Company types, registration, self-employment, upkeep and closing down. Status labels are explained on the Starting in Malta home page.
2.1 What company types can I set up, and how do I register one?
MBR is the registration authority. Its site has pages for:
- formation and registration
- company types (limited liability companies, partnership en nom collectif, redomiciliation, overseas companies)
- the fee structure
Official source: Malta Business Registry: Starting a Company (MBR)
Status: ✅ Verified · checked 2026-10-21 · For: Founder
2.2 How does registration actually work (in person or online)?
Registration can be started at the MBR offices in Żejtun. A company may be registered if it has an eIDAS digital signature sent to MBR.
Official source: EU e-Justice: Malta business register (MBR / EU)
Status: ✅ Verified · checked 2026-10-21 · For: Founder
2.3 What does incorporation cost?
No confirmed answer yet.
Official source: MBR: Registration and Fee Structure (MBR)
Status: 🟡 Needs checking · For: Founder
2.4 What do I have to file once the company exists?
MBR menu lists annual returns and forms for changes:
- Share capital: Form H
- Directors or secretary: Form K
- Registered office: Form Q
- Share transfers: Form T
Official source: MBR: Running a Company (MBR)
Status: ✅ Verified · checked 2026-10-21 · For: Founder
2.5 How do I register as self-employed and get VAT, employer and Jobsplus numbers in one go?
One eForm amalgamates the forms of several authorities. The applicant receives:
- VAT number(s), if taxable
- a PE number, if employing staff
- a Jobsplus number
The National Statistics Office is notified.
Official source: Servizz.gov.mt: Self-employed registration eForm (Government of Malta)
Status: ✅ Verified · checked 2026-10-21 · For: Solo founder, freelancer
2.6 Self-employed, partnership or company: which setup fits me?
- Sole trader: registers with the Engagement Form - Self Employed, needs a VAT number, and a PE number once the first employee is hired.
- Partnership en nom collectif or en commandite: partners are considered employees of the partnership and use the employed form.
- Registered civil partnership: partners remain self-employed under the common name.
- Company: has a separate legal status from its owner.
Official source: Jobsplus: Self-Employed Persons and Partnerships (Jobsplus)
Status: ✅ Verified · checked 2026-10-21 · For: Founder, freelancer
2.7 I own my company. Am I employed or self-employed?
The sole owner of a registered company submits an engagement form as an employee of the company, with a designation such as Managing Director or Director, and includes the company number, VAT number and, if the company has employees, the PE number.
Salaried directors must be registered as employed. Directors and company secretaries paid only honoraria do not need an engagement form, but all third-country-national directors are considered operational and must be formally engaged, except in public limited companies.
Official source: Jobsplus: Self-Employed Persons and Partnerships; Do I need to submit an engagement form? (Jobsplus)
Status: ✅ Verified · checked 2026-10-21 · For: Founder
2.8 As a self-employed person, which tax number and social security contributions apply?
Class 2 contributions are paid by individuals with income above €910 from an economic activity who are not employed. They are set in income bands using the net profit of the previous year, with a weekly minimum of €35.48 and a maximum of €81.64 for people born from 1 January 1962 (2025 figures).
Foreign residents register as taxpayers and receive a 9-digit tax number (MTCA).
Official source: Department of Social Security: Class 2 contributions (2025); MTCA self-employed registration (Social Security / MTCA)
Status: ✅ Verified · checked 2026-10-21 · For: Founder, freelancer
2.9 What are VAT Articles 10, 11 and 12, and which one am I?
- Article 10: covers taxable supplies in Malta, exports and intra-community supplies, and allows input tax to be claimed.
- Article 11: for small undertakings, who are treated as exempt and cannot charge or reclaim VAT.
- Article 12: for people not registered under Article 10 who make intra-community acquisitions above €10,000 a year or buy services from abroad taxable in Malta.
