Malta Collected €7.47 Billion in Tax in 2025: Company Tax Has Almost Doubled in Two Years

Malta's government collected €7,471.6 million in taxes and social contributions in 2025, according to the National Statistics Office. That is €698.9 million more than in 2024, and it brings the country's overall tax burden to 30.3% of GDP, up from 29.3% a year earlier. The figures come from News Release 194/2026, Tax Revenues: 2025, published on 28 October.

The headline that matters most for anyone thinking about Malta as a place to live or run a company is a different one, though. Corporate income tax brought in €1,635.8 million in 2025. Two years earlier, in 2023, it was €835.6 million. Company tax has almost doubled in two years, and it now brings in nearly as much as the income tax paid by individuals.

The 2025 numbers in one table

The NSO splits tax revenue into three blocks: indirect taxes, direct taxes and social contributions. The detail is in Table 1 of the release. Rounded to millions of euro:

Direct taxes, which include income taxes and capital taxes, totalled €3,757.0 million, or 50.3% of all tax revenue. Indirect taxes reached €2,453.4 million (32.8%), and social contributions €1,261.2 million (16.9%). According to the NSO, tax revenue made up 86.4% of total general government revenue in 2025.

Two things stand out. VAT and corporate income tax ended 2025 at almost the same figure, about €1.64 billion each. And personal income tax, still the single largest item at €1,920.3 million, grew by €149.2 million, while corporate income tax grew by €211.5 million.

Company tax: from €836 million to €1.64 billion

The jump did not happen evenly. Between 2023 and 2024, corporate income tax rose from €835.6 million to €1,424.3 million, an increase of about 70%. In 2025 it added a further €211.5 million. Measured against the size of the economy, Table 2 puts corporate income tax at 6.6% of GDP in 2025, compared with 4.0% in 2023. Personal income tax was 7.8% of GDP.

The NSO's sector breakdown in Table 4 shows where it came from. Income tax receipts, which combine personal, corporate and other income taxes, were paid as follows:

• Households: €1,925.7 million in 2025 (54.0% of income tax), up from €1,536.7 million in 2023.
• Non-financial corporations: €861.0 million (24.1%), up from €445.2 million in 2023.
• Financial corporations: €773.1 million (21.7%), up from €391.5 million in 2023.

In other words, financial companies alone paid almost twice as much income tax in 2025 as they did two years earlier, and ordinary trading companies paid nearly twice as much too. The NSO does not attribute the increase to particular industries or to particular tax rules, and neither should anyone reading the release. What the figures do show is that the corporate sector carries a far larger share of Malta's tax base than it did before 2024.

Why a 35% system produces these numbers

Malta's corporate tax system looks contradictory from outside. The Income Tax Act charges companies at 35%, yet Malta is known for low effective rates for shareholders. The two are reconciled by the refund system under the Income Tax Management Act: the company pays the full tax, and shareholders can claim back part of it when profits are distributed. Our corporate tax guide explains the fractions and the 15% election introduced in 2025.

For reading the NSO figures, the key point is methodological. Note 6 of the release says that VAT, income tax and social security contributions are recorded using the time-adjusted cash method, with a time adjustment approved by Eurostat of t+1 for VAT and t+2 for income taxes and social security contributions. The release does not say how shareholder refunds are reflected in the corporate income tax line, so it would be wrong to read €1,635.8 million as the final tax kept by the state on company profits. It is the tax revenue the NSO attributes to corporate income tax under European statistical rules.

The cash rhythm is familiar to any company owner. Companies settle tax through provisional tax instalments, such as the 31 August instalment, and the balance on the due date, which for many companies fell on 30 September 2026. Strong company profits in one year show up in these payments over the following years.

Who pays: households still carry the largest share

For individuals, the numbers are less dramatic but steady. Personal income tax rose from €1,533.1 million in 2023 to €1,771.1 million in 2024 and €1,920.3 million in 2025. Social contributions grew to €1,261.2 million, of which employers paid €544.2 million and employees €539.2 million, with €73.5 million from self-employed and non-employed persons.

