Dr. Werner & Partners

02/09/2026

31/08/2026

A German founder we work with put it plainly: once the profit sits in his Maltese company, surely the German tax office is out of the picture? Not quite. The controlled-foreign-company rules can pull passive income straight back into a German return.

This matters more now than it used to. German CFC taxation (Hinzurechnungsbesteuerung, sections 7 to 14 of the Foreign Tax Act) attributes a low-taxed foreign company's passive income to its German shareholders and taxes it at their level, before any dividend is paid. It bites when German residents together hold more than half the company and its income is taxed below 15 per cent.

That 15 per cent line is the point. The threshold was lowered from 25 per cent the year before last, and a Maltese company running at an effective rate near 5 per cent sits well below it.

The reliable shield is substance. For a company in the EU or EEA, section 8(2) removes the attribution where the company carries on genuine economic activity, with real premises and qualified staff deciding on the ground. A refund structure with no operations does not pass that test. For our client, that was the real work, and it is where we focus: https://www.drwerner.com/en/services/tax-advisory

28/08/2026

An MGA licence is often treated as one application to clear before launch. The Maltese framework is built around people and player money, which is where operators underestimate it.

Malta regulates gaming under the Gaming Act (Cap. 583), with the Malta Gaming Authority as sole regulator. The current regime runs two licence types: a B2C gaming service licence for operators facing players, and a B2B critical gaming supply licence for the software and platforms behind them. A licence runs for ten years.

Two requirements shape the work. Each licensee must fill defined key-function roles, from compliance to information security, each approved by the Authority. And player funds must be kept segregated and separately identifiable at all times, under the player protection rules.

On cost, an operator budgets for a fixed annual licence fee plus a compliance contribution based on gaming revenue. The exact figures follow the licence type and turnover.

For operators serving EU and EEA markets, Malta offers a regime the sector knows well and a regulator experienced in remote gaming.

We handle the MGA licence application end to end, from the key-function roles to the compliance framework behind it: https://www.drwerner.com/en/services/malta-gaming-license

27/08/2026

You may assume beneficial ownership and cash rules stay a national matter, set differently in each country where you hold a structure. One EU rulebook will replace that, and while it applies from 10 July 2027, the numbers are already fixed.

The EU Anti-Money Laundering Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2024/1624) will apply directly in every Member State from that date. For anyone with layered holdings, two figures matter now.

Beneficial ownership starts at 25 per cent of shares, voting rights or other ownership interest. Indirect holdings are multiplied across each layer of the chain, so a stake that looked minor inside a sub-holding can still cross the line.

Cash payments for goods or services are capped at 10,000 euro across the Union (Article 80), applied the same way everywhere rather than country by country.

For higher-risk sectors the Commission may later lower the ownership threshold toward 15 per cent. The date is still two years out, but a structure sitting near 25 per cent today is best reviewed now, not in 2027: https://www.drwerner.com/en/services/compliance-services

25/08/2026

Malta's corporate tax rate is 35 per cent, not the 5 per cent often quoted. Both numbers are correct, and what connects them is a shareholder refund most owners never model properly.

Malta runs a full imputation system. A company pays 35 per cent on its profits; when those profits are distributed, the shareholder can reclaim part of the tax the company already paid. The refund goes to the shareholder, not the company.

On trading profits the refund is six-sevenths of the Maltese tax, bringing the effective rate to around 5 per cent. Passive interest and royalties carry a five-sevenths refund, for an effective rate near 10 per cent. Where double taxation relief is claimed, a two-thirds refund applies.

This is a long-standing statutory mechanism, reviewed at EU level and within the EU framework, not a grey-area device. The global minimum tax reaches only groups above 750 million euro in revenue, and Malta has deferred those rules to the end of 2029, so for most companies the system works as it always has.

Worth checking the correct refund is being claimed on your distributions. We can model it for your company: https://www.drwerner.com/en/services/tax-advisory

20/08/2026

Researching a move to Malta and seeing two contribution figures, one to buy property, a higher one to rent? Those numbers are out of date: the programme switched to a single figure over a year ago.

