In our previous newsflashes of 17 June 2021, 23 June 2021 and 24 June 2021 we referred to the extension of the mutual agreements between Belgium and The Netherlands / France / Germany / Luxembourg, which includes a “force majeure tolerance” for cross-border workers in relation to government imposed COVID-19 (travel) restrictions.
Despite the fact that the end of the pandemic is more or less in sight since the majority of the population has been vaccinated, many people still continue working from their home offices. Although international business travel is picking up again, it will still be limited to a certain extent in 2021. There is still a prudent approach towards working in the office and the impact of an anticipated fourth wave of the coronavirus is uncertain at this point. Consequently, a further extension was announced with respect to the agreements concluded between Belgium and The Netherlands / France / Germany / Luxembourg until 31 December 2021.
Note: the COVID-19 mutual agreements allow for a fiction in relation to the employment income linked to the “home working days” solely due to the measures taken by the governments of the respective countries to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. If certain conditions are met, and the employee chooses to apply the fiction, these “forced home working days” are deemed to be spent by the employee in the state where the cross-border worker would have exercised the employment in case no such measures had been taken.
If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact Sandrine Schaumont or Philip Maertens.
