Malta: A Fortress Island with a Tax Haven Heart

After my divorce in 2013, I found myself in a moment of upheaval—not just emotionally, but geographically. I had to leave the United States temporarily to sort out a new visa. So, with my children in tow and no clear destination, I turned to a place that had already become something of a second home: Malta.

This wasn’t some random Mediterranean escape. My brother and I had been active in Malta since 2011, helping clients from Germany, Switzerland, and beyond relocate there for tax, lifestyle, and business reasons. He had already moved to the island with his family, and while he has since left both Malta and the business (and is no longer with his wife), our local presence has only grown stronger. Today, my sister-in-law Sabrina—dear to me both personally and professionally—runs our Malta operation with care and competence.

But Malta wasn’t just a place of business. It became a refuge. For a time, it was home, and it gave me space to reimagine life as a single father, an entrepreneur, and a man trying to rebuild.

A Different Kind of Island

Most people, when they hear “Mediterranean island,” picture Mallorca or Ibiza—sun-drenched beaches, laid-back tourism, and slow coastal living. Malta is none of that.

This tiny country, just 12 by 20 miles in size, is home to over 500,000 residents and nearly 800,000 vehicles. The population density is intense. The streets are narrow, traffic is chaotic, and urban sprawl stretches across most of the island. Yet this very intensity is part of its charm.

Within this small area lies a place that feels more like Istanbul’s old town or Jerusalem’s stone quarters than southern Europe. Walk through Valletta, Mdina, or Birgu, and you’ll feel the weight of centuries in the honey-colored limestone buildings and fortified walls. Malta isn’t a resort—it’s a relic, a relic still alive.

And its compact size, while overwhelming at times, has real upsides. You can get anywhere in 45 minutes by taxi. For families and businesspeople alike, that kind of efficiency is priceless.

A Deep Sense of History

That compact intensity makes more sense when you understand the island’s history. Malta has always been a prize—and a target. From the Phoenicians to the Romans, Arabs, Normans, and British, nearly every empire has passed through this speck in the sea.

But the event that defines the national psyche to this day is the Great Siege of 1565, when the Knights of St. John, vastly outnumbered, held off the Ottoman Empire. Malta survived by grit, sacrifice, and a refusal to bow. That’s more than just a historical footnote—it shaped the island’s identity. Malta is conservative, Catholic, stubborn. It doesn’t forget.

For someone like me, who leans conservative and values history, tradition, and resilience, Malta wasn’t just geographically attractive. It was culturally familiar in a way that few places in the modern EU are.

Why Malta Wins on Tax

But Malta’s appeal isn’t just aesthetic or historical—it’s strategic. In a Europe increasingly hostile to wealth, independence, and tax planning, Malta has remained remarkably friendly to entrepreneurs and high-net-worth individuals.

Here’s the basic truth: Malta is a legitimate, EU-compliant low-tax jurisdiction. The headline corporate tax rate is 35%, yes—but this is misleading. For foreign shareholders of a Malta company, a 6/7 refund is available, bringing the effective tax rate down to 5%. This is not a grey scheme. It is fully legal, codified, and accepted under EU law.

For individuals, Malta offers a non-domiciled tax regime that is leagues ahead of other options like Cyprus. In Cyprus, the nominal corporate tax is still 12.5%, but it's slated to rise to 15%. Cyprus also has a 60-day residency requirement and a complicated non-dom status where, to qualify, you must disclose your global assets and income—even if they are not taxed.

Malta is refreshingly simple. As a non-dom, you are taxed only on income remitted to Malta, not worldwide. And instead of going through pages of declarations or filing complex reports, you simply pay a flat €5,000 annual tax. No 60-day stay requirement. No disclosure of offshore income. No questions asked.

And then there's the geopolitical factor. Cyprus sits uncomfortably close to Syria, Israel, Lebanon, and Turkey. British military bases are dotted across the island. Malta, by contrast, is small, stable, and strategically unimportant—exactly what you want in turbulent times.

Well-Connected for a Global Life

If you’re an international entrepreneur, you probably don’t want to sit on a rock all year. Malta understands that. Despite its size, the island is very well connected to major European and global hubs.

Direct flights go to London, Frankfurt, Istanbul, Dubai, and most major EU capitals. When I lived there, I had a live-in nanny—which made it easy to travel to the U.S., the UK, Spain, Germany, or wherever I needed to be. Malta became a base, not a trap.

And that’s how I recommend you view it: as a launchpad. Stable, well-governed, tax-efficient, but with easy exit routes at every turn.

Family Life and the Beauty of Daily Simplicity

So how is Malta for families?

It’s better than you might think. Despite its density and construction madness, Malta is safe, intimate, and deeply family-oriented. There are excellent international schools, especially in areas like St. Julian’s, Sliema, and Swatar, many of them following the British curriculum.

