Persons required to present their accounts in compliance with the Standard Chart of Accounts (SCA) must prepare them on the platform for the electronic gathering of financial data (eCDF), before filing them with the Trade and Companies Register (RCS).

This electronic platform, managed by the State, makes it possible to prepare the electronic filing with the RCS of structured accounting information on standardised forms concerning the balance sheet, the profit and loss account, and the account balances included in the SCA.

Who is concerned

In principle, the following businesses are concerned:

• natural persons active as traders;
• commercial companies with legal personality, i.e.:
  • public limited companies (société anonyme - SA);
  • European companies (societas europea - SE);
  • limited liability companies (société à responsabilité limitée - SARL);
  • partnerships limited by shares (société en commandite par actions - SCA);
  • cooperative companies (sociétés cooperatives – SCOP);
  • limited partnerships (société en commandite simple - SCS);
  • partnerships (société en nom collectif - SENC);
• European economic interest groupings (EEIGs);
• Luxembourg economic interest groupings (EIGs);
• the branch offices of companies established abroad;
  
• financial holding companies;

The following businesses are not concerned:

• natural persons in their capacity as traders and partnerships (SENC, SCS) who have an annual turnover excluding VAT of less than EUR 100,000, unless the partners with unlimited liability are public limited companies (SA, S.àr.l. or SCA) or companies with a comparable form under foreign law;
• credit institutions;
• insurance and reinsurance companies;
• certain businesses in the financial sector.

Financial holding companies are subject to the SCA since 2020.

Preliminary steps

In order to use the eCDF platform, the user must first apply for an eCDF account. 3 scenarios are possible:

1. Professional LuxTrust eCDF account with organizational unit ("OR") control
   The applicant (future account holder), whether a legal entity or a natural person, can apply for an eCDF account for a professional LuxTrust certificate which can be either:
   • a Smartcard Pro (professional smartcard); or
   • a Signing Stick Pro (professional USB stick); or
   • a Token Pro.

   With this type of account, filings can be made for:

   • the account holder;
   • other declarants.
2. eCDF account for a LuxTrust private certificate
   The applicant, a natural person, can request an eCDF account for a LuxTrust private certificate, which can be either:
   • a Smartcard Private (private smartcard); or
   • a Stick Private (private USB stick); or
   • a Token Private.

   With this type of account, filings can only be made for the account holder.

3. The applicant – who may be a natural or legal person – can create an eCDF account with an eIDAS certificate
   . This is a private certificate.

   With this type of account, filings can only be made for the account holder.

In all 3 cases, the eCDF user / account administrator indicated on the application form will be sent an account activation email containing a link from security.public.lu. The user must click on the link contained in the email to finailise the creation of access rights to their eCDF account.

More details about an application to open an eCDF account can be found in the explanatory text "Registering with and accessing the eCDF system".

How to proceed

Electronic approval of accounting records on eCDF

The standardisation procedure using the eCDF platform is aimed at the following financial documents:

• the balance sheet;
• the profit and loss accounts;
• the account balances.

These documents constitute the accounting package with all the documents relating to the company's annual accounts for a given year.

The preparation of the accounting documents on the eCDF platform is carried out using standardised forms.

The eCDF platform offers 2 possibilities to the declarant:

• financial data can be entered via the standardised (PDF) forms available on the eCDF platform;
• the data can be transferred in the form of an XML file generated by the declarant's accounting tool.

Electronic filing of the accounting package with the RCS

When the financial data have been approved on the eCDF platform, the business must file the accounting package (structured financial data and other non structured data) electronically with the Trade and Companies Register (RCS).

The Luxembourg Business Registers (LBR) will then automatically collect the financial data from the eCDF platform.

Data archiving by the Central Balance Sheet Unit

The structured and harmonised financial data will be archived and stored on a computer storage medium by the Central Balance Sheet Unit (Centrale des bilans).

The Central Balance Sheet Unit will:

• make available the financial data to other administrations (Inland Revenue, VAT, etc.) in such a way that businesses will no longer have to send their financial records to other administrations;
• make the financial data available to third parties (creditors, competitors and any other interested third party) within the legal limits;
• make financial analysis records available at a later stage.

Forms / Online services

Who to contact