Affiliation of a spouse or partner

Any person whose main activity is assisting their spouse or partner in pursuing a self-employed activity must be affiliated with the social security system as an assisting spouse in order to obtain social security coverage.

Persons concerned

Any person, at least 18 years of age, whose main activity is assisting their spouse or partner in pursuing a self-employed activity.

Prerequisites

Affiliation conditions for an assisting spouse or partner:

the assisting spouse (or partner) and main insured person must be married or joined in a partnership;
the activity in question must be the assisting person's main activity. There is no 'part-time' affiliation for assisting spouses or partners (for non-regular work);
the main insured person must be affiliated to the Luxembourg social security system as a sole trader (if the activity is carried out within the framework of a company, the assisting spouse or partner of a self-employed managing director must be affiliated as an employee of the company);
the main insured person must not have requested to be exempted from affiliation out of 'insignificant' income.

How to proceed

Affiliation as an assisting spouse or partner

Assisting spouses or partners can affiliate with the social security system by sending an assisting spouse declaration form to the Social Security Centre (Centre commun de la sécurité sociale - CCSS).

The CCSS sends a confirmation to the assisting spouse when processing their declaration form for data verification purposes.

The main insured person and the assisting spouse must notify the CCSS if their situation changes or they cease their activity.

Exemption from affiliation for an assisting spouse or partner

The assisting spouse or partner may opt for an exemption from compulsory insurance. In this case, they must submit a request for exemption for an assisting spouse to the CCSS.

In this instance, the assisting spouse does not benefit from work accident, health or pension coverage.

The assisting person may affiliate again by sending an assisting spouse declaration form to the CCSS. Exemptions and new affiliation applications take effect the month following receipt of the document.

Reduction of contributions for pension insurance

If a self-employed person with an assisting spouse declares professional income below the minimum wage, they may apply for a reduction of their contributions for retirement insurance. This reduction is applied to both the self-employed person and their assisting spouse.

Voluntary entry to the Employers' Mutual Insurance (Mutualité des employeurs - MDE)

In addition to the compulsory affiliation, a self-employed person may voluntarily register with the MDE to cover possible loss of income in case of illness.

Where applicable, this registration is automatically extended to the assisting spouse or partner.