Official source: MTCA: Registration, self-employed (MTCA)
Status: ✅ Verified · checked 2026-10-21 · For: Founder, freelancer
2.10 How does a company register for VAT and tax?
Once the company is registered with the Registrar of Companies, an online eForm registers it for VAT, as an employer and for statistics.
Outputs are:
- VAT number(s) if the activity is taxable
- a PE number if staff will be employed
- a notification to the National Statistics Office
- a Jobsplus employer number, only if a PE number is requested
Access is by:
- ID card and document number
- eID
- a practitioner registered with the Commissioner for Taxes and Customs
The service delivers in one day. Income tax registration is generally automatic on incorporation, and all Maltese-registered companies must register for VAT.
Official source: Servizz.gov.mt: Business Startup, Companies; MTCA: Company Registration (Government of Malta / MTCA)
Status: ✅ Verified · checked 2026-10-21 · For: Founder
2.11 Is there a lower tax rate for part-time self-employment?
No confirmed answer yet.
Official source: MTCA: Part-time self-employment (TA22) (MTCA)
Status: 🟡 Needs checking · For: Founder, freelancer
2.12 Can I be self-employed in Malta as a non-EU national?
The portal lists self-employment among the applications for non-EU employment and self-employed persons, but the criteria are not covered on the page read.
Official source: Identità Expatriates Portal (Identità)
Status: 🟡 Needs checking · For: TCN founder, freelancer
2.13 Upkeep: what are the annual return, beneficial ownership and accounts deadlines, and what do they cost?
Every company files an Annual Return and an Annual Beneficial Owner (BO) confirmation within 42 days of the anniversary date they are made up to, signed by a director or the company secretary, online or on paper.
Annual accounts are approved within 10 months of the year end and filed within 42 days after that, online only through the MBR portal, normally with the auditors' and directors' reports unless a declaration form is used.
The annual return fee depends on authorised share capital, for example:
- EUR 85 online (EUR 100 on paper) up to EUR 1,500
- EUR 1,200 online above EUR 2,500,000
The BO confirmation carries no fee.
Official source: MBR: Annual Filings (MBR)
Status: ✅ Verified · checked 2026-10-21 · For: Founder
2.14 Upkeep: does my company need an audit, and what are the small company exemptions?
A company is small if it does not exceed two of:
- balance sheet total EUR 4,000,000
- turnover EUR 8,000,000
- average 50 employees
Private companies are exempt from the auditor's report if they do not exceed two of:
- balance sheet total EUR 46,600
- turnover EUR 93,000
- average 2 employees
These forms accompany the filing:
- Forms DD1 and DD2 (standard accounts)
- Forms DD3 and DD4 (small companies)
Official source: MBR: Annual Filings (MBR)
Status: ✅ Verified · checked 2026-10-21 · For: Founder
2.15 Upkeep: how do I change directors, the company secretary, the registered office or the shares?
Which form to use:
- Directors or company secretary changes: Form K
- Registered office or email address changes: Form Q
- Annual return: Form Z
Forms are submitted to the MBR through the BAROS online portal.
Official source: MBR: Official Registry Forms (MBR)
Status: ✅ Verified · checked 2026-10-21 · For: Founder
2.16 Upkeep: what tax filings does a company have to make each year?
Company tax registration is generally automatic on incorporation and gives a nine-digit income tax number. The flat rate is 35% on net chargeable income.
The return and self-assessment are due nine months after the financial year end; only a registered tax practitioner can file the company return, with the director signing form MTCA02 to grant access. Provisional tax payments and social security contributions also apply.
Official source: MTCA: Income Tax (corporate) (MTCA)
Status: ✅ Verified · checked 2026-10-21 · For: Founder
2.17 Upkeep: what are the VAT return cycle and deadlines?
No confirmed answer yet.
Official source: MTCA: VAT Return Cycle (MTCA)
Status: 🟡 Needs checking · For: Founder, freelancer
2.18 Shutting down: what are the ways to close a company?
Members' voluntary winding up applies to a solvent company: shareholders pass an extraordinary resolution and the majority of directors sign a Declaration of Solvency that the company can pay its debts in full within a stated period of no more than 12 months. A liquidator appointed by the shareholders winds up the company.
