Setting Up a Company in Malta 2026: Requirements, Registry Fees and Tax

A Maltese private limited company needs authorised share capital of at least €1,164.69, one director and a company secretary, and registering it online with the Malta Business Registry costs ~€100 for capital up to €1,500. Company profits are taxed at 35%, though shareholders can reclaim most of that tax when profits are paid out as dividends. Owning the company does not, on its own, give you the right to live or work in Malta.

What does it take to set up a company in Malta?

The Companies Act (Cap. 386) sets the legal minimum, and it is lighter than most people expect. These are the rules for a private limited company, the form almost every founder uses:

The company exists once its memorandum of association is signed and the Registrar issues a certificate of registration (article 68).

Can one person own and run the company?

Yes, through an exempt company. Its memorandum or articles must say so, no company may sit on its board, nobody outside its directors, members or debenture holders may be able to set its policy, and it may have no more than 50 debenture holders (article 211).

An exempt company may then have a single member if its objects name its main activity and its business consists principally of that activity (article 212). Its sole director may also be the company secretary (article 211(4)), so one founder can hold every office.

In any other private company, the sole director cannot also be the secretary (article 138(2)(a)), and a company acting as secretary must be a registered company service provider (article 138(2)(c)).

How much does it cost to register a company in Malta?

The Malta Business Registry (MBR) charges according to authorised share capital. These are its fees for registration in electronic format through its online portal, BAROS, as published on 28 October 2026:

A company formed on the legal minimum of €1,164.69 therefore pays ~€100, and one with €5,000 of capital pays ~€294 (~€210 plus seven steps of ~€12). The Registry revises its fees from time to time, so check its fee page before you file. If an older guide quotes a higher fee for the lowest band, the MBR's own fee page is the figure to trust.

On top of the fee, €232.94 must be paid up when the memorandum is signed – 20% of €1,164.69. That money is share capital and stays the company's; it is not a cost.

Everything else is priced by the market, not by the registry: a company service provider, an accountant, an auditor if you need one, a registered-office address. The MBR publishes none of those prices, and we do not repeat provider price lists.

How do you register a company in Malta – and do you need a service provider?

You file the memorandum and articles of association with the MBR, normally through BAROS, which is open 24/7. Under article 69 the memorandum names each subscriber and their residence, the company, its registered office and email, its objects, its capital and shares, and its first directors.

The MBR is the central authority for commercial entities in Malta, set up under Subsidiary Legislation 595.27 and led by the Registrar of Companies. Since 2021 it has also been an anti-money-laundering supervisor that keeps Malta's central Register of Beneficial Owners and checks the ownership information it receives.

The Companies Act provisions we read do not require you to use a provider; the only rule on providers is that a company acting as company secretary must be a registered company service provider (article 138(2)(c)). A provider can supply a secretary and a Maltese registered office, which every company needs from day one.

What we could not confirm is whether an individual founder can complete the BAROS filing alone: the MBR's public pages do not say. Ask the MBR directly before paying for formation alone.

How much tax does a Maltese company pay?

A company in Malta pays income tax at 35% on its chargeable income (Income Tax Act, Cap. 123, article 56(6)). The headline "5%" comes from a second step, at shareholder level.

Under the Income Tax Management Act (Cap. 372), article 48(4A), a shareholder who receives a dividend from profits in the company's Maltese taxed account or foreign income account may claim a refund of six-sevenths of the tax paid on those profits, if registered for refunds as prescribed. The refund is five-sevenths where the profits are passive interest or royalties, and none where the company claimed double-tax relief on foreign income.

The refund can never exceed the tax the company actually paid. How the dividend is then taxed where the shareholder lives is a separate question; Malta's personal tax rules are in our guide to Malta tax for expats.

Budget 2027, presented on 26 October 2026, announced a 25% rate instead of 35% for companies with turnover up to €1 million, on profits they retain or reinvest; profits paid out as dividends would stay at the existing rate. The speech says the measure will work under conditions and limits to be set in rules and gives no start date; no law had been published when we checked on 28 October 2026.

Do Maltese companies need an audit and annual filings?

Annual filings, yes; an audit, not always. Every company must file an annual return on each anniversary of its registration, within 42 days, signed by a director or the company secretary (Companies Act, article 184). The annual accounts and the directors' report – plus the auditors' report where one is needed – also go to the Registrar (article 183).

Every company normally appoints an auditor (article 151). But a private company that stays within at least two of three limits is exempt from the auditor rules (article 185(2)):

• Balance sheet total: €46,600
• Net turnover: €93,000
• Average employees: two

Crossing those limits, or falling back under them, changes the exemption only when it happens in two consecutive accounting periods, and that test does not apply to the first balance sheet date (article 185(3)).

Tax law asks for audited accounts with the company's tax return (Cap. 372, article 19(4)(a)). The Audit Exemption Rules (S.L. 372.33, Legal Notice 139 of 2025) relax that for accounting periods from 1 January 2025: a company within two of the three limits may file a review report instead, and one within all three needs neither an audit nor a review.

A worked example:

A separate start-up rule (rule 3) waives the auditor's report for the first two accounting periods of a new company with turnover up to €80,000, if every shareholder is an individual who set it up within three years of gaining an MQF level 3 or higher qualification. Tax and VAT registration are separate from the MBR and run through the Malta Tax and Customs Administration.

Does a Maltese company give you the right to live or work in Malta?

No. Owning or directing a Maltese company does not, by itself, give anyone the right to live or work in Malta. EU, EEA and Swiss citizens can move freely and register their residence with Identità; everyone else needs a permit, whatever they own.

The permit routes – a Single Permit through an employer, the Nomad Residence Permit, the self-employment permit – are compared in our guide to moving to Malta, and the employer route is explained step by step in the Malta work permit guide.

If your company plans to hire non-EU staff, note that Budget 2027 announced a Single Permit fee of €800 instead of €600 for new applications, plus a €400 yearly contribution, according to the Budget speech of 26 October 2026, which gives no start date.

Company, self-employment or nothing yet – which fits you?

There is no single answer, but the verified facts narrow it down:

• You are an EU, EEA or Swiss citizen moving to trade from Malta: you can register your residence and then choose. A company adds fixed duties – a secretary, an annual return, filed accounts and possibly a review or audit – so run your expected profit through both routes with an accountant before you form one.
• You work remotely for a foreign employer or clients and are not an EU citizen: the permit decides first. Read about the Nomad Residence Permit before forming anything, because a Maltese company does not fix your residence status.
• You just need to invoice a few clients: you do not need a company to start, and the registry fee is the smallest cost in the decision.

At least 20% of the share capital must be paid up when the memorandum is signed. Guides report that it usually goes into a bank account in the company's name and that banks take their time with newly formed companies, so start early. The personal side is in our guide to opening a bank account in Malta.

Which figures change, and where do you check them?

Registry fees, audit limits and tax rates are amended from time to time, and Budget 2027's measures are not law yet.

• Registration fees: the Malta Business Registry's fee structure.
• Capital, directors, accounts and audit limits: the Companies Act, Cap. 386 and the Audit Exemption Rules, S.L. 372.33.
• Tax rates and refunds: the Income Tax Act, Cap. 123 and the Income Tax Management Act, Cap. 372, plus any rules published for the 25% rate announced in the Budget.

The short version: a Maltese company is cheap and quick to register, but the tax mechanics, the annual duties and your own residence status decide whether it is worth having.

For everything else about the move, start from our Living in Malta guides.

This page explains how the system works; it is not legal, tax or financial advice. Rules change – check your own case with the authority or a licensed adviser.