Car tax Luxembourg - road tax, VAT and imports

Luxembourg has no registration tax on a car, whether it is new, used or brought in from another EU country. The tax that matters is the annual road tax (taxe sur les véhicules routiers), collected by the Customs and Excise Administration (ADA) through a yearly tax disc. For a car first registered from 2001 it is set by the car's CO₂ emissions, and for an older car by its engine size. Registering a car costs a €50 stamp.

No registration tax

Registering a car at the SNCA costs a €50 stamp, the same for a new, used or imported car. A standard number from the current series is free. Reserving a new personalised number adds €200, and re-using one already in your name adds €24. Nothing is charged on the price of the car, and nothing is due again when it changes hands.

Because there is no registration tax, there is also no age limit on an import and no tax that falls with the car's age. What an older car costs each year depends only on when it was first registered and what it emits.

The annual road tax

The road tax is paid every year, for as long as the car is registered. Which rule applies depends on when the car was first registered:

From 1 January 2001: a formula on the CO₂ figure
Before 2001, or a car with no known CO₂ figure: a rate per 100 cc of engine
Electric and fuel-cell cars: a flat €30

Every result is rounded down to the whole euro, and no car with an engine pays less than €30 a year.

Cars first registered from 2001

The tax is three numbers multiplied together:

Tax = CO₂ × fuel factor × band factor

CO₂ is the figure in g/km from the certificate of conformity
The fuel factor is 0.9 for a diesel and 0.6 for every other fuel
The band factor is 0.5 up to 90 g/km, and rises by 0.1 for each further 10 g

The band factor, by CO₂ figure:

up to 90 g — 0.5 · 91–100 g — 0.6 · 101–110 g — 0.7 · 111–120 g — 0.8
121–130 g — 0.9 · 131–140 g — 1.0 · 141–150 g — 1.1 · 151–160 g — 1.2
and so on: 191–200 g — 1.6 · 241–250 g — 2.1 · 491–500 g — 4.6

Because the band factor grows with the CO₂ figure, the tax grows faster than the emissions. A petrol car at 100 g/km pays €36 a year, at 150 g €99, at 200 g €192 and at 250 g €315. The same diesels pay €54, €148, €288 and €472.

The regulation's own examples: a diesel at 145 g/km pays 145 × 0.9 × 1.1 = 143.55, so €143. A petrol car at 145 g/km pays 145 × 0.6 × 1.1 = 95.70, so €95.

NEDC or WLTP

The formula is the same whichever test the CO₂ figure comes from. Only the source of the figure changes:

A car first registered before 1 January 2021 is taxed on its NEDC figure, until it is taken off the road for good
A car first registered from 1 January 2021 is taxed on its WLTP figure

The date is first registration in Europe, so a used import first registered in another EU country before 2021 keeps its NEDC figure. The government's own illustration: a diesel at 120 g/km pays the same on WLTP as on NEDC, €86 a year.

Electric cars and hybrids

An electric or fuel-cell car pays the €30 minimum. A hybrid, plug-in or not, is taxed by the formula for its petrol or diesel engine. A plug-in hybrid with a low official figure usually lands on the minimum too: a petrol plug-in at 30 g/km works out at €9, so it pays €30.

Cars first registered before 2001

An older car, or one with no known CO₂ figure, is taxed per started 100 cc of engine. The rate is the one for the band the whole engine falls in, not a rate applied band by band:

up to 1,600 cc — €6 per 100 cc, petrol or diesel
1,601–2,000 cc — €7
2,001–3,000 cc — €9.50 petrol, €10.50 diesel
3,001–4,000 cc — €11.50 petrol, €13.50 diesel
above 4,000 cc — €12.50 petrol, €15 diesel

A 1,598 cc car pays 16 × €6 = €96. Crossing a band changes the rate for the whole engine: a 2,000 cc car pays €140, while a 2,001 cc petrol car pays 21 × €9.50 = 199.50, so €199. A 2,400 cc car pays €228 on petrol and €252 on diesel.

On request, a car registered before 2001 can be taxed by the CO₂ formula instead, when that comes out at least €10 lower.