If debts cannot be paid within that period, it becomes a creditors' voluntary winding up. Without a declaration of solvency the process is an insolvency proceeding.
Court winding up has grounds such as inability to pay debts. After winding up, creditors have a 3-month window to defer the strike off before the company is struck off the register.
Official source: MBR: Insolvency Proceedings (MBR)
Status: ✅ Verified · checked 2026-10-21 · For: Founder
2.19 Shutting down: which forms and filing channel do I use to dissolve or liquidate?
Dissolution and liquidation forms for the Companies Act (B1, B2, L, L2, L3, L4, among others) are submitted through the BAROS system, with online submission mandatory for incorporations and dissolutions from 1 March 2025.
Forms include:
- the resolution for dissolution
- the declaration of solvency
- appointment of a liquidator
- liquidator's bank account notification
- the liquidator's statement
Official source: MBR: Official Registry Forms; Mandatory online submission from 1 March 2025 (MBR)
Status: ✅ Verified · checked 2026-10-21 · For: Founder
2.20 Shutting down: is there a simplified dissolution procedure for a dormant company?
The forms page lists:
- Form B1: resolution for dissolution under the simplified procedure
- B3: application
- B4: director's declaration
- youth enterprise variants
No page read describes eligibility or steps.
Official source: MBR: Official Registry Forms (MBR)
Status: 🟡 Needs checking · For: Founder
2.21 Shutting down: what do I need to do with the tax authority and Jobsplus?
The liquidator must file the final annual tax return on time and must not allow the company to be struck off the register before obtaining tax clearance from the Commissioner for Tax and Customs. The company then asks in writing for tax de-registration from the International and Corporate Tax Unit.
A VAT-registered taxpayer can request deactivation of a VAT number at any time, but must settle all pending matters and have no VAT balance outstanding.
Official source: MTCA: Liquidation and Insolvency of a Company; Request to deactivate a VAT number (MTCA)
Status: ✅ Verified · checked 2026-10-21 · For: Founder
2.22 What is the leanest way for a solo founder to set up from abroad?
No confirmed answer yet.
Source: none identified yet.
Status: ⚪ No official source found · For: Founder
2.23 Do I need a registered office in Malta, and can it be a shared or virtual address?
Every company must have a registered office in Malta and a registered email address. It can be at the office of a licensed company service provider, law firm or accounting firm.
Otherwise the company needs proof of address and the premises owner's authorisation. Changes are notified to the Registrar of Companies (Form Q).
Official source: MBR: Formation and registration of companies (guide, undated); MFSA: Guide to the registration of companies (MBR / MFSA)
Status: ✅ Verified · checked 2026-10-21 · For: Founder, remote founder
2.24 What are the minimum requirements for directors, shareholders and company secretary, and can they all be foreign?
- Directors: a private company needs at least one director and a public company at least two.
- Company secretary: every company needs one, and a sole director cannot also be secretary unless the company is a private exempt company. Residence in Malta is not required for the company secretary.
- Subscribers: a company needs at least two, except a single-member company.
- Share capital: minimum authorised share capital is EUR 1,164.69 for a private company and EUR 46,587.47 for a public company, with at least 20% (private) or 25% (public) paid up on signing.
- Non-EU shareholders: they need a bank or professional reference dated within six months from a warrant holder who has known them for at least a year.
- Documents: each director files Form K(1), IDs are certified, and a bank deposit slip for the company-in-formation account is filed.
- Incorporation: from 1 March 2025, it is filed on the BAROS portal. A company name can be reserved for 3 months for EUR 10, and processing can be as quick as 24 hours with complete documents.
