The network covers Malta within the Southern Europe region. Payslips there are drawn up in EUR, and dealings with a local firm are conducted in Maltese and English.
The business centres where the network is looking for a correspondent as a priority are La Valette, Birkirkara, Sliema, Qormi.
The country is a member of the European Union. An employee posted from another member state remains attached to the scheme of origin under the conditions set by the European coordination regulations, and the A1 certificate issued by the institution of the sending country is the proof of this. That document is called for during on-site inspections: it is applied for before departure, never afterwards.
The answer to this question changes everything: it determines to whom you may entrust your payslips locally, and what you must ask for before signing. It has been verified country by country with the local authorities.
In Malta, running payroll on behalf of third parties is a regulated activity. It is carried on under the title of Certified Public Accountant (CPA) — Accountant's Warrant, and a registration in force must be produced to you before any engagement.
L'Accountancy Profession Act (Cap. 281) réserve l'exercice de la profession de comptable aux titulaires d'un warrant délivré par l'Accountancy Board. Un cabinet qui tient la comptabilité et la paie pour compte de tiers doit donc être dirigé par des warrant holders et être enregistré comme firm au titre de l'article 10, avec assurance RC professionnelle obligatoire.
Malta is the only Member State in the network where English is an official language alongside Maltese: contracts, payslips and correspondence with the authorities need no translation, which makes it a convenient point of entry into the Union for an English-speaking group. Wages are paid in euros and EU social security coordination applies in full.
Payroll mechanics are centralised around the Final Settlement System: the employer withholds tax on wages and, in the same operation, pays Class 1 social security contributions, all to the tax administration acting on behalf of the social security department. There is therefore no separate fund to deal with and no separate social certificate to assemble.
Malta is, however, among the most closed jurisdictions in the network professionally: practising as an accountant requires a warrant issued by the Accountancy Board, registration of the firm, and professional indemnity insurance imposed by statute.
The engagement declaration to Jobsplus, the public employment agency, is a distinctly Maltese formality, required on every commencement and every termination. Separate from tax obligations, its omission is a frequent ground for assessment.
The right to work is settled quickly for an EU national and more slowly for a third-country national, who requires a single work and residence permit whose timing shapes the project schedule.
Once the entity is formed at the Malta Business Registry, the employer registers with the tax administration to obtain its employer number.
A written contract, or at the very least a written statement of employment conditions, must be given to the employee. Check whether a wage regulation order applies to the sector: these sectoral orders set minimum conditions that override the general framework.
The payslip details the deduction made under the Final Settlement System and Class 1 contributions. Payments are monthly and annual returns are required, on a calendar that does not vary by sector.
The statutory bonuses paid at fixed points in the year are additional to agreed salary and are planned for, as is termination, where Maltese law draws sharp distinctions between grounds and closely regulates dismissal for economic reasons, which narrows the room for a negotiated exit.
The network asks 9 documents of any firm wishing to represent it in Malta. The table gives, for each of them, the exact wording in use locally, the body that issues it and the period during which it remains admissible. These are the terms to use in an application to the local administration.
Of these 9 documents, 8 are required of every applicant and 6 have a limited period of validity, the shortest being 3 months. 1 of these documents exist only in Malta and have no equivalent in the common core of the network.
| Local wording | Issuing body | Validity | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Certificate of Registration et Certificate of Good StandingCertificate of Registration and Certificate of Good Standing Le certificat d'immatriculation ne périme jamais ; c'est le Certificate of Good Standing, daté, qui atteste que la société est à jour de ses dépôts annuels et n'est pas en cours de radiation. | Malta Business Registry (MBR) | 3 months Required | Official website |
| Income Tax Registration Number et VAT Identification Number (MT + 8 chiffres)Income tax registration number and VAT identification number Malte étant dans l'UE, le numéro de TVA maltais est vérifiable instantanément dans VIES — c'est le contrôle le plus rapide à faire sur un candidat maltais. | Commissioner for Tax and Customs (ex Commissioner for Revenue) | No expiry Required | Official website |
| Tax Compliance CertificateTax Compliance Certificate Attestation standard demandée dans les marchés publics maltais ; elle couvre l'impôt sur les sociétés et la TVA. | Commissioner for Tax and Customs | 3 months Required | Official website |
| Social Security Contributions compliance — attestation du Commissioner for Tax and Customs (contributions de Classe 1 versées avec le FSS)Social security contributions compliance certificate À Malte les cotisations de sécurité sociale (Class 1 National Insurance) sont retenues et versées par l'employeur en même temps que l'impôt sur les salaires via le Final Settlement System : la régularité sociale relève donc de la même administration que la régularité fiscale, et une seule attestation peut couvrir les deux. | Commissioner for Tax and Customs, pour le compte du Department of Social Security | 3 months Required | Official website |