That said, I went a different route: homeschooling. Technically, it’s not legal in Malta unless part of a registered programme, but I kept things low-profile. I created a curriculum, taught my kids myself, and used the island’s history and environment as part of the learning. It worked.

Why did it work? Because Malta gives you time. The pace is slower. The climate encourages you to be outside. Strangers talk to you. The church bells ring. Kids can still be kids. In a world where family time is squeezed into the margins, Malta offers breathing room.

Food, Cost of Living, and Local Flavor

Of course, daily life isn’t without quirks.

Malta’s soil is rocky, the rain scarce, and much of its food is imported. You can live well here, but you’ll pay strange prices. A small punnet of blueberries might cost you €10.

But what Malta lacks in fruit, it makes up for in character. The local cuisine is a mashup of Sicilian, Arabic, and British influences. The national dish is rabbit stew. And you’ll find pastizzi—flaky pastries filled with cheese or peas—on every corner for under a euro.

And despite inflation, it’s still possible to eat well and live decently, especially outside the tourist-heavy zones. There’s no shortage of cafés, food markets, or family-run restaurants. Maltese hospitality is real, and strangers become acquaintances quickly.

But this warmth and liveliness in daily life stands in stark contrast to Malta’s brutal summers, which shape both the island’s landscape and the rhythms of daily living.

Weather: Between Paradise and Punishment

The climate, like everything else in Malta, is a contradiction. From May to October, the island turns brown and arid. The sparse vegetation withers. It’s dry, dusty, and hot. If you love sun, this is paradise. If you love forests, you might suffer.

But then comes winter, and with it a dramatic transformation. The island becomes green and lush, almost like an oasis. Rain returns. The hills bloom. And in contrast to northern Europe’s grey skies, Malta’s off-season is full of life.

That said, let’s not romanticize it too much. Mediterranean winters can be miserable—not because of snow, but because of the damp wind, grey skies, and the cold that creeps into your bones. Houses are built of limestone, which absorbs the chill and radiates it back at you. There’s often no proper heating, and the inside of a house can feel colder than the outside. Many expats are caught off guard.

Chopin certainly was. He spent the winter of 1838 in the Mediterranean - not on Malta but on Mallorca, and it nearly broke him. He was depressed, sick, and freezing. And out of that misery came one of his most haunting pieces: the “Raindrop Prelude.” If you listen closely, you can almost hear the drizzle falling endlessly on the limestone roof.

So yes—Malta’s winter is green, and yes, it’s better than Berlin. But it’s also a season for blankets, dehumidifiers, and a certain kind of poetic gloom.

Still, that rhythm—summer scorches, winter revives—gives Malta a texture, a breath. It’s not sterile. It lives and dies and lives again, like its own island symphony.

And just as Malta bends the seasons to its own will, so too does it bend European bureaucracy, offering some of the most accessible legal and tax structures in the EU.

Legal Infrastructure and Residency Options

From a legal and practical standpoint, Malta is unusually accommodating. English is an official language, and the legal system blends British common law with civil law traditions—making it especially familiar to international clients.

You can set up a Malta Limited company with relative ease, and open both local and international bank accounts. Regulatory bodies like the MFSA are professional, if sometimes slow. But in general, things work—especially if you know who to speak to.

Malta has over 70 tax treaties, including with Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and the United States, making cross-border structuring not only possible, but efficient.

For private individuals, the non-domiciled status is where the real advantage lies. As a non-dom, you are taxed only on income remitted to Malta, not worldwide. And instead of going through pages of declarations or filing complex reports, you simply pay a flat €5,000 annual tax. No 60-day stay requirement. No disclosure of offshore income. No questions asked.

A Place That Still Believes

Ultimately, Malta remains one of the few places in Europe that hasn’t lost its soul. It still believes in family. In tradition. In nationhood. In sovereignty. It is Catholic. It is conservative. It is a little wild. And it is not ashamed of itself.

In a Europe increasingly homogenised, overregulated, and allergic to wealth or independence, Malta offers something different. Not perfection. But possibility.

Could Malta Save You?

Malta saved me when I needed saving. It gave me a place to be a father, to rebuild a business, and to reimagine life. It helped me live more simply while thinking more globally.

It’s not for everyone. It’s loud, dusty, crowded, and full of contradictions. But if you’re looking for a place in the EU that still offers real tax efficiency, family-friendly living, and a deep connection to something older and wiser, then Malta isn’t just an option.

It might just be your fortress too.

If you’re considering relocating to Malta—whether to optimize your tax structure, protect your wealth, or simply live a freer, warmer life—we can help. We’ve been active on the ground since 2011, and my team, led by Sabrina, knows the system inside out.

👉 Reach out to schedule a personal consultation and see if Malta could be the right move for you.