Malta's company rules: quick facts
- Entity
- Private limited liability company (Ltd)
- Tax model
- Hybrid, 35% Source: legislation.mt, checked September 29, 2026. Income Tax Act (Cap. 123), article 56(6): tax is charged at 35 cents on every euro of the chargeable income of every companyHeadline corporate tax rate
- Tax on $100,000 of profit kept in the company
- 35% Source: legislation.mt, checked September 29, 2026. $100,000 profit = EUR 87,889 at EUR 0.878889 per USD (ECB, 2026-09-28). Tax at 35% = EUR 30,761. No refund arises until a dividend is paid, so retained profit bears the full 35%
- Dividend withholding for a non-resident owner
- 0% Source: taxsummaries.pwc.com, checked September 28, 2026. No withholding tax on dividends paid to non-residents
- Formed without visiting
- Yes
- Stripe available
- Yes Source: stripe.com, checked September 29, 2026
- Bank or EMI account
- Workable
- Audit required
- Yes
- EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions
- Not listed Source: taxation-customs.ec.europa.eu, checked September 29, 2026
- FATF grey list
- Not listed Source: taxation-customs.ec.europa.eu, checked September 29, 2026
- Economic substance rules
- No
Malta Ltd: the company a non-resident forms
The vehicle is a private limited liability company, the Malta Ltd. A solo founder can own all of it: a private exempt company may have a single shareholder as long as its objects name its main activity, and its sole director may also act as company secretary. It still needs at least 1 director, a company secretary and a registered office in Malta.
Directors need not live in Malta. In practice, refund structures are usually built with a Maltese director on the board, because a company whose only director makes every decision from another country gives that country a claim to tax it.
How Malta's 35% and the 6/7 refund work
Every Malta company pays 35% on its chargeable income, and profit you keep in the company stays taxed at that rate. The refund only exists once a dividend is paid.
When trading profit is paid out, the shareholder can claim back 6/7 of the tax the company paid on it, or 5/7 on passive interest and royalties. On $100,000 of profit, which is €87,889 at the ECB rate of September 28, 2026, the company pays €30,761 (about $35,000), the dividend is €57,128 (about $65,000), and the refund of €26,367 (about $30,000) leaves €4,394 (about $5,000) in Malta, 5% of the profit.
The order matters for cash flow. The company pays the full 35% first, and the refund is payable within 14 days of falling due, a period the tax office can extend by up to 12 months for due diligence checks. Malta withholds nothing on dividends paid to a shareholder abroad.
Since September 2, 2025 a company can elect a final 15% tax without imputation instead, with no refund and a commitment of at least 5 years. Services sold to business customers abroad are generally outside Maltese VAT: EU customers account for it under the reverse charge, and sales outside the EU are out of scope.
David's note
Below about $100,000 of profit a year I would not start with Malta. The audit, the corporate service provider and a director who really sits in Malta cost more than the refund saves at that size, and the 35% leaves the company months before the 6/7 comes back to you. The structure earns its keep when the profit is large, paid out every year, and the owner can live with that wait.
Cost and timeline to set up in Malta
| Malta Business Registry registration, authorised share capital up to EUR 1,500 (electronic filing)Official fee | €100 (about $114) Source: legislation.mt, checked September 29, 2026. Companies Act (Fees) Regulations, S.L. 386.03 (as amended by L.N. 381 of 2015 and 194 of 2017), Schedule item (a)(i): EUR 100 in electronic format, EUR 245 on paper. The MBR fee structure page shows the same electronic table. About $114. The fee rises with authorised capital; the legal minimum for a private company is EUR 1,164.69 (Companies Act article 72) |
|---|---|
| Annual return, authorised share capital up to EUR 1,500Official fee | €85 (about $97) a year Source: legislation.mt, checked September 29, 2026. S.L. 386.03, Schedule item (i)(i): EUR 85 in electronic format, EUR 100 on paper. About $97 |
| Setup, all inMarket range, checked Sep 2026 | $680 to $2,100 |
| Running cost per year, all inMarket range, checked Sep 2026 | $3,400 to $8,600 |
Official fees come from the government or registry schedule. Market ranges cover formation and yearly upkeep through a provider, including a registered agent and filings. Timeline: Incorporation is filed electronically with the Malta Business Registry through its BAROS portal, usually by a licensed corporate service provider after due diligence on the founder. Providers say registration can take about 24 hours once documents are complete.
How to register a Malta company from abroad
Nothing in the incorporation needs you in Malta. The documents go to the Malta Business Registry electronically through its BAROS portal, usually filed by a licensed corporate service provider after it has run due diligence on you. The step most likely to need a visit, or at least a video call, is a Maltese bank account.
Forming a Malta Ltd as a non-resident
- Choose a corporate service provider and pass its due diligence: a certified passport copy, proof of address, a description of the business and an account of where the money comes from.
