Advantages of Malta Company Registration

Posted by Josephine Martin on January 24th, 2018

For an international business or globe-trotting entrepreneur setting up a company in a foreign jurisdiction may have a few advantages. These range from improving the operational ability of the company, taxation and fiscal benefits or simply because the costs are cheaper in another jurisdiction than your home jurisdiction. Malta, one of the smallest members of the European Union but with a financial services industry comparable to most has become an increasingly viable option for savvy businesses and entrepreneurs.

All firms and lawyers must be licensed by the Malta Financial Services Authority, to be able to carry out Malta company registration services. A company can be set up in Malta in a relatively short time of a couple of days, but shareholders of the prospective business must go through the usual due diligence process by supplying a variety of documents such as references, proof of identity and proof of address to name the most common. If a company requires a bank account, there may be some extra documentation needed but most of the information is gathered at this early stage. Whilst some documentation is usually easy to gather, it must be noted that bank references can take a little longer and any documents not in Maltese and English, the official languages of Malta will need to be provided with certified translations.

Most business in Malta is conducted in English and all legislation in Malta is drafted in Maltese and English, which is an official national language. As an EU Member state, Malta complies with many EU Directives and certain legislation and business principles also have a strong British influence. The financial services industry is well regulated by the Malta Financial Services Authority.

One of the key questions that are often asked is what tax benefits are available to a Malta company set up and the answer is quite a few. Malta has a double taxation treaty network with more than 60 countries including the USA, Canada, UK, Australia to name a few which gives a myriad of tax planning opportunities. The Malta tax system is also attractive with an effective tax rate of 5% possible to trading companies via the quite unique tax refund, which derives from the full imputation system of taxation that Malta chooses to adopt. Malta as a member of the European Union also benefits from the Parent-Subsidiary Directive which ensures that a dividend received from a subsidiary in an EU Member state to a Parent Shareholding Company in another EU Member state will not be taxed twice on the same profits. This is ensured by either exempting the income or by offering a credit in the receiving member state on the tax paid in the distributing member state.

In general, Malta has an educated workforce with many foreign expats having relocated to Malta to work in the strong financial services industry. Many people in Malta speak several languages with Italian, French and German are being quite popular and hence making Malta an ideal place for an international business trading in many jurisdictions. Finally, in comparison with other countries fees and staff costs are generally lower.

About The Author:

The author has a great deal of knowledge on the set up of businesses in Malta and writes about the financial services industry on the Maltese islands. Her specialist subjects are with regards to Malta company formation and the technicalities of the Malta tax system.

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https://medium.com/@josephinemarti/advantages-of-malta-company-registration-e4042cf05f51