Malta Retirement Programme

Who qualifies

The main applicant must be at least 18, must not be in an employment relationship, and must receive a pension as a regular source of income. The pension must be received in Malta and make up at least 75% of chargeable income. Regular income from an occupational retirement scheme, a personal overseas retirement plan or an insurance policy counts, while lump sums and commutations do not.

You must not be domiciled in Malta, must not intend to establish domicile within five years, and must not benefit from another Maltese special tax programme such as the Global Residence Programme or the High Net Worth Individuals Rules. Applicants also need stable and regular resources that cover themselves and their dependants without recourse to Maltese social assistance, the ability to communicate in Maltese or English, and a clean record under the programme’s good-character test. Beneficiaries may hold a non-executive board seat in a Malta-resident company but may not be employed by it.

Property requirements

You need a qualifying property that serves as your principal residence. Buying requires a value of at least €275,000 in northern and central Malta or €220,000 in Gozo and the south. Renting requires at least €9,600 a year in northern and central Malta or €8,750 in Gozo and the south, under a lease of at least 12 months. A purchase is proved with the deed of sale, and the property cannot be shared with unrelated parties. Losing the property ends the status, and the withdrawal can apply retroactively.

The application route

Applications cannot be filed directly. They go through an Authorised Registered Mandatory, a professional licensed by the Commissioner for Revenue, who submits the file and the non-refundable €2,500 fee by bank draft or cheque. Once the file is complete, the Commissioner issues a Letter of Intent valid for 12 months. Within that window you provide proof of the property, the sickness insurance and the minimum tax payment, and the special tax status certificate follows.

The residence permit is a second stage. Non-EU applicants apply to Identità with a copy of the tax status certificate, and the first-time permit fee is €100. EU, EEA and Swiss nationals register their residence with Identità instead. Foreign documents are usually apostilled or legalised first.

Costs

The fixed entry costs are the €2,500 application fee and, for non-EU applicants, the €100 permit fee, on top of the professional fees charged by the mandatory. The recurring cost is the minimum annual tax of €7,500 for the main applicant plus €500 for each dependant or special carer, payable even when less is remitted. Health insurance and the property itself come on top.

Presence and compliance

Beneficiaries must spend at least 90 days a year in Malta, averaged over any five-year period, and must not spend more than 183 days in any calendar year in any other single jurisdiction. The 183-day cap has no averaging. Each year you file a tax return and an annual declaration that the property, insurance and income conditions still hold, and the pension must keep arriving in Malta.

Family members

The programme covers the main applicant’s spouse or long-term partner, minor children in their care and certain dependent adult children. Each dependant and each special carer adds €500 to the annual minimum tax and must carry the same EU-wide sickness insurance. Household staff are taxed at ordinary progressive rates and register with the tax authorities.

Health cover

The applicant and every dependant need sickness insurance covering all risks normally covered for Maltese nationals across the EU. A lapse in cover ends the status.

What ends the status

The status ends if the pension stops arriving in Malta, if the property or the insurance is lost, if you become domiciled in Malta, or if the presence rules are broken. Misrepresentation and failing to answer requests from the Commissioner for Revenue also end it.

Permanent residency and citizenship

The programme does not lead to permanent residence, and taking up permanent residence or long-term resident status terminates the special tax status. Maltese naturalization requires 12 months of residence immediately before applying and four years of aggregate residence in the six years before that, plus Maltese or English proficiency, and it too ends the status.