“The criticism has gone before me, and that’s actually why I’m here!” The director of the Luxembourg Inland Revenue (ACD) flashes a mischievous smile. Contacted by email with around twenty questions following an 18-page document raising issues about working conditions, Jean-Paul Olinger readily agreed to a meeting, alongside his new head of human resources, just as the ACD had finalised its five-point strategy, drawn up its values and launched a number of rather spectacular initiatives that are bound to make some people cringe.

When you’ve been talking about strategy since the start of your term of office, it can seem rather abstract to those not in the know. How are you getting on?

Jean-Paul Olinger. – “The world has changed. What taxpayers expect of us has changed over the last ten years. Our mission is evolving, and our tools must evolve too, as must our approach to our work. This relates to the technological context: people want everything straight away. It also relates to the socio-economic context. Households’ circumstances are changing more rapidly, which has an impact on tax returns and, consequently, on our staff. Added to this is the increasing complexity of tax law. For companies, BEPS came into force ten years ago, and Pillar 2 is on the horizon. All of this adds another layer of complexity.

The ACD comprises 1,200 staff, 360,000 households, 126,000 businesses, over 900,000 tax returns per year and four million documents exchanged with 111 countries. To manage this workload and generate €16bn in revenue for the State, we need to manage flows of information and payments.

Looking ahead to 2028, we have set out a transformation programme centred on five commitments: strengthening our approach to customer service; ensuring a fair and efficient tax system; adapting and simplifying our processes; attracting and retaining the right talent; and establishing a world-class technological environment.

Creating a digital tax administration should simplify procedures for taxpayers, reduce the collective administrative burden on our staff and ensure consistent tax treatment. This is no easy task with 28 offices dealing with individuals, 28 different procedures and 28 people reading and interpreting the law. The aim is also to improve the quality of work and enable staff to focus more on supporting taxpayers and carrying out audits, rather than on repetitive tasks.

Have you received this letter too? Who do you discuss the issues your teams are facing with?

J.-P. O. – “Staff delegations are very important to us. Right from the start, one of my first meetings was with them. We now have regular meetings with them. They tell us how issues are perceived across the offices and bring important points to our attention.

If a group of officials takes the time to draft 18 pages of relatively detailed text, what does that say about how you handle issues with delegations?

J.-P. O. – “We must constantly challenge ourselves. We are driving this transformation not only for taxpayers, but also for our staff. The fact that people have the courage to speak out and make their voices heard is a positive thing. That said, we would prefer this to be channelled through the staff representatives, as they know how to put things into context.

Michèle Schmit. – “We responded in a more comprehensive way. We already had a comprehensive action plan covering various topics, such as a comprehensive analysis of remote working. Together with the trade unions, we were able to provide a list of actions that are currently underway, or have even already been completed, which people may not be aware of. I would say that 99 per cent of the issues have already been addressed, either with the trade unions or with one person or another.

J.-P. O. – “We went to visit the offices and invited everyone to ask questions. We then extended these discussions to the whole organisation, with town hall meetings and visits to the offices. When I arrived in 2024, everyone knew it would take time for the situation to improve. It’s a long-term project.

Four ‘HR partners’ closer to the front line

M. S. – “We’d rather be proactive than reactive. We’ve set up four HR partners, who report to me but are based out in the field. They will help managers to communicate more effectively, support their teams and translate strategic messages into clear, accessible ones, particularly in Luxembourgish. They will also need to ensure a degree of fairness, as the same HR memo can be interpreted differently by different managers.

We have also set up, since the 1 June, a team led by an occupational psychologist, with two staff members dedicated to prevention. The aim is to identify situations of inequality or tension at an earlier stage and to respond appropriately.

The third element is leadership. We have around 200 managers, and there are new expectations regarding their management style. The younger generations no longer view a manager in the same way. We will therefore be introducing an in-house management programme, followed by a leadership programme, to foster a shared culture.

Given the scale of the transformation, can you give us a timeframe?

J.-P. O. – “We are working to be ready by 2028. Managers will undergo training over the next six or seven months. This will be followed by leadership training. At the same time, we are working on team processes, using a lean approach, between now and the summer of 2027.

We are also working on Comet, our new IT environment, which is set to replace around thirty applications built on top of a mainframe environment dating from the 1970s and 1980s. At present, staff have to switch between windows, opening and closing them, and so on. A single, integrated interface will transform the way they work.

