Living in Malta

Malta is considered a Mediterranean island paradise and has served as a vacation haven for Europeans for many years. The country is located in the centre of the Mediterranean Sea, 58 miles south of Sicily. The Maltese group of islands are Malta, Gozo and Comino with Malta, slightly smaller than Washington D.C., as the largest. Although Malta is pretty small it has a very rich history, with 3 World Heritage Sites, and a great number of other historic sites. Malta's diverse population and predominantly strong Roman Catholic religion give Malta a continental, European flair with intrinsic strong Mediterranean roots.

The climate is typically Mediterranean, with hot, dry summers, warm and sporadically wet autumns, and short, cool winters with adequate rainfall. The temperature is very stable, the annual mean being 18ºC (64ºF) and the monthly averages ranging from 12º C (54ºF) to 31ºC (88ºF). Winters are mild with only rare occurrences of cold weather brought by north and northeast winds from central Europe. In fact, daytime winter temperatures almost never fall below 10ºC (50ºF).

Contrary to other retirement destinations that have recently hit the press with potential bail out and debt issues, in January 2011, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) lauded and praised Malta for its effective policy actions in ensuring its stability and weathering the Global crisis relatively well. Malta's stability, fiscal policy agreements, EU membership, its official language being English, and it’s WHO top 5 rated health service highly differentiates Malta to other EU or Mediterranean retirement location.

The time zone in Malta is Central European Time and flights from the larger and smaller Europe cities are frequent – Ryan Air, Easy Jet, British Airways, Lufthansa, SAS, Emirates, Alitalia , Vueling and Malta's national airline Airmalta are amongst many of the airlines that fly directly to Malta. There are also frequent daily trips to nearby Sicily via Catamaran.

Health Care

Malta boasts excellent health care facilities. In 2000, the World Health Organisation rated its Health Care System as the 5th best system in the world. Since 2000 Malta's health sector has excelled even further with the opening of the government–run Mater Dei Hospital, a state of the art public hospital, opened in June 2007.

Other Malta facts:

• Population: 425,384 (November 2014)
• Statehood: Independent since 1964 Republic since 1974 European Union member since 2004
• Area: 316 km2
• EU Member & Euro Currency
• Freedom of movement into & out of Malta(Schengen)
• Time Zone (CET)
• Direct flights , easy access by sea
• Rich in History and strong Mediterranean Culture
• A highly respected jurisdiction and political stability
• Favourable double-taxation agreements with key countries
• Technologically Advanced and Services Oriented
• Excellent banking centre with the presence of major international banks

Doing Business in Malta

Malta is an attractive tax and cost-efficient Eurozone jurisdiction attracting many individuals to take up residency, retirement, as well as corporate entities to set up operations. Besides the attractive fiscal benefits and attractive EU-approved tax refund and participation exemption regime, Malta offers a stable political situation, a skilled educated and English-speaking labour force is technologically developed to offer an excellent communications infrastructure. Overall Malta is a reasonably-priced location, well connected by air travel to the major European cities and less than an hour’s flight from Rome. It excels in the standard of education and health service. Since English is an official language and the business language, there are not costs for official translation and no mishaps with language interpretation. Malta offers an extensive double taxation treaty network (including all EU Member States), absence of withholding taxes, consistently favourable weather and a high standard of living.

Malta in the Media

Malta has featured in several economic journals and some links are listed below:

Malta 'is a textbook case of the beneficial effects of meeting the entry criteria.' The Economist, July 13th 2007

'The Maltese authorities must be commended for the successful adoption of the euro on January 1, 2008: a crucial landmark in their growth-oriented reform agenda.'

IMF, World Report May 2008

Malta - one of five safest travel destinations in the world - renowned travel expert Laura McKenzie.

Please contact us at info@johnhubermalta.com for more information about tax incentives that Malta offers.