Is tax class 2 being abolished in Luxembourg? What happens to married couples from 2028

Yes, class 2 ends, but not overnight

Bill 8676 replaces classes 1, 1a and 2 with a single Class U from tax year 2028. Marital status no longer decides how you are taxed: under new article 3 of the income tax law, each person is taxed on their own income. For couples who are already married or in a PACS, the reform builds a bridge instead of a cliff. They can stay on Tarif T, the "tarif transitoire" in new article 118bis, which keeps the logic of today's class 2: both incomes are added together and taxed on a scale whose bands are twice as wide. That transition ends with the 2052 tax year.

Where the law stands

The Chamber of Deputies adopted Bill 8676 at the first constitutional vote on 28 October 2026, by 37 votes to 11 with 12 abstentions, and a request to waive the second vote was made. The Council of State still has to decide on that request before the law can be published in the Journal officiel. As of 3 November 2026 we had not seen it published, so everything here follows the text as adopted on 28 October 2026. The full timeline is in our Bill 8676 guide.

What happens to married and PACS couples from 2028

• Married before 1 January 2028, both resident: you stay on Tarif T automatically, with nothing to file. You can opt for individual taxation on Class U in any year until 2052, with a joint request from both spouses. That choice is final.
• PACS registered before 1 January 2028: Tarif T stays possible, but only on a joint request for each tax year, filed by 31 December of the following year, and only if you shared a home for the whole year. Under the voted text, a year without the request means individual taxation with no way back.
• PACS before 2028, wedding after: you are treated as married before 2028, provided the partnership lasted until the wedding.
• Married or in a PACS from 1 January 2028: Class U only. There is no Tarif T option.
• Cross-border couples: if married before 2028, you keep Tarif T only by meeting the assimilation conditions every year. See our cross-border workers guide.
• After a death or divorce: a person taxed jointly the year before stays on Tarif T for up to five tax years, instead of three today.

The details for each group, including children and individual liability, are in our couples guide.

The 30 November 2027 deadline

Married couples who want Class U from the start must file a joint request on a dedicated ACD form by 30 November 2027 to have the Class U rate on their 2028 tax card. A request filed between 1 and 31 December 2027 still means individual taxation from 2028, but the Class U rate only appears on the tax card from 2029. Either way, a tax return for 2028 becomes compulsory. In later years the same rule applies: file by 30 November of the year you want to switch. The form can only be expected once the law is published.

Keep Tarif T or switch to Class U?

The answer depends mainly on how your household income is split, not on how much you earn in total. Tarif T rewards couples where one partner earns most of the money. Class U, with its 0% band up to €26,650 per person, rewards two similar incomes.

Using the calculator's formulas, an €80,000 couple pays €9,057 on Tarif T however the income is split. On Class U the same couple pays €17,774 if one partner earns everything, €9,428 at €60,000 / €20,000 and only €4,247 at €40,000 / €40,000.

• Tarif T usually wins for single-earner couples, couples with a large income gap, and years with parental leave, part-time work or studies.
• Class U usually wins once the lower earner brings in roughly a quarter of household income or more. At €100,000 of household taxable income and no child under 3, the break-even share is 25.0%, and a 50/50 split saves €5,199 a year.
• Children under 3 tilt it towards Class U. The €5,400 early-childhood allowance per child exists only on Class U. With one young child, the €60,000 / €20,000 couple goes from €371 better off on Tarif T to roughly €756 better off on Class U.

The break-even share is not fixed at 25%. Across €40,000 to €300,000 of household income it runs from 9.6% to 26.2%, peaking around €80,000 to €90,000. Find your income row in our break-even table, then enter both partners' incomes in the Class U vs Tarif T calculator.

Why waiting can be the smarter move

Because Tarif T is the default for married couples and the switch only goes one way, there is no need to rush. You can stay on Tarif T in 2028 and switch in any later year until 2052, for example once a second income has grown. What you cannot do is try Class U for a year and come back. Before filing, ask whether any year ahead, such as parental leave or a career break, would make Tarif T clearly cheaper again.

What happens after 2052

The transition ends with the 2052 tax year. After that, the voted text no longer provides for joint taxation, so couples still on Tarif T are taxed individually on Class U like everyone else.