The scope of aid to the self-employed is widening

January 14, 2021

2 1 minute read

The government wishes to extend the non-refundable direct aid granted to self-employed in difficulty to more beneficiaries. Starting with the inclusion of medical and paramedical professionals.

Patrick JACQUEMOT

The government wishes to extend the non-refundable direct aid granted to self-employed in difficulty to more beneficiaries. Starting with the inclusion of medical and paramedical professionals.

As the covid has its variants, the aid decided to support Luxembourg professionals over the months is also changing. This is the case for the support granted to the self-employed who, from the end of the month, should experience a certain upheaval. “The idea is to help more easily, more widely and more generously”, supports the deputy Simone Beissel (DP) who chairs the commission of the middle classes which worked on the new bill 7745.

The Government Council validated, Friday, the establishment of a single “non-refundable and non-taxable” allowance of up to 4,000 euros. The associated bill must be tabled “as soon as possible”.

Clearly, the future device would provide aid to a larger share of traders, artisans and intellectual workers working as self-employed. Indeed, the crisis has shown that certain professions passed through the cracks. Veterinarians, child psychiatrists or physiotherapists, in particular, who have nevertheless seen their activity drop sometimes could not claim certain devices. The revised text should fill this void.

The amounts of this new aid to the self-employed, “which could be introduced as early as this month of January”, have also been reviewed. Depending on the contributory income bracket, the envelope could vary between 3,000, 3,500 or 4,000 euros. “A sum not subject to tax” specified Minister Lex Delles before the members of the committee responsible for studying this reform.

Form in preparation

The single allowance is intended for self-employed persons affiliated as such to Social Security and whose professional income must be at least equal to or greater than one third of the minimum social wage and must not not exceed the amount of two and a half times the minimum social wage. An exception will, however, concern artists and intermittent entertainment workers who, for their part, fall under the aid plan developed by the Ministry of Culture.

The text, now in the hands of the Council of State, also facilitates access to this support. For example, it will no longer be compulsory to provide a business permit; proof of affiliation to the Social Security system will suffice. “On this point, the registration deadline has also been revised in order to extend to even more freelancers access to this non-refundable allowance», Emphasizes Simone Beissel.

A worker operates textile machines at textile manufacturer Bierbaum Unternehmensgruppe in Borken in this October 25, 2006 file photo. Bierbaum, a manufacturer of bedclothes and cleaning wipes, has had to listen to bankers telling it there is no way the firm should still be manufacturing products in high-cost Germany. But Bierbaum has proved them all wrong, raising productivity to the point where it became more cost-effective to make some goods destined for its main domestic market at home in Germany than in low-cost neighbor Poland. The business is one of a growing number of companies whose rising competitiveness and readiness to invest is expected to help sustain Germany's economic recovery next year. To match feature ECONOMY GERMANY BIERBAUM REUTERS / Ina Fassbender / Files (GERMANY)

Since last April, banks lending to companies in this uncertain period can receive the insurance of the guarantee of the State. 300 companies have already benefited from it.

The services of the Ministry of Middle Classes are already working on the registration form so that as soon as the law has been published in the official journal, self-employed people can put their files together on guichet.lu.