Official source: MBR: Formation and registration guide (undated); MFSA: Guide to the registration of companies (MBR / MFSA)
Status: ✅ Verified · checked 2026-10-21 · For: Founder
2.25 Does my activity need a licence or regulator approval (for example fintech, gaming, financial services)?
Business First lists 15 categories that need a licence or permit:
- communications
- education
- employment agencies
- energy and water
- gaming
- general trade
- health and beauty
- local council permits
- radiation protection
- real estate and property development
- regulated professions
- security
- social care
- tourism and catering
- transport
Issuers named include:
- the Ministry for Education
- DIER (employment agencies)
- the Commerce Department (general trade)
- the Healthcare Standards Directorate
- local councils
- the Malta Police Force (security)
- the Social Care Standards Authority
The Servizz.gov.mt startup form says that, depending on your NACE code, a government entity may email you about food, health care or plant protection obligations.
Official source: Business First: Licences and permits by category; Servizz.gov.mt startup form (Government of Malta)
Status: 🟡 Needs checking · For: Founder
2.26 How do I protect my brand and IP (trademark, patent, copyright)?
- Trademark:
- search the free National Trademark Register (a paid search is EUR 10 per word and class)
- file online through the IPS portal (ips.gov.mt)
- fee EUR 115 per class
- protection for 10 years
- registration in about 8 months
- Patent:
- a pre-search is EUR 11.65
- the application fee is EUR 116.47, covering 20 years from filing
- grant takes about 18 months
- European patents: English-language ones designating Malta are validated automatically; others need an English translation within three months of the grant mention.
- Renewal fees: due before the end of the second year and each later year.
Official source: Commerce Department: How to apply for a trademark / a patent (Commerce Department)
Status: ✅ Verified · checked 2026-10-21 · For: Founder
2.27 Can I give employees equity or share options, and how are they taxed?
MTCA defines a fringe benefit as any benefit provided by reason of employment or office. Under article 4(1)(b) of the Income Tax Act it counts as employment income whether paid in cash or in kind, and employers must account for fringe benefits under the FSS. Valuation follows the Fringe Benefits Rules (S.L. 123.55).
Official source: MTCA: Fringe Benefits (MTCA)
Status: 🟡 Needs checking · For: Founder
2.28 What is the Malta Patent Box, and does my IP qualify?
The Patent Box lets a taxpayer deduct a share of qualifying income from patents, similar IP rights and copyrighted software from taxable income. The guidelines cite the Patent Box Deduction Rules, 2019 (S.L. 123.194) under the Income Tax Act (Cap. 123).
Qualifying IP:
- patents issued by recognised national or international bodies
- utility models
- orphan drugs
- certain plant, genetic and crop-protection products
- software that results from R&D resolving scientific or technological uncertainty (a solution not readily deducible by a competent professional, reached by systematic investigation)
Small companies may also claim on income from other IP based on a patentable invention, with documentation, an independent patent search and proof of structured R&D. Excluded: marketing-related IP such as trademarks, brands and image rights.
The deduction follows a nexus ratio: qualifying IP expenditure divided by total IP expenditure.
Qualifying expenditure includes:
- staff costs on the research
- materials
- apportioned utilities
- depreciation of equipment
- costs outsourced to unrelated persons
- IP validation and defence costs
Costs subcontracted to related companies and acquisition costs count only in total expenditure.
The deduction must link to real and substantial R&D carried out by the claimant. The IP must be acquired after 1 January 2019, though the R&D may predate it.
Official source: Malta Enterprise: Patent Box Guidelines, Version 1.1 (1 February 2025) (Malta Enterprise)
Status: ✅ Verified · checked 2026-10-22 · For: Founder, startup, software and deep-tech companies
2.29 How do I claim the Patent Box deduction (Malta Enterprise determination, records, validity)?
Apply to Malta Enterprise for a determination on its application form.
Required:
- proof the IP is eligible
- a breakdown of total and eligible costs certified by an independent Certified Public Auditor
- sample R&D documentation such as test reports
Malta Enterprise may ask for more information. The determination confirms the IP and the qualifying expenditure.