- Reserve the name and settle the objects, naming the main activity if the company will have a single shareholder.
- Sign the memorandum and articles. A private company needs authorized share capital of at least €1,164.69 (about $1,325), and at least 20% of each share taken up is paid in when the memorandum is signed.
- File through BAROS with the Registry fee, which rises with authorized capital and is €245 (about $279) on paper instead of €100 (about $114) online; the certificate of registration follows once the documents are accepted.
- Take the tax number: once the company is registered, the tax office generates its 9-digit income tax number automatically. Register for VAT separately if the business needs it.
- Record the beneficial owners in the Registry's Register of Beneficial Owners, which the Registry verifies as an anti-money-laundering supervisor.
- Open the business account with the certificate of registration, the memorandum and articles, the beneficial owner details and your ID.
Malta company annual filings and deadlines
A Malta company files with the Business Registry for the company record and with the Malta Tax and Customs Administration for the tax. Only a registered tax practitioner can submit the company's tax return, so a local accountant is part of the running cost from year 1.
Yearly filings for a Malta Ltd with a calendar financial year
| Filing | Filed with | Deadline | Cost of missing it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Company tax return and self-assessment | Malta Tax and Customs Administration, by a registered tax practitioner | 9 months after the year end, so September 30; online filing for 2025 accounts was extended to November 27, 2026 | Penalties and interest; the online extension never moves the tax payment |
| Provisional tax installments | Malta Tax and Customs Administration | During the year the profit is earned | Penalties and interest on the unpaid tax |
| Shareholder refund claim (6/7 or 5/7) | Malta Tax and Customs Administration | After each dividend; payable within 14 days of falling due | No refund: the paid-out profit stays taxed at 35% |
| Annual return, €85 (about $97) online at the minimum capital | Malta Business Registry | Within 42 days after each anniversary of registration | A penalty on each officer in default, plus a daily penalty while it continues |
| Audited annual accounts | Malta Business Registry | Approved by the shareholders within 10 months of the year end, then filed within 42 days | A penalty on each officer in default, plus a daily penalty |
| Your own tax return, with the dividends on it | The tax authority where you live | Your country's deadline | Your country's penalties and the tax itself |
Opening a bank account for a Malta company
Maltese bank onboarding is slow and the due diligence detailed, and accounts can take months to open. Most non-resident founders start with an EU fintech or electronic money institution, or with a bank outside Malta, and add a Maltese account later if the business needs one.
Expect questions about where you live, who your clients are, where the first money comes from and why the company is in Malta. Owners who live in countries under EU sanctions, or on the FATF list of high-risk jurisdictions, should expect refusals.
The account also has to carry the tax. The 35% leaves the company's account when the tax falls due, while the refund is paid to the shareholder after the dividend and the claim, so a founder who pays out everything each month can find the company short when the tax bill arrives.
Where a Malta company's profit is really taxed
The 5% is real, but it depends on 2 things Malta does not control: where the company is managed, and how your own country reads a tax that is 35% on paper and 5% after the refund. At $100,000 of profit, this is where the tax lands.
Tax on $100,000 of profit in a Malta Ltd by owner situation (Malta column from the rules above)
| Owner situation | Tax in Malta | Where else the profit is taxed |
|---|---|---|
| Lives in Malta and runs the company there, profit paid out | 35%, then about 5% after the 6/7 refund | Nowhere else, as long as Malta is your only residence |
| Lives in a treaty country and runs the company alone from home | 35% paid, with refunds after each dividend | Your country can treat the company as managed there and tax the profit, then tax the dividend as well |
| Lives abroad while Maltese directors really manage the company | About 5% after the refund, and nothing withheld on the dividend | Your country taxes the dividend, and its CFC rules may treat a company taxed at 5% as low-taxed |
| Keeps the profit in the company | The full 35%, with no refund until a dividend is paid | Nothing more until it is paid out |
Moving to Malta settles the management question, and Malta's rules for resident expats then decide how the rest of your income is taxed: a resident who is not domiciled in Malta pays tax on foreign income only when it is brought into the country.
The refund can pull in your home country's CFC rules
Your home country may count the 6/7 refund when it tests whether the company is low-taxed. At about 5% on distributed profit, a Malta company owned by someone living in a high-tax country can fall inside that country's CFC rules, which tax the company's profit as the owner's income every year, paid out or not. Keeping the profit in the company to avoid it means paying the full 35% instead.
A non-resident's Malta company, set up right and wrong
Works
You live in Malta or have a Maltese director who really runs the board, you pay out the trading profit every year, claim the 6/7 refund, keep cash in the company for the 35% and have confirmed how your home country treats the refund.
Fails
You live in Stockholm, make every decision from home, keep the profit in the company so the refund never comes, and tell your bank and your tax office it is a 5% company.