This year is all about public procurement. Next year will be about fine-tuning the details. After that, we’ll need to see how many elements can be put in place in the first year. It will be a multi-year programme.

We currently have a roadmap comprising 58 projects: 60 per cent have already begun and five have been completed. Seven are strategic. Our aim remains to become one of the best tax authorities in Europe, as measured by indicators of satisfaction, speed and quality of service.

In practical terms, what has actually changed so far?

J.-P. O. – “We already rolled out laptops to 1,000 staff members last year. We also worked on migrating from an old software system to Outlook. In early 2026, around 580 staff members moved to the city. Further relocations will follow, notably to Ettelbruck and Diekirch, and a new building is still to be constructed. We have also found that our offices were heavily affected by incoming calls. Taxpayers call to find out whether their tax return has been received, whether they can get a response, and so on. We have therefore set up a contact centre, initially for written enquiries, and subsequently as a call centre as well. This has already taken a significant number of calls off the hands of the offices.

We have also been working on the customer journey for individuals and businesses. We have identified a significant number of quick fixes. For example, sending an automatic acknowledgement of receipt for every tax return received already helps to reduce the number of calls. We are also looking into a project to centralise the scanning of all incoming paper tax returns, so that we can then use the data directly and further digitise our internal processes.

M. S. – “The letter makes a point of saying that there are too many changes happening at once. We are aware of this. That is why we have also put a change management programme in place.

J.-P. O. – “We have also been working with staff on our values through a series of workshops. And we are launching the Summer Academy, with an in-house training centre starting on 15 July.

M. S. – “There are already 520 sign-ups, on a voluntary basis. There are 72 different training courses, often delivered by in-house trainers.

One of the complaints relates to working from home, with a perception that employees are treated differently depending on their line manager.

J.-P. O. – “Remote working is a topic that keeps coming up. At the moment, it’s one to two days a week, but only for tasks that can be done remotely. As we roll out laptops and update our IT infrastructure, there will inevitably be more and more tasks that can be done remotely.

We rolled out a remote working strategy in 2024 and are currently reviewing it. People sometimes feel they are not being treated equally, given that remote working is not a right and that we have asked team leaders to make decisions. This review should enable us to approach the debate objectively.

On another note: bonuses and pay, with the feeling that, for the same work, pay is not equal.

J.-P. O. – ‘We operate within a state framework. Within the tax administration, there is a tax allowance, or tax training allowance. Historically, the administration only employed civil servants. With the changes, we now have an increasing number of staff. However, in the historical legislation, these staff members did not exist. The allowance was only available to civil servants.

M. S. – “We would like to put the two on an equal footing. But at present, that is the law. We will therefore be working on a draft bill. It won’t happen overnight, but we fully understand the dissatisfaction. It is one of our strategic priorities.

Kirchberg, a ‘headquarters’ that not everyone is keen on

Were any specific measures taken following that letter? Sanctions, warnings, discussions?

J.-P. O. – “We have a relationship of trust with the staff representatives and we have tried to address the issues. In June, we visited almost all the administration’s sites, always accompanied by two members of the executive committee and someone from the transformation team who takes notes, so that we can respond relatively quickly and ensure we don’t miss anything.

There were also some issues regarding the building in Kirchberg. Not everyone is happy about having to go there at some point. But reducing the number of buildings in the city centre from ten to four also meets certain needs: accessibility for taxpayers, modern premises, and more efficient working. Ultimately, the government’s plan is to consolidate the city centre offices into a single building in Kirchberg. We’re talking about 2035. At present, we’re spread across 14 municipalities and we’re keeping our offices in those municipalities. With the new tools, some of these offices will also be able to become co-working spaces.

How are things going with recruitment?

J.-P. O. – “In the departments affected by certain points raised in the letter, we have had 14 staff members leave between 2024 and 2026, and we are in the process of recruiting 20 new staff members to directly address this need. We are trying to plan our recruitment in advance, taking into account the new IT environment that is due to be introduced.”

M. S. – “We have a workforce planning system in place. So far this year, we have recruited 63 people and we plan to recruit a further 120 or so, including 40 for the private individuals and corporate offices. To promote inclusion, we have also recruited a teacher of Luxembourgish. We need to be able to hold a meeting in Luxembourgish, where everyone can understand and respond. This will be in place on 1 September. We already have 90 people interested.”