Car registration

Car registration in Luxembourg

In Luxembourg every car is registered by the SNCA (Société nationale de circulation automobile), by appointment. Only a resident listed in the national register can register a car in their name. There is no registration tax and no transfer tax: registering a car, new, used or imported, costs a €50 stamp. What else you have to do depends on whether the car is new, already on Luxembourg plates, or coming in from abroad.

Buying a new car

The dealer usually handles the paperwork. Registering the car costs:

  • the €50 stamp, plus a €3 fee when you buy it at the SNCA counter
  • nothing more for a standard number from the current series
  • €200 to reserve a new personalised number, or €24 to re-use one already in your name

The plates are made by an approved plate maker, which sets its own price. The SNCA issues a provisional tax disc valid for 30 days, and the road tax has to be paid within 60 days or a €74 penalty follows. A car that needs a national type approval pays €126 for it, including VAT.

Buying a used car in Luxembourg

When a car changes hands, its registration certificate expires, so you register the car again in your own name at the SNCA. Do it in this order:

  1. Get a number: one reserved in your name, one from the current series, or a personalised one.
  2. Insure the car in your name.
  3. Buy the €50 stamp.
  4. Book an appointment at the SNCA.

At the appointment, bring:

  • the original invoice or sale contract, showing the date, the VIN, the make and model, the mileage, both parties and the price with its VAT treatment
  • the application form
  • a valid liability insurance certificate
  • parts 1 and 2 of the old registration certificate
  • a valid contrôle technique certificate
  • the €50 stamp
  • your identity document
  • the EU certificate of conformity, for a car first registered after 1 February 2016

A used car already registered in Luxembourg and sold by a private seller carries no VAT.

Buying from a dealer

A dealer usually does the registration for you. Its invoice shows how VAT was handled: a car sold under the margin scheme reads "régime particulier – biens d'occasion" and shows no VAT.

A professional seller owes a two-year legal guarantee of conformity. In the first 12 months a defect is presumed to have existed at delivery; after that, you have to prove it. On a used car the guarantee can be cut to one year by written agreement before the sale, except on a car less than a year from its first registration, which keeps the full two years.

Selling a car

  • Sign a sale document or contract naming the car, the seller and the buyer, and keep copies of both identity documents
  • Take the plates off the car
  • Declare the sale to the SNCA within 5 working days

The registration certificate and the conformity sticker expire automatically on the sale. A standard number stays with the car until it is taken off the road for good. A personalised number stays reserved for you for 12 months. You get back the road tax for the unused days, as the car tax guide explains.

Living across the border

Many buyers at Luxembourg dealers live in France, Belgium or Germany. The SNCA registers cars only for residents listed in the national register, so a buyer from across the border registers the car in their own country, under its rules and taxes. A used car from a dealer carries Luxembourg VAT; a new car, under 6,000 km or less than 6 months in service, pays VAT in the country where it is registered.

Bringing a car in from abroad

Before the SNCA will register an imported car, customs has to issue a vignette 705.

  • From another EU country: a new car, under 6,000 km or less than 6 months in service, first pays 17% Luxembourg VAT at an ADA office, on form 446-L. A used car pays no VAT in Luxembourg. A used car coming from Belgium needs no vignette 705
  • From outside the EU: the car pays 10% customs duty and 17% import VAT, and the vignette 705 is issued at the customs centres in Diekirch or Howald

Customs accepts either the 13-digit national identification number or the 11-digit tax number for the vignette. You then register the car at the SNCA with the foreign registration certificate, the certificate of conformity, the invoice, insurance and the €50 stamp. The taxes are covered in the car tax guide.

What you will need

  • An identity document, and a listing in the national register
  • A number reserved in your name, from the series or personalised
  • A valid liability insurance certificate
  • The €50 stamp
  • The old registration certificate, parts 1 and 2, or for an import the foreign registration certificate and the vignette 705
  • A valid contrôle technique certificate, or the conformity sticker for a car not yet due its first test
  • The invoice or sale contract

Roadworthiness testing (contrôle technique)

Cars in Luxembourg take a periodic contrôle technique:

  • The first test is due 4 years after first registration
  • The second 6 years after first registration
  • Then every year

Three approved bodies run it: SNCT, DEKRA Automotive and Luerenzweiler Kontrollstatioun. Each sets its own price. At SNCT a test costs €77 including VAT, and a re-test €44 with a test lane or €36 without one.

Registering a car in a new owner's name needs a valid test certificate, or the conformity sticker for a car not yet due its first test. A registration certificate becomes invalid once the test has lapsed for more than two years.

References