| Professional indemnity insurance (indemnity cover) exigée par l'Accountancy Profession Act, Cap. 281Statutory professional indemnity insurance Obligation légale : tout cabinet constitué au titre de l'article 10 de l'Accountancy Profession Act, tout warrant holder et tout titulaire d'un practising certificate doit être couvert contre la négligence, les erreurs, omissions et actes malhonnêtes, avec des minima allant de 100 000 EUR pour un praticien seul à 500 000 EUR pour un cabinet d'audit à responsabilité limitée. | Accountancy Board (contrôle) ; assureur agréé par la Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA) | 12 months Required | Official website |
| Accountant's Warrant (Certified Public Accountant) et, pour l'audit, Practising Certificate in Auditing ; enregistrement du cabinet au titre de l'article 10 de l'Accountancy Profession ActAccountant's warrant, practising certificate in auditing, and firm registration with the Accountancy Board Point dur maltais : « pour exercer la profession de comptable, il faut être titulaire d'un warrant ». Le warrant s'obtient après diplôme reconnu, examen de compétence professionnelle et trois ans d'expérience ; le practising certificate, distinct, n'est requis que pour l'audit légal. | Accountancy Board, ministère des Finances (Accountancy Profession Act, Cap. 281) | 12 months Required | Official website |
| Maltese Identity Card ou passeport du director, cohérent avec les Form K / annual return déposés au MBRDirector's identity card or passport Le MBR effectue lui-même des vérifications sur les informations d'identité et de bénéficiaires effectifs depuis qu'il est autorité de supervision LAB/FT. | Identità (agence maltaise de l'identité) ; Malta Business Registry pour les dépôts | No expiry Required | Official website |
| Conformité RGPD — coordonnées du Data Protection Officer notifiées à l'IDPC le cas échéantGDPR compliance and DPO notification where applicable Malte applique directement le RGPD : il n'existe plus de registre ni de déclaration préalable des traitements. Réclamer plutôt le registre des activités de traitement (article 30) et, s'il y a lieu, la preuve de notification du DPO à l'IDPC. | Office of the Information and Data Protection Commissioner (IDPC) | No expiry Where applicable | Official website |
| Register of Beneficial Owners — Form BOBeneficial ownership register filing Le MBR tient un registre central des bénéficiaires effectifs et vérifie l'exactitude des informations déposées : c'est la meilleure pièce KYC disponible pour un candidat maltais. | Malta Business Registry (MBR), autorité de supervision LAB/FT depuis 2021 | 12 months Required | Official website |
The warrant is the decisive feature. In Malta, practising as an accountant without one is not possible, the firm itself must be registered, and professional indemnity insurance is a statutory obligation rather than a custom. Few countries offer so clean a filter for selecting a partner, and the register is open to consultation.
Sectoral wage regulation orders play an often underestimated role: sector by sector they set minimum conditions binding on the employer whatever its internal policy, and they are consulted before a salary is offered rather than after it is agreed.
The tax chain and the employment chain, finally, are separate. Payroll reported impeccably to the tax administration may still be in default with the employment agency if engagement and termination declarations have not been filed in the required form and time.
Malte est le pays le plus verrouillé du lot : warrant obligatoire pour exercer la profession comptable, enregistrement du cabinet auprès de l'Accountancy Board et assurance RC professionnelle imposée par la loi avec des montants planchers chiffrés — trois pièces à exiger sans discussion. Deuxième repère utile : les cotisations sociales étant collectées par l'administration fiscale via le Final Settlement System, ne pas chercher d'attestation auprès d'une caisse séparée. Enfin, si le cabinet propose aussi de la domiciliation ou de l'administration de sociétés, il lui faut en plus une autorisation de Company Service Provider délivrée par la MFSA — à vérifier selon l'offre du candidat.
The network opens 3 partner slots in Malta, not one more. No firm is listed there yet: all 3 slots therefore remain open to applications.
No listed partner in Malta has asked to appear in the public directory. The contact details of a firm are passed on to the client only when an assignment is awarded.
Filing an application does not amount to admission: every request is reviewed one by one. There is no minimum turnover requirement, and the partner selected invoices its fees directly.
Submit an application: we review your file, we check the documents required on the ground and we give you an answer, whether it is positive or not.
Malta offers the cleanest filter in the network. We expect a firm whose partners hold the Certified Public Accountant warrant issued by the Accountancy Board, with the firm itself registered under the Accountancy Profession Act and carrying the professional indemnity cover that statute requires. We ask for the certificate of registration and the Certificate of Good Standing from the Malta Business Registry, the beneficial ownership register extract and the tax compliance certificate. Where the firm also offers corporate domiciliation, a company service provider authorisation is required.
Describe your requirement. No firm is listed in Malta yet: we review the request, then entrust it to a local firm that the network identifies and vets, or to the partner of a neighbouring country covering this territory. Your contact details are passed on to the selected firm alone.
Request a provider in MaltaMobility is rarely arranged one country at a time. The neighbouring profiles follow the same outline.
These countries account for most of the requests received: each one has, in addition to its profile, six pages devoted to a single aspect of local payroll.
The information gathered on this page comes from the registers, administrations and bodies listed below, consulted when the reference base was compiled. It is given for guidance and does not replace the advice of a professional established in Malta.