Older guides still circulate the pre-reform amounts, so anyone pricing a relocation to Malta today can easily start from the wrong base. Malta's Permanent Residence Programme, for non-EU, non-EEA and non-Swiss nationals, was reformed by Legal Notice 146 of 2025. It set one government contribution of 37,000 euro for the main applicant, whether you buy or rent qualifying property.

The rest of the cost sits in the administration fee of 60,000 euro: 15,000 euro on submission and 45,000 euro after approval in principle. Each additional adult dependant adds 7,500 euro, though this no longer applies to a spouse or minor children.

The reform also added a practical option: an applicant can request a one-year temporary residence permit while the full application is assessed, so the family can be in Malta legally from early in the process.

The programme suits non-EU nationals who want permanent residence in an EU member state, for themselves and their household. If that is the route you are weighing, we will cost it against the current figures and confirm what fits your situation: https://www.drwerner.com/en/services/relocation

18/08/2026

Raising an early growth round through a Maltese company this year? The full EU prospectus you were budgeting for may no longer be required, following a change that took effect earlier this summer.

The EU Listing Act (Regulation (EU) 2024/2809) raised the public-offer prospectus exemption to 12 million euro over any twelve-month period, up from a ceiling of 8 million. Member States may set a lower national threshold, but not below 5 million euro, so the exact line depends on where your issuer sits.

For a founder raising EU growth capital, a public offer below the threshold no longer requires a full prospectus by default, which removes a heavy cost and a long delay from the round.

One more date belongs in the plan: the Multiple-Vote Share Directive (Directive (EU) 2024/2810) must be transposed into national law by 5 December 2026, opening the way to dual-class structures that raise capital while keeping founder control. Anyone structuring a holding now should build with that deadline in view.

Whether your next round stays under the threshold is worth answering before you raise: https://www.drwerner.com/en/services/legal-advisory

14/08/2026

Mid-August is the quietest stretch in Malta's business year. Around Santa Marija, the island's largest summer feast, public offices, courts and many firms wind down while towns hold their celebrations.

The Feast of the Assumption is a national public holiday on 15 August. For anyone operating a company in Malta, the practical effect is timing: filings, appointments and bank reviews slow through the period, so a deadline that lands in mid-August is worth bringing forward rather than leaving to the last week.

This year the holiday falls on a Saturday, so no working day of the week is lost to it.

Our office keeps its normal hours throughout, the Monday after included, so matters on your side keep moving while much of the island is on its mid-August break.

Wishing you a peaceful Santa Marija.

13/08/2026

Malta's 15 per cent rate for family-office executives does not switch on the moment a salary clears the threshold. The first year under the rule shows where that assumption breaks.

Year of assessment 2026 is the first to apply a flat 15 per cent income tax rate for qualifying senior employees of family offices, back offices and treasury management operations, under Legal Notice 250 of 2025, in force from 1 January 2025.

The rate covers gross employment income up to 7 million euro a year, with a minimum qualifying salary of 65,000 euro that rises by 10,000 euro every five years. Income above the cap, and other Maltese-source income, stays at 35 per cent.

The detail owners overlook sits with the employer. A single family office can qualify while unregulated, but a multi-family office needs an MFSA licence, and a back office or treasury operation needs written MFSA confirmation. The benefit is granted by MFSA determination and endorsed by the Commissioner for Tax and Customs.

Getting the employer side right decides whether the rate is available. We assess the form, secure the MFSA position and place the roles: https://www.drwerner.com/en/services/hnwi-services

11/08/2026

If moving out of Germany is on your plans for this year, one part of the exit tax now reaches further than most people expect. Since last year, it also applies to privately held funds and ETFs, not only to company shareholdings.

The change came with the Annual Tax Act 2024 and took effect for anyone whose unlimited German tax liability ends from the start of 2025 onwards. The basis sits in section 19(3) of the Investment Tax Act.

You fall within scope per fund where your acquisition cost reaches 500,000 euro, or where you held at least 1 per cent of the units at any point in the previous five years. Holdings in different funds are not added together. The departure itself triggers a deemed disposal, so unrealised gains can be taxed even though nothing was sold.

This sits alongside the older exit tax under section 6 of the Foreign Tax Act, which reaches shareholdings of at least 1 per cent. Structuring fund holdings before the move is where the outcome is decided, and each case is different: https://www.drwerner.com/en/german-exit-tax-updates