Luxembourg, the gateway to the European market

Luxembourg, situated between Germany, France and Belgium, with an area of 2,586 km2 and a population of 493,500 (as of January 2009), is one of the smallest Member States of the European Union. The size of the Luxembourg economy and of its local market greatly exceeds that of the country itself, due to its strategic geographic position, the ongoing development of its foreign relations and its integration into broader economic areas.

Luxembourg is a recognised and reliable financial and political partner, within Europe and internationally, and is an integral part of one of the largest economic and monetary areas in the world.

Advantages

• Skilled IT personnel
• Highly developed telecommunications infrastructure
• Situated at the heart of Europe
• Highly educated multilingual personnel
• Major economic and monetary areas
• Lowest VAT rate in Europe, with a standard rate of 15%, and only 3% on certain services
• Low level of business taxes (30.38%)

The Luxembourg law on Intellectual Property

In an effort to become the partner of choice with respect to the knowledge economy, the Luxembourg government issued an important circular (Income Tax Circular (LIR) No. 50a / 1) on 5 March 2009 to clarify the application of the favourable law on intellectual property in Luxembourg.

The key feature of the intellectual property law is that it provides an 80% exemption on royalties and capital gains derived from many types of intellectual property.

Further reading

• The IP Law

  Olivier Sciales Taxation Law Blog on Lawyers.com

• Why Luxembourg? A prime location for doing business

  February 2009 Edition - Presentation from AMCHAM

• Luxembourg, your gateway to Europe

  "This brief video guide of around seven minutes highlights the Grand Duchy's role as a gateway to the European multimedia, IT and communications market." (Source: www.luxembourgforict.lu)

• ICT and eBusiness - Be Global from Luxembourg

• Luxembourg: Where Else?

  Insight on Luxembourg advantages for doing business including ICT, e-commerce and Braodcasting activities

• Special characteristics of the market in Luxembourg

• The future of data centres in Europe / Luxembourg: Where Else?

  Visual Online's Colocation-Center among the most important Datacenter players in Luxembourg on PwC publication