Changes to Private Exempt Companies

The Registrar of Companies has recently announced that the shareholding of private exempt companies has been extended to include corporate shareholders.  Prior to this amendment, private exempt companies could only have as shareholders, physical persons.  This amendment bodes well with what has been perceived by practitioners as an anachronism, albeit, it must be noted, the exemption to corporate directors, has been retained.

Nevertheless, this is a welcome move in the right director, since the use of corporate shareholders, shall also allow beneficiaries of private exempt companies to have access to fiduciary services and holding structures which may allow access to double tax treaties.

The amendments do not in any manner, hinder the application of Malta’s optimum tax system, where following the application of a tax refund to the shareholders, the ultimate tax leakage suffered by active trading companies can be as low as  5% and in some cases as low as 0% (on the computation of foreign taxation suffered). For full details continue reading Malta Company Tax