The Minister of the Economy and the Minister of Finance can grant financial aid to small and medium-sized enterprises for consultancy services provided by external consultants.

Adminissible costs for consultancy services Les Costs admissibles sont les Costs des services de guidance counselor fournis par des guidance counselor extérieurs. Ces services ne peuvent pas être en relation avec des activités permanentes ou périodiques de l'business, ni en rapport avec les dépenses de fonctionnement normal de l'business.

Who is concerned

This aid is intended for small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) holding a business permit granted by the Generale Directorate - SMEs, Entrepreneurship and the Internal Market (Direction générale - PME, entrepreneuriat et marché intérieur) and which are not active in any excluded activity in accordance with the general terms and conditions applying to aid for SMEs.

This aid is intended to pay for the occasional services provided by external consultants for one-off projects.

The services concerned:

• must not be permanent or recurrent in nature; and
• must not form part of the company's normal business expenditure (in particular regular tax or legal advisory services, advertising);

Deadlines

The full application file, dated and signed, together with its annexes must be sent before the commencement of the activity in relation with the project or the activity concerned.

How to proceed

Filing an application

The completed application file, dated and signed, together with its annexes, must be sent to the Ministry of the Economy by post or email (see the section Who to contact below).

Supporting documents

Applications for aid must include the following information and documents:

• the name and size of the business (any document deemed necessary may be requested for the determination of the size of the business);
• a description of the project, including its start and end dates;
• the location of the project;
• a list of costs of the project;
• a financing plan;
• the form and the amount of financial aid required for the project;
• any other relevant information which would help the ministers in charge to understand the qualities or specificities of the project or programme and its incentive effect (invoices, proofs of payment, bank statements, the file/report or results of the consultancy services provided by the third-party service provider).

The business must grant the Minister of the Economy and the Minister of Finance the authority to verify with the Luxembourg Inland Revenue, the Registration Duties, Estates and VAT Authority and the Joint Social Security Centre that the business has not avoided its tax and social obligations. If not, the business must attach the certificates issued by these administrations providing proof that all tax and social charges have been duly paid.

Validity period

The payment of financial aid must be requested, on pain of ineligibility, within a period of 5 years from the date of payment of the expense for which aid is requested. The beneficiary of the aid can apply for an extension of this deadline on written request to the Minister of the Economy.

Amount of aid 

The amount of aid cannot be higher than 50 % of the eligible cost.

For any investment project, the amount of aid may not be less than EUR 1,000.

The ministers may not grant aid in excess of EUR 100,000 prior to having requested the opinion of a consultative commission The consultative commission can collect any information on the project, the investment or the beneficiary which is deemed useful, it can hear the applicant and demand the presentation of a business plan or equivalent documents, if applicable. It can also seek advice from experts.

Payment of aid

The aid can take the following forms:

• a subsidy;
• a recoverable advance payment;
• interest relief. The aid may be paid out by an intermediary, such as a credit institution or a financial establishment under public law.

Capital subsidies and recoverable advances are paid out after completion of the project benefiting from the aid. However, one or more advance payments may be made as the investments are made.

The business and the Minister of the Economy agree together, at the time the aid is granted, on the repayment terms of the recoverable advance payment if the project is successful.

Should the business have outstanding debts concerning social security and tax contributions, the granting of the aid may be subject to the full payment of the debts or to a repayment plan set up by the administrations concerned. The business concerned can opt for a repayment in full or in part of the debts by transferring the aid received to the administrations concerned.

Aid can be provided in the form of a capital grant or interest relief and may amount to a maximum of 50 % of an SME's eligible investments in external consultancy services, subject to a limit of EUR 100,000.

In principle grants are paid in a lump sum, after completion of the investment programme. However, payments in one or more tranches may be granted in specific cases as the project progresses, in particular where the beneficiary resorts to financing by leasing.

Depending on the general terms and conditions which apply to all types of aid for SMEs, the investment aid:

• may potentially be combined with other types of financial aid;
• may potentially have to be reimbursed and sanctions may be applied.

 

Forms / Online services

Who to contact