Guide, not advice
Malta's five tax accounts, and which ones carry a refund
Updated
Whether a Maltese dividend carries a refund is decided before the dividend is paid, by which account the profits were allocated to. This is the part of the system that decides most real cases.
The five accounts
Article 2(1) of the Income Tax Act defines distributable profits as allocated to five accounts, and the definitions themselves set the order of allocation.
- Final tax account
- The account to which distributable profits that have suffered tax, calculated in such manner and amount as may be prescribed, are allocated before anything is allocated to any other taxed account. It takes first priority.
- Immovable property account
- The account to which distributable profits that have suffered tax and are not allocated to the final tax account are allocated, before any allocation to the other taxed accounts.
- Foreign income account
- Profits from royalties and similar income arising outside Malta, and from dividends, capital gains, interest, rents and other income derived from investments situated outside Malta, to the extent they result from taxable income and are shown as part of chargeable income.
- Maltese taxed account
- Profits of the company that are not included in the foreign income account and that have suffered tax.
- Untaxed account
- Total distributable profits, or accumulated losses, less the total allocated to the other accounts. It is the residual, not a category in its own right.
Which accounts support a claim
Article 48(4A) of the Income Tax Management Act attaches the six-sevenths and five-sevenths refunds to a dividend paid from the Maltese taxed account or the foreign income account. Article 48(4) attaches the two-thirds refund, and the full refund on participating-holding profits, to a dividend paid from the foreign income account. Neither sub-article extends to a dividend paid out of the final tax account or the immovable property account.
| Account | Refund route | Fraction |
|---|---|---|
| Maltese taxed account | Article 48(4A) | 6/7ths, or 5/7ths on passive interest and royalties |
| Foreign income account, no double taxation relief claimed | Article 48(4A) | 6/7ths, or 5/7ths on passive interest and royalties |
| Foreign income account, double taxation relief claimed | Article 48(4) | 2/3rds of the Malta tax paid |
| Foreign income account, participating holding or its disposal | Article 48(4)(b) | Full refund, subject to the anti-abuse conditions |
| Final tax account | None in article 48(4) or (4A) | Not applicable |
| Immovable property account | None in article 48(4) or (4A) | Not applicable |
Why property profits sit outside the refund
Profits from Maltese immovable property go to the immovable property account, and profits taxed under a final withholding charge go to the final tax account. Article 5A(4)(a) and article 31D(6) of the Income Tax Act each direct a company to allocate the relevant profits to the final tax account. Neither account appears in the refund sub-articles, which is why a Maltese property-holding company does not produce the effective rate that a trading company does.
Allocation is a computation made by the company's tax practitioner from the year's actual income, not something a website can infer from a description of a business. Treat this page as a map of the machinery and get the allocation done on your figures.