Malta Expat Tax: Non-Dom Remittance Basis & Rates

Malta is one of the last EU countries with a true remittance basis. If you live in Malta but aren't domiciled there, you pay Maltese tax on what you earn in Malta and on foreign income you bring into Malta. Foreign income you leave abroad isn't taxed, and foreign capital gains aren't taxed at all.

This guide covers Maltese personal tax for people moving to Malta in 2026. The key question is simple. Where does your income arise, and do you bring it to Malta? Pay for work you do in Malta is taxed in full, whoever pays you.

What's changed: for the 2026 tax year, pension income is fully exempt up to €37,104 a year if you're 61 or over, including foreign pensions. New rules give a flat 15% tax rate to highly skilled employees earning at least €65,000 in certain regulated roles. They replace the highly qualified persons scheme, which closed to new applicants on 31 December 2025. Parents with children have new, wider tax bands. The bands for single people and couples without children are the same as in 2025.

📋 Malta tax at a glance for 2026

The non-dom remittance basis in Malta

Image 1 — foreign income is taxed only if you bring it to Malta

How does Malta tax someone who lives there but isn't domiciled there? The Malta Tax and Customs Administration (MTCA) sets out three rules:

• Income arising in Malta is taxed, wherever it's paid.

• Income arising outside Malta is taxed only if, and to the extent that, it's received in Malta.

• Capital gains arising outside Malta aren't taxed, even if you bring the money to Malta.

Income from a job, profession or business arises in Malta if you do the work in Malta, even if your employer or clients are abroad.

Income is received in Malta if it's paid to you there, or paid abroad and later sent to Malta. Money you send for living costs is presumed to be income unless you can prove otherwise. Capital, such as an inheritance or the proceeds of selling an asset, isn't income. That's why non-doms keep capital and income in separate foreign accounts.

The €5,000 minimum tax

The remittance basis comes with a minimum tax of €5,000 a year. It applies if you have foreign income of €35,000 or more that you don't fully receive in Malta. For a married couple, the €35,000 is measured on your joint income and the €5,000 covers you both.

• Maltese tax you've already paid in the year counts towards the €5,000.

• If your tax bill on a worldwide basis would be lower than €5,000, you can choose to be taxed on a worldwide basis instead.

Three ways to lose the remittance basis

Non-dom status has no time limit. But you're taxed on worldwide income and gains if any of these apply:

• You become domiciled in Malta, which means you intend to make it your permanent home.

• Your spouse is ordinarily resident and domiciled in Malta.

• You're granted long-term resident status, or you hold a permanent residence certificate or permanent residence card under Malta's immigration rules. Check the tax effect before you apply for one.

👉 Malta Tax and Customs Administration: guidance note on the remittance basis of taxation

👉 Income Tax Act (Cap. 123): article 4 (remittance basis) and article 56 (minimum tax)

When you become tax resident in Malta

Residence in Malta is a question of fact. The tax authority applies these principles:

• Residence: if you're in Malta for more than 183 days in a year, you're resident for that year, whatever the reason for your stay. If you come to Malta to live there, you're resident from the day you arrive.

• Ordinary residence: you're ordinarily resident if you live in Malta on a permanent or indefinite basis. Spending more than 183 days a year there for around three years, or visiting regularly over that time and building ties, can also make you ordinarily resident.

• Domicile: this is your permanent home. You get it at birth, normally from your parents, and it only changes if you settle somewhere intending to stay for good.

How do you stop being resident? You lose ordinary residence when you leave Malta permanently or indefinitely. A temporary absence doesn't end it, and the tax authority looks at the ties you've kept. Malta doesn't charge individuals an exit tax.

👉 Malta Tax and Customs Administration: tax residence

Income tax rates for 2026

Malta taxes salaries, profits, pensions, rent and remitted foreign income on one progressive scale. The tax year is the calendar year, and the scale depends on your status: single, married (a joint computation) or parent.

Malta income tax rates for 2026

Source: Malta Tax and Customs Administration, tax rates for 2026.

