In short
- Malta VAT rates: 18% standard; 12%, 7% and 5% on the supplies of the Eighth Schedule; 0% on exports, supplies to EU businesses, food and medicines.
- Article 10 falls due within 30 days of the first taxable sale and is the only registration that recovers input VAT.
- Article 11 is a choice for Malta turnover up to €35,000 a year, with the turnover of owners above 10% added in proportion.
- Article 12 takes a company outside Article 10 that buys a service from abroad, from the first one.
In this guide
Malta VAT rates in 2026: 18%, 12%, 7%, 5% and 0%
Article 19 of the VAT Act, Cap. 406, charges 18% on every taxable supply and lets the Eighth Schedule set lower rates, never below 5%. Consulting, software, marketing, most goods and food served in catering bear 18%.
| Rate | What it covers | In the Act |
|---|---|---|
| 12% | Custody of securities; credit management by someone other than the lender; short hire of pleasure boats; body care by regulated health professionals | Eighth Schedule, items 12 to 15 |
| 7% | Accommodation in premises licensed for tourism; use of sporting facilities | Eighth Schedule, items 1 and 11 |
| 5% | Electricity; confectionery; medical accessories; printed and electronic books; minor repairs; domestic care; admission to museums, concerts and theatres | Eighth Schedule, items 2 to 10 |
| 0% | Exports; goods sent to VAT-registered businesses in other EU states; food outside catering; pharmaceutical goods; scheduled buses and ferries | Fifth Schedule, Part One |
| Exempt | Property lettings and sales, with exceptions; insurance; banking and credit; education; medical care; lotteries | Fifth Schedule, Part Two |
A 0% supply keeps the right to recover VAT paid on purchases; an exempt supply loses it. For goods the MTCA, the Malta Tax and Customs Administration, shows the rate of each customs code in its online tariff browser.
Articles 10, 11 and 12: three registrations under the Malta VAT Act
The MTCA's page for companies says that every company registered in Malta also registers for VAT. The Act decides which registration it holds, and Articles 10 and 11 exclude each other.
- Article 10: within 30 days of the first supply in Malta that is not exempt. The company charges VAT, recovers VAT on its costs and files a return for each three-month period. Its number starts with MT.
- Article 11: a choice while Malta turnover stays within €35,000 a year. No VAT charged, none recovered, fiscal receipts only and one declaration a year. The number has no prefix and is no VAT number for trade with other EU states.
- Article 12: for a company outside Article 10 that receives a service from abroad, with no threshold, or buys goods from other EU states above €10,000 a year. It charges itself Maltese VAT on those purchases and recovers none.
In the MTCA's own example one service of €100 bought abroad brings the duty to register under Article 12; a company entitled to recover that VAT registers under Article 10 instead. A company that keeps its books with accounting in Malta has the registration chosen with its first contracts.
Which article fits: SaaS, consulting, EU trade or a holding company
The registration follows where the sales are taxed. A service to a business is taxed where that business is established, so a company that sells only abroad may charge no Maltese VAT and still need a number.
| Business | Registration | Number | Input VAT recovered |
|---|---|---|---|
| SaaS or consulting, Malta clients above €35,000 a year | Article 10 | MT | Yes |
| Malta sales up to €35,000, mostly consumers | Article 11, by choice | No prefix | No |
| Services to businesses in other EU states | Article 10, or Article 11 with Article 12 while Malta sales stay within €35,000 | MT | Under Article 10 |
| Services only to businesses outside the EU | Article 10, by choice | MT | Yes |
| Goods sold to businesses in other EU states | Article 10; sales at 0% | MT | Yes |
| Holding company charging its subsidiaries management fees | Article 10 | MT | Yes |
| Holding company with dividends as its only income | No Article 10 duty; Article 12 above €10,000 of EU goods | MT | No |
Article 10(1)(b) puts a seller of services to EU businesses into Article 10 even with no client in Malta. A dividend pays for no supply, so dividends alone call for no Article 10 number.
The €35,000 Article 11 threshold: what counts and whose turnover is added
A company qualifies for Article 11 when its Malta turnover of the last calendar year stayed within €35,000, and stays while the current year does. Since 1 January 2025 only supplies taking place in Malta count, property and financial deals included unless ancillary.