It is valid for up to five fiscal years (extendable for longer-protected IP) and never beyond the taxpayer's legal right over the IP. Qualifying expenditure can be revised annually if more qualifying costs arise.
Keep IP and cost documents, and documents showing how the provision was used, for at least ten years after the year of assessment in which it was last used, even if the IP is sold.
Contact:
- Business First on 144 or info@businessfirst.com.mt
- Malta Enterprise at Pieta
Official source: Malta Enterprise: Patent Box Guidelines, Version 1.1, sections 5 and 6 (Malta Enterprise)
Status: 🟡 Needs checking · For: Founder, startup
2.30 Is there an R&D incentive from Malta Enterprise, and does it cover patents and know-how?
Issued under Article 8(3)(a) of the Malta Enterprise Act (Cap. 463), aligned with the EU General Block Exemption Regulation. Available 1 January 2024 to 31 December 2026, with a budget of EUR 5 million a year and EUR 15 million overall.
Open to:
- partnerships
- limited liability companies
- overseas companies registered in Malta
- co-operatives
Not open to research organisations or undertakings in difficulty. Aid takes the form of tax credits, cash grants or a mix, at the Corporation's discretion.
Base aid intensities:
- Industrial research: 50% (large), 60% (medium) and 70% (small)
- Experimental development: 25%, 35% and 45%
There are uplifts for SMEs and collaboration, capped at 80% of eligible costs.
Eligible costs include:
- personnel time on the project
- equipment depreciation
- contract research
- consultancy from doctoral-level experts or research organisations
- patents and technical knowledge bought or licensed at arm's length
Apply before work starts through the client portal. A tax credit certificate is issued after claims are reviewed, and credits are claimed on the tax return, carried forward and not refunded.
Keep records for ten years after the final claim.
Official source: Malta Enterprise: Research and Development Incentive Guidelines, Version 1.0 (23 January 2024) (Malta Enterprise)
Status: ✅ Verified · checked 2026-10-22 · For: Founder, startup, R&D companies
2.31 What other Malta Enterprise tax credits exist for R&D and innovation (including hiring PhD staff)?
Malta Enterprise lists three tax-credit measures:
- Aid for Research and Development Projects: claim within two years of project completion, with an optional pre-proposal to confirm eligibility.
- Innovation Aid for SMEs: part of the cost of temporarily engaging highly qualified personnel from large undertakings and research organisations.
- Tax Credits for R&D and Innovation: open to all undertakings that employ, for at least 12 months, a person holding or reading for a doctorate in science, IT or engineering.
Official source: Malta Enterprise: R&D and innovation tax credit measures (page published 1 November 2017) (Malta Enterprise)
Status: 🟡 Needs checking · For: Founder, SME, R&D companies
2.32 Does the INVEST scheme pay for patents and other IP when setting up or expanding?
INVEST supports initial investments that:
- set up a new establishment
- extend capacity
- diversify a business
- fundamentally change a process
Aid forms are:
- tax credits
- cash grants
- loan interest subsidies
- loan guarantees for SMEs
Eligible costs include tangible assets and intangible assets such as patents, licences, know-how and other intellectual property. Projects must start after 1 January 2024.
Official source: Malta Enterprise: INVEST, Support for Initial Investment Projects (v1.1, 6 June 2024) (Malta Enterprise)
Status: 🟡 Needs checking · For: Founder, SME
2.33 Can an SME get EU money back for trademark, design and patent costs (EUIPO SME Fund)?
EU-established SMEs can apply for vouchers that reimburse costs for:
- trade marks
- designs
- patents
- plant varieties
- IP scan services
The page states reimbursement depends on the applicant's country or region, at up to:
- 75% of costs for IP right applications
- 90% for IP scans
An owner, employee or authorised external representative can apply.
Official source: EUIPO: Ideas Powered for Business SME Fund (2026) (EUIPO (EU Intellectual Property Office))
Status: 🟡 Needs checking · For: Founder, SME