The Maltese Islands are a full EU member state since May 2004 and further
to recent legislative changes,
Malta Companies are EU compliant and
EU approved. This renders the
Maltese company an excellent vehicle for
international business, investment and financial services. Malta by far
provides the most advantageous environment for European onshore business
and investment, providing a favourable business and tax environment for
shareholders of
Malta registered companies.
1996 - 2006: International Trading & Holding Companies
Before 1st January 2007, Maltese law allowed the formation of
International Trading Companies (ITCs)
and
International Holding Companies (IHCs)
which restricted the tax advantages of Malta companies to non-resident
shareholders. Maltese Income Tax legislation has been updated to
remove the discrimination between local and non-resident shareholders
and these changes have been approved by the European Commission.
Pre-1996: Malta Offshore Companies
Prior to 1996, Maltese law admitted two basic forms of corporate structure
which were available to non-residents who wished to register a Maltese
company for commercial or asset trading purposes. These were [i] the
onshore company with an issued share capital of Lm10,000 (USD25,000) and
[ii] the low-tax (5%) offshore trading or zero-tax non-trading company.
In 1996, the offshore regime was transformed into a new onshore regime.
Malta adopted a new Companies Act and amended the Income Tax Act to
create the International Holding Company (IHC) and the International
Trading Company (ITC). These are normal Maltese onshore companies taxed
on a worldwide basis at the normal corporate tax rate (35%) and are
therefore not perceived to be tax avoidance structures.
Significant tax savings can be achieved by refunds received by
non-resident shareholders bringing the overall tax liability down to
4.17% and in some cases to 0%.
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