Cap. 406, Sixth Schedule
Malta VAT registration threshold: €35,000, and what counts towards it
Updated
The number is €35,000. The harder question is what goes into the measurement, and the Sixth Schedule answers it in more detail than most summaries admit.
Question 1
Where is the business established?
Establishment is decided by article 2(2) and 2(3) of the VAT Act, not by where the company is incorporated alone.
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The threshold itself
Item 5 of the definitions in the Sixth Schedule to the Value Added Tax Act defines the Domestic threshold as Malta's threshold under Article 284(1) of Council Directive 2006/112/EC. It sets it at an amount equivalent to thirty-five thousand euro (€35,000).
Item 1 of Part One applies it at the point of application. A taxable person qualifies as a small enterprise where domestic annual turnover in the preceding calendar year, if any, is not more than the Domestic threshold.
Item 3 of Part One applies it on an ongoing basis: an Article 11 registrant qualifies while calendar-year turnover stays within the Domestic threshold. The proviso adds that the person shall no longer qualify as a small enterprise on the date the Domestic threshold is exceeded within a calendar year. It is a same-day event, not a year-end reconciliation.
What counts as turnover
Item 3 of the definitions builds turnover, exclusive of VAT, from three components.
- The value of supplies of goods and services, in so far as they would be taxed were they supplied by a person registered under Article 10.
- The value of transactions that are exempt with credit under items 1, 3, 5, 6, 7 and 8(1) of Part One of the Fifth Schedule.
- The value of immovable property transactions, the financial transactions in item 3 of Part Two of the Fifth Schedule, and insurance and reinsurance services, unless those transactions are ancillary.
Sub-item (2) excludes disposals of the taxable person's tangible or intangible capital assets. Selling a van or a piece of software does not push a small business over the line. Sub-item (4) requires turnover to be denominated in euro.
The related-person rule that catches groups
Item 4 of Part One is the provision most often missed. For a person other than a physical person registered or applying under Article 11, turnover includes the proportionate turnover of any related person, physical persons included.
A person is related where the applicant is owned or controlled, directly or indirectly, as to more than ten per cent by them, or as the Commissioner may prescribe. Ten per cent is low, and splitting an activity across small companies does not multiply the threshold.
Two thresholds you can trip without noticing
- Union threshold, €100,000
- Item 7 of the definitions. It governs the Article 11A cross-border exemption: exceed it and article 11A(4)(c) requires cancellation within fifteen working days.
- Acquisitions threshold, €10,000
- Item 3 of Part Three of the Third Schedule. Cross it with intra-community acquisitions and Article 12 registration is due by the date of the acquisition itself, whatever your domestic turnover.
Thresholds and the schedules that carry them are amended by legal notice and by the annual budget measures Act. The figures on this page are taken from the Value Added Tax Act as published on legislation.mt with a point in time of 27 March 2026. Confirm the current Schedule before relying on the threshold for a registration decision.