Malta

Social security contributions

For calendar year 2024, both the employer and the employee are each required to pay social security contributions at the rate of 10% of the individual employee’s salary and at fixed rates of EUR 53.23 per week for annual salaries exceeding EUR 27,679, provided the employee was born on or after 1 January 1962.

For self-occupied / self-employed individuals, social security contributions amount to 15% of the annual net income earned during the previous year. The maximum contribution for persons born on or after 1 January 1962 amounts to EUR 79.84.

All the rates are generally revised upwards at the start of every calendar year.

Consumption taxes

Value-added tax (VAT)

Supplies of goods and services in Malta are subject to VAT at the standard rate of 18%, although certain reduced rates apply in respect of specific goods/services.

Taxable persons whose economic activity consists principally in supplies of services and whose annual turnover is not higher than EUR 30,000 are not required to charge VAT on their supplies, but they would still have a registration requirement (unless the services provided are exempt without credit supplies).

A scheme was introduced in connection with the reimbursement of VAT on eligible expenditure that is incurred by the applicant relating to the restoration and finishing of privately owned residential properties within Urban Conservation Areas, properties that have been built for more than 20 years and have been vacant for more than seven years, and new properties that are developed in conformity with approved criteria. This scheme applies between 12 October 2021 and the 31 December 2024 and will grant a maximum tax refund of EUR 54,000 on each property.

A scheme that provides assistance by way of a VAT refund to first-time buyers to build or renovate their homes is being extended and will be made equally beneficial to single persons as it is for couples.

See the Other taxes section in the Corporate tax summary for more information.

Net wealth/worth taxes

There are no net wealth/worth taxes in Malta.

Inheritance, estate, and gift taxes

There are no inheritance, estate, or gift taxes in Malta.

Customs and excise duties

Other taxes imposed include customs and excise duties on certain goods. There is also a tax on air travel.

Stamp duty

Stamp duty is applicable on certain documents and transfers, including transfers of immovable property and marketable securities (although certain exemptions may apply) and issues and renewals of insurance policies. Furthermore, in the event that the market value of shares held by a person is reduced following a change in the company's issued share capital or voting rights and the value shifts onto the other shareholders, the transferor would be deemed to have transferred the said value to the transferee(s), and such value shifting may be subject to a stamp duty liability (although certain exceptions/exemptions may apply).

In principle, stamp duty is imposed, inter alia, on heirs upon inheritance of immovable property at a rate of 5% and on shares in a Maltese company / interest in a Maltese partnership (not being a 'property company' or 'property partnership') at a rate of 2%. Stamp duty is also imposed on transmissions by death of immovable property situated in Malta and shares in Maltese companies. Certain exemptions from stamp duty may, however, apply in respect of such transmissions. 

No stamp duty shall be charged on the first EUR 250,000 of donations of immovable property from parents to their children for the children’s residential purposes. The duty to be charged on the remaining value shall continue being charged at the reduced rate of 3.5%.

No stamp duty shall be charged on the first EUR 200,000 of the transfer value upon the acquisition of immovable property for their sole residence by first-time buyers, provided that the transfer is made by 31 December 2024.

Acquisitions of immovable property situated in Gozo registered as a promise of sale by 31 December 2023 are subject to a reduced stamp duty of 2% of the transfer value upon the transfer. Promises of sale registered in 2024 shall not qualify for such a reduction, and the standard stamp duty rate shall apply. 

Subject to the satisfaction of a number of conditions, transfers of properties that had been leased to a tenant for a number of years under a scheme administered under the Housing Authority are not subject to stamp duty on the first EUR 200,000 of the transfer value. In cases where the exemption will not apply, a reduced rate of stamp duty may apply.

Subject to the satisfaction of a number of conditions, where a person sells one's residential property so as to acquire another residential property and such person does not own other properties, the duty paid on the first EUR 86,000 of the value of the replacement property shall be refunded. This has been extended to acquisitions made up to 31 December 2024.  

Subject to the satisfaction of certain conditions, transfers of immovable property that are made by 31 December 2024 are exempt from stamp duty on the first EUR 750,000 of the transfer value if:

• the property was constructed at least 20 years before the transfer and has been vacant for at least 7 years and is still vacant as at the date of the transfer
• the property is situated in an Urban Conservation Area, or
• the property was developed in accordance with the approved criteria, including traditional Maltese features.

The interest on duty on documents on transfers causa mortis amounts to 4% per annum or part thereof, which interest applies as from the lapse of one year from the date of such transfer, until the date when the necessary declaration is filed.

The interest rate on unpaid stamp duty is of 0.33% for every 30 days or part thereof, until the amount due remains unpaid.

Subject to the satisfaction of certain conditions, no duty is levied in the case of transfers of immovable property upon the devolution of a dwelling house to a surviving spouse/cohabitant, in the case of a transfer of immovable property upon death by a parent or legal guardian to a disabled individual, or in the case of a transfer of a dwelling house upon death by a parent to their descendants in the direct line.

In the case of the transfer by gratuitous title of (i) marketable securities owned by individuals and of (ii) commercial tenements (i.e. business property) that had been used in a family business for a minimum period of three years preceding the transfer, to the transferor’s spouse, descendants, and ascendants in the direct line and their spouses, or in the absence of descendants to such transferor’s siblings and their descendants, stamp duty chargeable is at a reduced rate of 1.5%. This reduced rate applicable to transfers by gratuitous title has been extended to 31 December 2024. Once this reduced rate is applied, no other exemption or duty relief should apply to such transfers.