From 2026 there are wider bands if you have children. On the married computation, the tax-free amount is €17,500 with one child and €22,500 with two or more. On the parent computation it's €14,500 and €18,500.

👉 Malta Tax and Customs Administration: tax rates for individuals 2026

Worked example

• You're single and earn a salary of €87,000 (about US$100k) for work done in Malta.

• Your income tax is €87,000 at 35%, less the €9,400 deduction built into the single scale. That comes to €21,050.

• You pay social security of €55.93 a week, the 2026 maximum, which is €2,908 for the year.

Your all-in bill is about €23,960, or 28% of your salary. Non-dom status makes no difference, because the salary is Maltese income.

The 15% rate for highly skilled employees

New rules took effect on 1 January 2026. If you qualify, you can choose a flat 15% tax on your employment income, with no reliefs or deductions. On the salary above, that cuts the all-in bill to about 18%.

The conditions are narrow. You must earn at least €65,000 a year, hold relevant qualifications or experience, and not be domiciled in Malta. Your role must be one regulated or recognised by a body such as the Malta Financial Services Authority, the Malta Gaming Authority, Transport Malta or Malta Enterprise. The rate lasts five years and can be extended twice.

👉 Legal Notice 20 of 2026: Tax Treatment of Highly Skilled Individuals Rules

The special residence programmes

Malta also has residence programmes with a special tax status, including the Global Residence Programme for non-EU nationals, The Residence Programme for EU nationals and the Malta Retirement Programme. Each charges 15% on foreign income you receive in Malta and 35% on other income. They aren't cheap. The Global Residence Programme has a minimum tax of €15,000 a year and requires a home bought for at least €275,000 or rented for at least €9,600 a year (less in Gozo and the south of Malta).

👉 Malta Tax and Customs Administration: special schemes for residence

Freelancing in Malta

If you freelance from Malta, your profit is Maltese income, even if every client is abroad. It's taxed on the scale above, and you pay Class 2 social security contributions.

Class 2 is 15% of your net profit for the previous year, with a floor and a ceiling. In 2026 the maximum is €83.89 a week, about €4,362 a year, which you reach once your profit passes €29,083.

On US$100k of profit (about €87,000), a single freelancer pays €21,050 of income tax and €4,362 of contributions. That's about 29% all-in.

You pay provisional tax in three instalments: 20% by 30 April, 30% by 31 August and 50% by 21 December. Class 2 contributions are due on the same three dates, worked out at the weekly rate for each period.

👉 Malta Tax and Customs Administration: Class 2 social security contribution rates 2026

Crypto, investments and pensions

How is crypto taxed in Malta? The tax authority's guidelines treat coins such as bitcoin like money and state that coins fall outside the scope of the tax on capital gains. So a gain on coins you've held as a long-term investment isn't taxed.

If you trade, the answer changes. Profits from buying and selling with a view to profit are trading income, taxed at up to 35%, and so is mining income. Tokens that work like shares can count as securities, and a gain on those can be taxable.

👉 Malta Tax and Customs Administration: guidelines on the income tax treatment of DLT assets

For investments, a non-dom pays nothing on foreign capital gains, and foreign dividends and interest are taxed on the normal scale only if received in Malta. Interest from a Maltese bank can be taxed at a final 15%, withheld by the bank. Otherwise it goes on your tax return at your normal rates.

A foreign pension you receive in Malta is taxable income. But if you're 61 or over, your pension income is now exempt up to €37,104 a year. That covers state, occupational, private and foreign pensions added together.

Take a single retiree aged 65 with a foreign pension of €34,800 (about US$40k) and €17,400 of foreign investment income, all paid into a Maltese account. The pension is exempt and the tax on the investment income is €950. That's about 2% of the total. Under 61, the same income would cost between €5,300 and €9,650.

Malta has no inheritance tax as such and no wealth tax. But when property in Malta passes on death, the heirs pay duty of 5% on its value. A surviving spouse is exempt on their share of the family home. Shares in Maltese companies that pass on death are charged duty too, normally at 2%.

