Cross-border worker: claiming your Luxembourg pension, the how-to

Your years in every country count

In social security, the law of the country where you work applies. As a cross-border worker, you therefore contribute in Luxembourg, and you have the same pension rights as a resident (Guichet.lu (ouvre dans un nouvel onglet)).

Europe doesn't merge the systems: it coordinates them. Each country where you've worked keeps your file until retirement. Your contributions are neither transferred from one country to another, nor refunded if you leave (CNAP (ouvre dans un nouvel onglet)).

Aggregation. To find out whether you're entitled to a pension, each country takes into account your insurance periods completed in the others. These rules apply in the EU, and extend to Iceland, Norway, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and the United Kingdom (Guichet.lu (ouvre dans un nouvel onglet)). Luxembourg also has bilateral agreements with more than 20 countries outside the EU (CNAP (ouvre dans un nouvel onglet)).

The Luxembourg thresholds. For a Luxembourg old-age pension, you need at least 1 year of insurance in Luxembourg and at least 10 years in total, adding up your periods in other EU countries. With less than a year in Luxembourg, those months are taken into account by the other country, but Luxembourg pays you nothing (CNAP (ouvre dans un nouvel onglet)).

Aggregation also applies to Luxembourg early retirement: your years abroad count towards reaching the 480 months (CNAP, FAQ (ouvre dans un nouvel onglet)).

One pension per country, each at its own age

As many pensions as countries. If you've worked in three countries, you receive three separate pensions (Guichet.lu (ouvre dans un nouvel onglet)). Each country where you were insured for at least one year pays you its pension when you reach its retirement age.

Different ages. The pension age is still set by each country. You can therefore receive your Luxembourg pension and your country's pension on different dates: each starts when you reach the age set by its own law (CNAP (ouvre dans un nouvel onglet)). For the Luxembourg rule (65, or earlier with a long career), read our guide CNAP pension: calculation and retirement age.

The Luxembourg calculation. The CNAP makes two calculations and pays you the higher one (CNAP (ouvre dans un nouvel onglet)):

1. The national pension: only with your years in Luxembourg, under Luxembourg law.
2. The pro rata pension: the CNAP calculates what you would have received if your whole career had taken place in Luxembourg (the theoretical amount), then keeps the share corresponding to your Luxembourg years.

In plain terms, each pension is partial: proportional to your years in the country, the contributions paid and its calculation rules. Your Luxembourg pension only reflects your share of career in Luxembourg. And whether it passes the threshold of the minimum pension all depends on your years in Luxembourg.

Adding up several partial pensions is often less clear than a single one. The simplest way to see clearly: gather your career statements from each country, and look at what you can put aside on top. Good to know: a 111bis old-age provision contract is only deductible in Luxembourg if you've chosen to be taxed as a resident (tax assimilation). If that's your case, our simulator shows you how much it would save you.

Where to submit your application

In principle, in your country of residence. You make a single application, with the pension fund of the country where you live. It becomes your "contact institution": it forwards your application to the other countries, including the CNAP, exchanges the information, then sends you a note summarising each country's decisions (Guichet.lu (ouvre dans un nouvel onglet)).

Two exceptions (Guichet.lu (ouvre dans un nouvel onglet)):

• if you've never worked in your country of residence, your application goes to the last country where you worked;
• if you last worked in Luxembourg, you can submit your application either in Luxembourg or in your country of residence.

When. With a career in several countries, it's best to submit your application at least 6 months before the desired departure date. The pension is never paid automatically. Attach what you're asked for: diplomas or certificates of study, foreign career statements (Guichet.lu (ouvre dans un nouvel onglet)).

How long. From a few weeks to several months. The CNAP itself requests your periods from the foreign funds, and has no influence on how long they take to reply (CNAP, FAQ (ouvre dans un nouvel onglet)).

Your neighbours' funds. For your French, Belgian or German share, Guichet.lu refers you to Info Retraite (ouvre dans un nouvel onglet) (France), the Service fédéral des Pensions (ouvre dans un nouvel onglet) (Belgium) and the Deutsche Rentenversicherung (ouvre dans un nouvel onglet) (Germany).

After you retire: payment, taxes, life certificate

Payment. Your Luxembourg pension can be paid into the bank account of your choice. An international transfer can take several days (CNAP (ouvre dans un nouvel onglet)).

Taxes. As a non-resident pensioner, you must declare your Luxembourg pension in your country of residence (Guichet.lu (ouvre dans un nouvel onglet)). The rest depends on the tax treaty between Luxembourg and your country: we don't go into it here.

The life certificate. Since September 2020, the CNAP automatically exchanges data with the funds in France, Belgium and Germany. If you live in one of these countries, you no longer receive a request for a life certificate, unless your data can't be exchanged automatically (CNAP, certificates (ouvre dans un nouvel onglet)).