Malta · Tax regime
Resident Non-Domiciled Remittance Basis of Taxation
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Last verified July 2026
Ordinary Maltese law, not a special programme — available to anyone resident but not domiciled in Malta. Since 2018 a EUR 5,000 minimum tax applies where foreign income reaches EUR 35,000 in the year.
The most underrated regime in the Mediterranean, precisely because it is not marketed. Foreign capital gains are outside Maltese tax entirely — even if remitted — which is more generous than the UK's former non-dom rules ever were, and it costs a EUR 5,000 floor rather than a six-figure lump sum. For a family living off realised gains rather than yield, Malta can beat Italy's EUR 300,000 and Greece's EUR 100,000 by an order of magnitude.
Qualifying routes
€5k
Resident but not domiciled in Malta
minimum annual tax where foreign income is at or above EUR 35,000; no minimum below that
The facts
- Qualifying figure
- €5k
- Total landed cost
- EUR 5,000 minimum annual tax where foreign income is EUR 35,000 or more; otherwise ordinary progressive rates on Maltese-source and remitted foreign income.
- Physical presence
- Maltese tax residence is required — ordinarily more than 183 days, or residence in fact
- Family
- applies individually; the EUR 35,000 threshold and EUR 5,000 minimum are assessed on the couple jointly for married couples
- Permanent residency
- n/a — a tax status only
- Citizenship
- n/a
- Language test
- n/a
- Dual citizenship
- Permitted
- Requirements
- resident in Malta for tax purposesnot domiciled in MaltaEUR 5,000 minimum annual tax where foreign income is EUR 35,000 or moreannual return filing and record-keeping; CRS reporting applies
What can go wrong
- Requires real presence and a real move — this is not a paper status, and it works only if you are actually Maltese tax resident.
- Domicile is sticky and fact-heavy; acquiring a Maltese domicile of choice would collapse the regime, and a domicile of origin that is arguably Maltese defeats it from the start.
- The remittance discipline is unforgiving: mixed accounts, foreign card spending in Malta and remitted-income tracing errors are where clients lose the benefit.
- The EUR 5,000 minimum applies to the couple as a whole, and an individual can elect worldwide taxation instead if it produces a lower liability — worth modelling each year.
- Full CRS reporting applies; Malta is not opaque, and the regime depends on disclosure rather than concealment.
- Malta's own guidance on remittance is published by the Malta Tax and Customs Administration and should be read before structuring — the rules are more technical than the marketing suggests.