraud to file a corrective return.

By doing so, they avoided paying a cash penalty of up to 10 times the amount of unpaid tax and up to five years in prison.