Malta
The Union's smallest state, English legal roots and one of Europe's largest shipping registers
Malta has about half a million people, so as a sales market it is small. It matters for three other reasons: it is in the EU and in the euro, English is an official language alongside Maltese, and company law rests on an English tradition — and its shipping register is among the largest in the world. Companies come here for a holding, a fund, gaming or a flag for a vessel, not for customers.
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Setting up a company
Setting up a company and tax are the part of the profile you cannot assemble elsewhere in an afternoon. The rest of the page is open.
- ·Legal forms
- ·Minimum capital
- ·Foreign ownership
- ·How long registration takes
Taxes
Setting up a company and tax are the part of the profile you cannot assemble elsewhere in an afternoon. The rest of the page is open.
- ·Corporate income tax
- ·VAT
- ·Double taxation treaty
Visas and residence
Setting up a company and tax are the part of the profile you cannot assemble elsewhere in an afternoon. The rest of the page is open.
- ·Short stay
- ·Residence by investment
Citizenship
Setting up a company and tax are the part of the profile you cannot assemble elsewhere in an afternoon. The rest of the page is open.
- ·Citizenship by investment
- ·Route to citizenship
Investment opportunities
Setting up a company and tax are the part of the profile you cannot assemble elsewhere in an afternoon. The rest of the page is open.
- ·Where the capital goes
- ·Rules for a foreign investor
What it makes and needs
Malta exports mostly services — financial, gaming, shipping and aircraft maintenance — and, in goods, electronics and pharmaceutical intermediates.
It imports practically everything else, including food, fuel and building materials — an island with no raw-material base.
Money and payments
The euro. SEPA payments, no currency risk against the euro area.
Importing into their market
Part of the Union customs territory — goods from the EU are not cleared. From third countries the common customs tariff applies as everywhere in the Union.
Practical matters
The official languages are Maltese and English; business, the courts and the authorities routinely work in English, which is a material simplification for a Central European firm.
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A visa, legalising a document, an invitation letter, the commercial attaché before a trade fair — these only go through a mission. Below are the official registers rather than transcribed addresses: missions move and consular hours change several times a year, so a link to the register stays current where a transcript would not.
Where a country has no mission in Bratislava or Prague it is usually accredited from Vienna, Berlin or Warsaw — the register says which.
Every figure names the authority that published it and the date the line was last worked on. This is not legal or tax advice — verify a figure with the named source before you act on it.