British Chamber of Commerce Hosts UK & Luxembourg Hot Tax Topics Event

On Tuesday 11 February 2025, the British Chamber of Commerce for Luxembourg (BCC), in partnership with Deloitte Luxembourg, hosted an event at the firm’s premises in Luxembourg-Gasperich.

Entitled "2025 UK & LUX Hot Tax Topics”, the event saw three guest speakers from Deloitte provide information regarding key UK tax changes announced by the new UK Labour Government and provided updates regarding recent Luxembourg tax changes, as well as information on anticipated developments due in the years ahead.

Jonathan Norman, Chair of the Tax Group at the BCC, opened the event, welcoming the audience and guest speakers before delivering a breakdown of the event’s proceedings.

The first speaker was Associate Director (Tax) at Deloitte UK, Claire Galineau, who provided detailed information on the UK Government’s roadmap for tax policy, which includes adopting a “Mission-led” approach which is centred on driving outcomes on the UK’s largest challenges, being “Reform-driven” by taking action to improve public service outcomes and reforming core systems (e.g. the existing ban on onshore wind farming) and being “Tech-enabled” by ensuring that the government is a key enabler for improving the productivity of the public sector by providing more personalised public services.

In terms of tax changes, a retrospective breakdown was provided on the UK Government’s actions upon taking office during the summer of 2024, the budget changes introduced in October of that year and how these would impact the policy landscape throughout 2025 and beyond, and what opportunities this could present for Luxembourg. Key points focused on the UK Government’s upcoming Spring Statement and the publication of the Office for Budget Responsibility’s economic and fiscal forecast (26 March 2025), the mid-June spending review and publication of their industrial strategy (June 2025), and the Autumn budget (date TBC), as well as changes to UK Inheritance Tax rates.

The second speaker, Partner at Global Employer Services at Deloitte Luxembourg, Julien Lamotte, concentrated on the impacts of the reduction in the rate of Corporate Income Tax and Municipal Business Tax in Luxembourg (from a combined value of 24.94% in 2024 to 23.87% in 2025), whilst also highlighting the lack of changes to Luxembourg’s Inheritance Tax system.

Final speaker Michel Lambion, Managing Director (Indirect Tax) at Deloitte Luxembourg, provided detailed information on the Luxembourg Government’s changes to VAT on director fees and the implications of the upcoming introduction of VAT in the Digital Age (ViDA), the cross-border digital VAT reporting system due to be implemented across the European Union from 2028 onwards.

After the conclusion of the presentations, there was a brief Q&A session. Attendees were then invited to participate in a walking lunch and networking session with food and refreshments provided.

SM