The Joint Social Security Centre (CCSS) will implement revised procedures for declaring professional activity abroad starting on 2 April 2024. The CCSS is government’s central clearinghouse for social insurance contributions, including health, unemployment and pension benefits. “These new procedures will affect both employers who use paper forms and those who use the Seculine” online declaration system, the agency said on Monday. The revised procedures are designed to modernise and simplify procedures for employers and their agents, marking “a step towards the harmonisation of administrative practices in an increasingly globalised business environment”.

The need for these changes is underlined by the injunction issued to employers: “Any employer or authorised representative who declares a professional activity abroad [...] shall take the necessary measures to implement these changes”, stated the CCSS, in order to ensure an effective transition to these new practices.

At the heart of this reform is the introduction of “new forms adapted to each type of situation”, an initiative designed to personalise the declaration process to reflect the diversity of employment situations abroad. Employers will now be better equipped to declare precisely the nature of their employees’ activity, whether they are “civil servants, seafarers, crew members in the field of aviation” or on secondment to an employer’s office is another EU member state.

Adaptation to technological progress

The CCSS said that “the current DTA file format will no longer be used”. To “adapt to technological advances”, the format of the Demdet and Detret files “will be switched from DTA to XML”, and the structure of the files will be adapted to “significantly reduce declaration errors and guarantee good data quality”.

The specifications also extend to insurance for temporary postings within the EU, the European Economic Area, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, excluding temporary workers subject to the Decint procedure via Seculine. Special mention was made of “the pursuit of regular activities in two or more member states, including teleworking”” under the pluriactivity regime, as well as declarations linked to the framework agreement on teleworking.

Luxembourg employees are limited to spending 49% of their total working time over the trailing 12 months outside the grand duchy, before they are unenrolled in Luxembourg’s social security system. The threshold for cross-border commuters paying income tax in their country of residence is lower: 34 days a year for those living in Belgium, France and Germany.

Originally published in French by and adapted for Delano