Paying, refunds and relief

When a car is registered, the SNCA issues a provisional tax disc valid for 30 days. If the tax is still unpaid after 60 days, a €74 penalty follows
When you sell the car or take it off the road, you get back 1/365 of the year's tax for each unused day, rounded down, provided the refund is over €1. The tax disc has to be returned within 60 days of its expiry
A household of five or more people can claim a partial refund of up to €125 a year, for one car

VAT on a car

Luxembourg's standard VAT rate is 17%, and a car is taxed at that rate.

A private sale carries no VAT
A dealer charges 17% on the whole price, or sells under the margin scheme when it bought the car from a private seller, from a business whose sale was exempt, or from another dealer selling under the scheme

Under the margin scheme the dealer pays VAT only on its margin, 17/117 of the difference between what it paid and what it charges. On a car bought for €15,000 and sold for €18,000, that is €435.90. The invoice shows no VAT and reads "régime particulier – biens d'occasion", so a business buyer cannot deduct any. The scheme cannot be used for a new car.

Buying a car in another EU country

For VAT, a car is new when it has done under 6,000 km or was first put into service less than 6 months ago. Either one is enough.

A new car pays 17% Luxembourg VAT on the purchase price, at an ADA office on form 446-L
A used car from a private seller pays no VAT
A used car from a dealer carries the VAT of the country where you bought it, and nothing more is due in Luxembourg

Before the SNCA will register an imported car, customs issues a vignette 705. A used car coming from Belgium does not need one.

Living across the border

Many buyers at Luxembourg dealers live in France, Belgium or Germany. Only a resident listed in the national register can register a car in Luxembourg, so a buyer from across the border registers it at home and pays that country's taxes, which our French guide covers for France. The same VAT rule works the other way round: a used car from a Luxembourg dealer carries Luxembourg VAT, while a new car pays VAT in the country where it is registered.

Importing from outside the EU

A car from outside the EU pays customs duty and import VAT:

Customs duty: 10% of the value of the car plus certain costs, paid in the country where it clears customs
VAT: 17% of the value plus the duty, plus commission, packing, transport and insurance to the first place of destination in Luxembourg

Customs may adjust the declared value using outside sources. On a car bought for €20,000 with €1,500 of transport and insurance, the duty is €2,150 and the VAT €4,020.50, a total of €6,170.50.

A used car, over 6,000 km and first registered more than 6 months ago, bought by a buyer not registered for VAT and cleared in the EU country where it enters, pays that country's VAT and nothing again in Luxembourg
A new car, or one cleared by a VAT-registered buyer, always pays Luxembourg VAT
Someone moving to Luxembourg can usually bring their car in free of duty and VAT

The vignette 705 for a non-EU car is issued at the customs centres in Diekirch or Howald.

The Klimabonus is a grant, not a tax

The Klimabonus Mobilitéit paid €6,000 towards an electric car using up to 160 Wh/km, and €3,000 for one using 161–180 Wh/km, a limit that rises to 200 Wh/km when the car has 150 kW or less. It covered contracts from 1 October 2024 to 30 June 2026, and in 2026 the government adopted a draft bill extending it to 30 June 2030. It lowers what you pay for the car, not the road tax.

Worked examples

These are our own calculations from the published formula, apart from the two 145 g cars, which are the regulation's own:

Diesel, 145 g/km: 145 × 0.9 × 1.1, so €143 a year
Petrol, 145 g/km: 145 × 0.6 × 1.1, so €95
Diesel, 120 g/km, on NEDC or WLTP: €86
Petrol, 225 g/km: 225 × 0.6 × 1.9, so €256
Petrol plug-in hybrid, 30 g/km: €9, raised to the €30 minimum
Electric: €30
1998 car, 2,400 cc: €228 on petrol, €252 on diesel
1999 car, 1,598 cc: €96

What you will need

The registration certificate, which shows the date of first registration
The CO₂ figure, from the certificate of conformity
For an import, the purchase invoice, the vignette 705 and, for a new car, proof that the Luxembourg VAT was paid

Before you buy

On a car registered here, the road tax is usually a few hundred euros a year at most. Check the CO₂ figure and the fuel: a diesel pays half as much again as a petrol car at the same figure. On a car registered before 2001, check whether the engine sits just above a band.

On an import, the question is VAT, not a registration tax. A car under 6,000 km or less than 6 months old pays Luxembourg VAT at 17%, wherever you bought it.

Vehicle tax in Luxembourg