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Answers

Does Luxembourg require a certified cash register?

No. Luxembourg certifies no cash register software, but it does require non alterable records, daily cash entries and a FAIA audit file on request.

By Thinking Desk 3 min read

Key takeaways

  • Luxembourg has no NF525, no TSE and no black box, and no official list of approved till software.
  • Circulaire L.G.-A n° 63 requires a till whose deletions and changes can still be traced back to the original transaction.
  • Cash movements must be recorded at least daily, and a cash book kept in a spreadsheet is explicitly not accepted.
  • The tax administration can ask for your accounts as a FAIA 2.01 file, so check that your till can export one.
  • Restaurant food is taxed at 3 percent and alcoholic drinks at 17 percent, which means the VAT rate has to sit on the article.
On this page
  1. Short answer: does Luxembourg require a certified cash register?
  2. What Luxembourg actually requires from a till
  3. What has to be on a receipt in Luxembourg?
  4. France, Germany, Belgium: how the neighbours differ
  5. What to ask a vendor selling into Luxembourg

Short answer: does Luxembourg require a certified cash register?

No. Luxembourg has no certification, approval or fiscalisation requirement for cash registers or point of sale software: no local NF525, no TSE, no black box, and no official list of approved till software. It does require records that cannot be changed without a trace, cash entries written up at least daily, and a readable file for the tax administration on request.

What Luxembourg actually requires from a till

The reference text is circulaire L.G.-A n° 63 of 15 September 2017, on the bookkeeping obligations of the loi générale des impôts. Three of its rules land on your till.

  • Traceability. Cash registers and point of sale systems "doivent contenir des sécurités permettant de retracer l'opération originale en cas de suppression ou de modification". A till that silently overwrites a line fails.
  • Daily cash entries. Paragraph 162(7) requires cash movements to be recorded at least daily, opening float included. Catching up at month end is not permitted, and a cash book kept in a spreadsheet is explicitly not allowed.
  • Payment methods and ten years. The software must identify each payment method and group it into the daily totals, and records, supporting documents and even the register's user manual are kept for ten years under article 16 of the Code de commerce.

Separately, the Administration de l'enregistrement, des domaines et de la TVA can require your accounts as a FAIA 2.01 file, the Luxembourg version of SAF-T, under article 70(3) of the VAT law.

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What has to be on a receipt in Luxembourg?

Above 100 euros including VAT, Guichet.lu requires the full invoice mentions: issue date, sequential number, the supplier's VAT identification and R.C.S. number, both addresses, what was supplied, and the taxable base, rate and VAT due per rate. At or below 100 euros including VAT, a simplified document is enough: date, supplier identity, nature of the supply, price including tax and the data needed to work out the VAT.

One point is genuinely unclear. We found no Luxembourg equivalent of Germany's Belegausgabepflicht, the duty to hand every customer a printed receipt, and the Guichet.lu invoicing page does not mention consumer tickets. We will not invent a rule: put that one to your fiduciaire in writing.

The rate split is not unclear. Annexe B point 9 of the VAT law puts restaurant services at 3 percent "à l'exclusion desdits services ou de la part desdits services portant sur des boissons alcooliques", and article 39(3) fixes the standard rate at 17 percent. Plate and wine glass sit at different rates on one bill, so the rate has to live on the article.

France, Germany, Belgium: how the neighbours differ

Country What the law demands
Luxembourg No certification. Non alterable records, daily cash entries, payment methods in the daily totals, ten year retention, FAIA on request
France Article 286-I-3 bis CGI: a certificate from an accredited body, NF525 or LNE. Penalty of 7 500 euros per software
Germany Paragraph 146a AO, KassenSichV: certified TSE, receipt duty since 2020, each system notified to the Finanzamt within a month
Belgium Registered cash system with an FDM black box in hospitality above 25 000 euros of on premise meals, GKS 2.0 for new businesses from 1 July 2026

The French position moved twice and the official pages disagree. BOFiP says the finance law of 14 February 2025 removed the editor's attestation, leaving only the certificate. The impots.gouv.fr FAQ we read on 11 November 2026 says the 2026 finance law reinstated it, with a deadline of 31 August 2026. If you also trade in France, ask your expert comptable rather than us.

What to ask a vendor selling into Luxembourg

Nobody can sell you a till "certified for Luxembourg". Ask instead: can a cashier delete a line without a trace, does the daily close split revenue by VAT rate and payment method, can it export a FAIA 2.01 file, will the data be readable in ten years. Our guide to choosing a restaurant POS makes that a demo test, the best POS systems for Luxembourg shows who passes, and Lightspeed versus orderbird shows what the German and Belgian regimes do to a product.

Questions and answers

Is a fiscal receipt mandatory in Luxembourg?
Luxembourg has no fiscal receipt in the French or Italian sense, with a signature from a certified device. Invoice rules apply above 100 euros including VAT, and a simplified document is enough at or below that amount. Whether a printed ticket must be handed to every private consumer is not addressed by the Guichet.lu invoicing page, so treat that point as unclear and confirm it with your fiduciaire.
Do I need a certified cash register in Luxembourg if I already use one in France?
The French certificate is a French obligation and does not create a Luxembourg one. A system certified under NF525 is perfectly usable in Luxembourg, it simply earns no credit there. What matters in Luxembourg is traceability, daily cash records and the FAIA export.
What is the FAIA file?
FAIA 2.01 is the Luxembourg computerised audit file, the local version of the OECD SAF-T standard. The Administration de l’enregistrement, des domaines et de la TVA can require it during an audit on the basis of article 70(3) of the VAT law. Ask any vendor to show you a validated export before you sign.

Sources

Every price and fact above was checked against these pages on the date shown.

  1. [1] Circulaire L.G.-A n° 63 du 15 septembre 2017, obligations comptables en matière fiscale (ACD) accessed 2026-11-11
  2. [2] FAIA 2.01, fichier d’audit informatisé (AED, portail de la fiscalité indirecte) accessed 2026-11-11
  3. [3] Loi TVA coordonnée au 1er janvier 2026, article 39 et annexe B (pfi.public.lu) accessed 2026-11-11
  4. [4] Facture, mentions obligatoires et régime simplifié (Guichet.lu) accessed 2026-11-11
  5. [5] BOI-CF-COM-20-60, logiciels et systèmes de caisse (BOFiP) accessed 2026-11-11
  6. [6] Champ d’application de l’obligation de détenir un logiciel de caisse certifié (impots.gouv.fr) accessed 2026-11-11
  7. [7] Paragraph 146a Abgabenordnung (gesetze-im-internet.de) accessed 2026-11-11
  8. [8] GKS 2.0 verplicht vanaf 1 juli 2026 (FOD Financiën) accessed 2026-11-11
  9. [9] Witte kassa en GKS 2.0, drempel van 25 000 euro (Trivec) accessed 2026-11-11
Topics posluxembourgtaxcompliance