👉 Malta Tax and Customs Administration: tax exemption on pension income after age 61

👉 Malta Tax and Customs Administration: duty on inherited property (causa mortis)

Social security

Employees pay Class 1 contributions of 10% of their basic weekly wage, and employers pay the same. The contribution is capped. In 2026 the most an employee born in 1962 or later pays is €55.93 a week, or about €2,908 a year, however high the salary.

One Maltese quirk: single people under 65 who are ordinarily resident in Malta and live on rents, investments or other income without working can be liable for Class 2 contributions too. That can include someone who retires to Malta before 65 on a foreign pension. Married people aren't normally caught. Check your position with the Department of Social Security before you rely on investment or pension income alone.

👉 Social Security Act (Cap. 318): articles 2, 3 and 6 (who counts as a self-employed person)

👉 Malta Tax and Customs Administration: Class 1 social security contribution rates 2026

Double tax treaties

Does Malta have double tax treaties? Yes. The official list shows 81 signed treaties, of which 78 are in force. They include the UK, the United States, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Ireland, Switzerland, Canada, Australia, the UAE, India and South Africa.

👉 Malta Tax and Customs Administration: double taxation agreements

The Nomad Residence Permit

Malta's digital nomad visa is the Nomad Residence Permit. It's for people who aren't EU, EEA or Swiss nationals and who work remotely for an employer or clients outside Malta.

• You need a gross income of at least €42,000 a year.

• The permit lasts one year and can be renewed up to three times, for a maximum stay of four years.

• You can't work for a Maltese employer or provide services to Maltese clients.

Income from your remote work isn't taxed in Malta for the first 12 months after the permit is issued. After that it's taxed at a flat 10%. Any other income follows the normal rules. The official guidance doesn't say whether Maltese social security contributions apply, so check this with the Department of Social Security.

👉 Residency Malta Agency: Nomad Residence Permit eligibility

👉 Malta Tax and Customs Administration: guidelines on the Nomad Residence Permits (Income Tax) Rules

Who is Malta good for?

How does Malta compare for different kinds of mover? Ratings are relative to the 150+ countries TaxPilot covers, based on 2026 rules and the all-in cost including social security.

☑️ Who is Malta good for? Tax ratings for expats in 2026

Filing and deadlines

Your return for 2026 is due by 30 June 2027, with any tax still owed. The tax authority has allowed extra time in recent years: returns for 2025 could be filed and paid online by 31 July 2026.

Employees have tax deducted from their pay. If the tax authority already holds all your figures, you get a tax statement to check instead of a return.

👉 Malta Tax and Customs Administration: tax return cycle

Frequently asked questions

How does the remittance basis work in Malta?

If you're resident in Malta but not domiciled there, you pay Maltese tax on income arising in Malta and on foreign income you receive in Malta. Foreign capital gains aren't taxed. A €5,000 minimum tax applies if you have foreign income of €35,000 or more that you don't fully receive in Malta.

What are the income tax rates in Malta in 2026?

For a single person, the first €12,000 is tax free. Income is then taxed at 15% up to €16,000, 25% up to €60,000 and 35% above that. Married couples and parents have wider bands. Employees also pay 10% social security, capped at €55.93 a week.

How is crypto taxed in Malta?

The tax authority's guidelines say coins such as bitcoin fall outside the tax on capital gains, so a gain on a long-term holding isn't taxed. Profits from trading crypto are income, taxed at up to 35%.

Is a foreign pension taxed in Malta?

A foreign pension you receive in Malta is taxable. But from 2026, if you're 61 or over, pension income is exempt up to €37,104 a year, including foreign pensions.

How are Nomad Residence Permit holders taxed in Malta?

Income from your authorised remote work isn't taxed in Malta for the first 12 months after the permit is issued. After that it's taxed at a flat 10%. The permit is for non-EU nationals earning at least €42,000 a year.