This growth happened while the government was cutting tax for families. The 2026 budget introduced new tax bands for parents, and the Budget 2027 speech confirms the next step of that reform. Personal income tax still grew, which reflects a larger workforce and higher wages rather than higher rates. Our Q2 GDP note covers the growth behind it.

Indirect taxes: VAT and duties

VAT brought in €1,635.8 million, €234.6 million more than in 2024. Taxes on products reached €662.9 million, up €64.8 million, and the NSO says this increase was mainly due to higher revenue from duty on documents and excise duty on petroleum. Duty on documents is charged under the Duty on Documents and Transfers Act, which covers transfers of immovable property among other deeds, so a busy property market feeds directly into this line. Import duties came to €35.9 million and other taxes on production to €118.7 million.

Environmental taxes rose by €3.7 million to €320.1 million, or 1.3% of GDP. Energy taxes, which include taxes on transport fuels, made up €164.1 million of that total; the NSO attributes their small increase mainly to higher revenue from emission trading permits.

Smaller lines that moved

Two smaller direct tax lines went in opposite directions. Capital taxes, which the NSO counts among direct taxes, rose from €37.5 million in 2024 to €42.3 million in 2025. Other current taxes fell from €213.1 million to €145.8 million, after a jump in 2024 from €136.6 million in 2023. The release does not comment on either movement, and any explanation would be speculation.

Income tax paid by the rest of the world, meaning non-resident units, was small: €3.8 million in 2025, down from €7.1 million in 2024. Non-profit institutions serving households paid €3.5 million and general government units €1.8 million. Together these three groups made up the remaining 0.3% of income tax receipts.

Is Malta a low-tax country?

The answer depends on who is asking. Taken as a whole, the economy is not lightly taxed. At 30.3% of GDP, the tax burden in 2025 sits exactly at the average the NSO reports for 1995 to 2025, a period in which the ratio moved between a low of 25.5% and a high of 34.0%. The NSO describes this as a relatively stable tax environment.

What makes Malta attractive to foreign residents and company owners is not a low total burden but the structure: who pays, on what income, and under which regime. Residents on the ordinary system pay progressive income tax up to 35%. People on one of the special residence programmes pay under different rules. Companies pay 35% at company level, with shareholder refunds or the 15% election on top. The aggregate tax burden says nothing about any one person's or company's position; it shows only that the system as a whole raises a large and growing amount of money.

There is also a reputational side. A system in which company tax makes up more than a fifth of all tax revenue (21.9% in 2025) is one the government has every reason to protect. The Budget 2027 speech of 26 October, published by the Ministry for Finance, states that income tax rates will not be raised and announces a new 25% rate for companies with a turnover of no more than €1 million on retained or reinvested profits, still subject to rules that had not been published by 1 November. That fits the picture in the NSO data: the state is relying more on companies, not less.

How to read the figures

A few cautions apply:

• The figures are provisional. Note 8 of the release says all data should be considered provisional and subject to revision.
• They are ESA 2010 figures. Total tax revenue covers taxes received by central government and the EU institutions, including the "own" taxes paid to the EU. The budget speech uses a different basis, the Consolidated Fund, so its revenue projections are not directly comparable with the NSO's.
• The tax-to-GDP ratio moves with GDP. The ratios use the GDP figures from the NSO release of 27 August 2026. A GDP revision changes the ratio even if revenue does not move.
• Sector shares cover income tax only. The 54.0% household share refers to income tax receipts of €3,568.9 million, not to all taxes.

What it means if you live or invest in Malta

For residents, the figures confirm that Malta's public finances are carried by a broad base: wages, consumption, property transactions and, increasingly, company profits. For company owners, they show how central the corporate tax system has become to the state's revenue, which explains why reforms tend to adjust the system at the edges, such as the 15% election in 2025 or the announced 25% rate for small companies, rather than overturn it.

For anyone comparing Malta with other countries, the most useful number is not the 30.3% total. It is the effective rate that applies to your own income, under the regime you would actually be in, and that depends on residence status, the source of income and how a company distributes its profits. Our Budget 2027 preview sets out the fiscal starting point the government took into this year's budget.

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