The former home of the Knights of St. John, the island nation of Malta is located on the southernmost tip of Europe (about 60 miles from Sicily and 180 miles from North Africa).

Malta is an independent parliamentary republic with a parliament-elected president as head of state, and a prime minister leading an elected government for five-year terms. The country has a long-established and strong democratic tradition. It is a member of the European Union, the Council of Europe, the United Nations and the Commonwealth. 

Malta has a strong, yet flexible single regulatory body in the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA). The MFSA is responsible for all licensed financial services activity on the Island. The MFSA is structured in line with world best practice. Malta is a leading force in the development of regulatory policy and is fully involved with OECD, the EU and the Commonwealth in policy development and is on the OECD white list of countries.

Malta has an impressive network of double taxation agreements, which provide relief from withholding tax on income received from other jurisdictions.

Although the rate of corporate taxation in Malta is 35%, the imputation system of taxation allows shareholders to enjoy low effective rates of Malta taxation. This is achieved through the refunds received on distribution of profits. The effective rate of Maltese taxation for a non resident shareholder is 0% on participating holding income, 5% on Maltese trading income and 10% on passive interest and royalties.

The Maltese VAT department has published guidelines on how VAT will be treated in respect of leased yachts.  The VAT rate in Malta is 18%.  The Maltese Government has ruled that only a percentage of the lease value should be subject to VAT (the percentage is dependent on the length of the yacht but results in an effective VAT rate of between 5.4% to 9% of the lease value).  The scheme leaves the vessel with VAT paid status as well as significantly mitigating VAT.  More information can be found at www.icapmarine.com