An owner of over 10% of the shares, votes or profits adds a share of their own Malta turnover in proportion to the holding. The MTCA's guidelines of 7 April 2025 work through a new company owned half each by two consultants. One had billed €75,000 to clients in Malta, so €37,500 counts and the company cannot choose Article 11.
On the day turnover passes €35,000 the company stops being a small enterprise. It applies to cancel Article 11 within 15 days, and the Commissioner moves it to Article 10 from the first day of the next month. A company that started under Article 10 stays there for its first 12 whole calendar months, unless it has claimed no input VAT and the Commissioner accepts the switch.
We do this for you Accounting services in Malta books, returns and the refund claim
Malta VAT registration: the application, the number and the cost of being late
- The first taxable sale in Malta, or the first service sold to a business in another EU state, starts the 30 days.
- The application goes in online with a Maltese e-ID, or another access the MTCA grants to a person without one.
- The company attaches its representative's passport and its memorandum and articles.
- The Commissioner allocates the number and issues an online certificate with the article and the date it takes effect.
Article 10 registration runs from the date it was due, whatever day the company applies. A late company owes VAT on its sales from that date and a penalty under Article 39. For each month of delay it is the higher of €20 and 1% of the net VAT of its first return. The penalty stops at €250 when that VAT is €2,000 or less, and at 20% of it above.
Clients in other EU states check a Malta VAT number with the prefix MT in VIES, the European Commission's search. Under Article 11A, the EU scheme for small enterprises, the number gains the suffix EX.
Selling to other EU states: reverse charge, recapitulative statement and OSS
A service to a business in another EU state carries no Maltese VAT: the customer accounts for it in its own state. The Malta company lists the sale in its recapitulative statement. Goods sent to a VAT-registered buyer in another EU state are 0% on the same footing, and a missing statement can cost the exemption.
Electronic services and goods sent to consumers in other EU states bear Maltese VAT while they stay within €10,000 a year, this year and the last. From the sale that passes it, each bears the rate of the customer's state, declared through the One Stop Shop. Its return covers a quarter, uses the company's Maltese VAT number and is due by the end of the next month. The European Commission's page for Malta says no tax representative is needed.
Buying works the other way. An Article 10 company that buys a service from abroad charges itself 18% and deducts it in the same return.
After registration: returns and the right to recover VAT
The Act sets the quarterly return for the 15th of the second month after the period. A return filed online with its payment within 7 days bears no interest, so the MTCA names the 22nd. Penalties stand on our accounting page.
Input VAT comes back under Article 10 on purchases that serve taxable sales, 0% sales, and sales made abroad that would be taxable in Malta. A consultancy with every client abroad recovers the VAT on its Malta costs like one with local clients. An Article 11 company files one declaration a year after the year ends; the MTCA names the date each year.
Two Malta VAT cases worked out
First case: a SaaS company under Article 10, one quarter. Rates: Malta 18%, Germany 19% from the European Commission's table.
| Invoice | Net | VAT | Who accounts for it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Subscriptions, businesses in Malta | €12,000 | €2,160 | The company |
| Subscriptions, businesses in Germany | €30,000 | None | The customer, 19% in Germany |
| Hosting from a US supplier | €2,000 | €360 | The company, reverse charge |
| Software and accounting in Malta | €5,000 | €900 | Recovered by the company |
Output VAT is €2,160 plus €360: €2,520. Input VAT is €900 plus €360: €1,260. The company pays €1,260. Had the German clients been consumers beyond the €10,000 limit, the €30,000 would have carried €5,700 of German VAT through the One Stop Shop.
Second case: a consultancy with €30,000 a year of Malta sales and €8,000 of costs plus €1,440 of VAT.
| Line | Article 11 | Article 10, business clients | Article 10, consumers, same price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Received | €30,000 | €35,400 | €30,000 |
| VAT paid to the MTCA | None | €3,960 | €3,136.27 |
| Costs with VAT | €9,440 | €9,440 | €9,440 |
| Left in the company | €20,560 | €22,000 | €17,423.73 |
Article 11 leaves €3,136.27 more with consumers as clients; Article 10 leaves €1,440 more with businesses. We file the registration that fits the company's clients, and accounting in Malta covers the returns, the statements and the One Stop Shop. A company not yet founded starts with company formation in Malta. Tax on profit is in our guide to the Malta tax refund.
