Dedicated office and coworking space in Luxembourg: choosing the space that actually serves your company.

Dedicated desk, hot desk, private office: the difference

A hot desk is a seat you book on demand, by the hour or the day. A dedicated desk assigns you a seat nobody else uses, in an area that remains shared. A private office is a closed room, for one person or a team.

Operators do not all use the same words: one service may be called assigned desk, access plan or access package. Compare contracts on what they describe, not on the commercial name.

What to check in the contract

Qualification first: a desk-provision contract, a lease and a service contract have neither the same regime nor the same protection. If the provider also supplies mail, calls, reception or meeting organisation, the whole may be treated as domiciliation, which requires an authorised professional. Ask for its status in writing.

Use and address: check that the office is for exclusive use and that no clause lets the provider move you, reassign the room or sell the building without notice. A move changes your address, hence your trade-register formalities.

Price: ask for the pricing basis (per desk, per day, per month, whole office), whether the price excludes VAT, the indexation rule and any unilateral increase. Check extra charges and the commitment period: a discount may depend on it.

Exit: term, tacit renewal, notice, amount and return of the guarantee, termination penalties, what happens if the provider sells or ceases operating, ban or right to sublet. Finally check the advertised area: gross, usable or weighted.

On request we provide a private-office contract template aligned with the CSSF criteria. It is a working template, to be validated by a lawyer before any use.

Can a coworking address be your registered office?

Yes, but the answer depends on the contract. According to the CSSF (notice of 23 November 2021, version of 17 December 2021), making a registered office or an address available to a company that carries on its activity there, with or without services, is domiciliation under article 1 of the law of 31 May 1999. That covers an address provided through an open-space desk or a virtual office.

Domiciliation requires an authorised professional and a domiciliation agreement. Regulated professions may only domiciliate companies to which they provide professional services, as an ancillary activity. Operating a business centre or coworking space that domiciliates requires prior CSSF approval as a specialised PFS (article 28-9 of the law on the financial sector).

With us, domiciliation is provided by our attorney at law, Cerno Law, registered on List I of the Bar roll, who contracts directly with you. It combines with the workplace of your choice. See the company domiciliation page.

Genuine letting: the CSSF criteria

Renting a closed, private office is in principle not domiciliation if the letting is genuine, meaning lasting and permanent, with premises for your exclusive use. The CSSF identifies five situations where it is not.

First criterion: you do not have private premises for your exclusive use with secured access. Second: the size of the office does not allow the company's activity to be carried on effectively. Third: the office is not occupied in a permanent and exclusive manner. Fourth: the company's effective management is carried out remotely.

Fifth criterion: the provider supplies at least one of these services. Receiving physical or digital mail, including through letter boxes or lockers that are not private or secure; managing mail (opening, scanning, forwarding, sending); answering or forwarding phone calls; organising meetings; welcoming visitors. A single one of these services is enough for the whole to be treated as domiciliation.

Incubators supporting start-ups in an innovative development phase do not carry on domiciliation within the meaning of the law. Domiciliating without authorisation is a criminal offence, punishable by imprisonment of up to five years and a fine.

Office and economic substance

For a company relying on a tax or treaty regime, substance is judged on facts: decision-making bodies meeting in Luxembourg, a competent manager, own resources and local accounting. Renting a desk proves none of this. A private office where decisions are genuinely taken weighs more than a shared desk used occasionally.

Keep evidence: minutes of meetings held on site, the manager's presence, contracts signed from Luxembourg. See the economic substance (ATAD) page.

Office and business licence

A business licence requires a fixed place of business in Luxembourg (article 5 of the amended law of 2 September 2011). It combines five elements: physical facilities suited to the nature and size of the activity, the necessary administrative and technical infrastructure, effective and permanent management, the regular presence of the manager, and keeping on site the documents relating to the activity, the accounts and the staff. The law states that a domiciliation does not, by itself, constitute an establishment.

In practice: an open-space desk or a virtual office, which the CSSF treats as domiciliation, is weak support for the file. A private office under a genuine letting, or premises under a lease, meets these criteria better. The application form provides that a lease or proof of establishment may be requested during the review; the assessment remains the ministry's.

Lease in the company's name. Have the lease or office contract made out to the company applying for the licence, not to the manager or a shareholder. If the company is being incorporated, sign for the company in formation and have the commitment taken over once it exists. If the premises stay rented personally, put a written sublease or provision agreement in place, which the lease must allow.

Parking, garage, storage. A parking space, a garage or a storage unit is not enough on its own: none offers administrative infrastructure or a place to keep documents. Conversely, if your activity uses vehicles or equipment (construction, transport, delivery, breakdown services), also plan where they are parked and stored: the facilities must suit the nature of the activity, and the ministry may ask.

Address and follow-up. The place of business appears in the licence: a move is declared as an amendment of the licence (transfer of the business address). Keep the accounts and staff records on site, or accessible at all times. We check your case before you sign, so you do not pay for a space the file would not recognise.

Rent, VAT and accounting

A bare office letting and a coworking services package do not always receive the same VAT treatment. We determine it from the contract, then book the charge, track deadlines and handle any recharges between companies of the same group.