# Malta invoice requirements: what your invoice has to show

Source: https://settlano.com/malta-invoice-requirements (this is the Markdown copy of that page)

*By [Settlano](https://settlano.com/about) · Last updated 9 October 2026*

In Malta, what your invoice must show depends on your VAT registration. On Article 10 you issue a tax invoice, and the law lists what it carries. On Article 11 you charge no VAT and issue no tax invoice for your sales in Malta: you give a fiscal receipt instead. Both are below, then the questions worth putting to whatever invoicing software you use, including this one.

**Key fact:** A tax invoice is required where an Article 10 business supplies a customer who gives a VAT number; every other sale in Malta, every Article 11 sale included, takes a fiscal receipt when it is paid ([Cap. 406, arts 50 and 51](https://legislation.mt/eli/cap/406/eng); 2026 rates, verified 13 Jul 2026).

## If you are on Article 11

On Article 11 you do not issue tax invoices for your sales in Malta, and you must not show VAT. The [tax invoice](https://settlano.com/glossary#tax-invoice) is an Article 10 duty ([Cap. 406](https://legislation.mt/eli/cap/406/eng), art. 50 and the Twelfth Schedule). For each sale you give a fiscal receipt instead (art. 51 and the Thirteenth Schedule).

- **Show no VAT.** VAT shown on an invoice is owed (art. 20(3)), and showing VAT that is not due is an offence (art. 77(g)).
- **Your Article 11 number is not a VAT identification number** (art. 13(3)). It has no MT prefix, so never present it as one. If you work for businesses in other EU countries, the VAT number they need comes from an [Article 12 registration](https://settlano.com/malta-vat-registration#article-12).
- **Give a fiscal receipt when you are paid.** A fiscal receipt is a receipt or invoice on a form MTCA supplies or approves in writing, issued in a way it approves, or one printed by a fiscal cash register. It is issued straight after payment, unless you issued it before. MTCA's FAQ adds that a receipt generated by computer needs its written approval first, with an EXO approval number printed on it.
- **Keep a copy of every fiscal receipt you issue** (Eleventh Schedule, item 10(1)(b)).

When you move to Article 10, the tax invoice rules below become yours.

## What must an invoice show?

On Article 10, Cap. 406's Twelfth Schedule is the list. A tax invoice carries your name and address, the customer's VAT number where the supply calls for it, the nature and quantity of what was supplied, and the taxable value and the VAT as **separate figures** rather than a single total.

Discounts are on the list too: a discount you gave is shown, because it lowers the taxable value (the Seventh Schedule).

### Item by item

A full tax invoice carries these particulars ([Cap. 406, Twelfth Schedule, item 3](https://legislation.mt/eli/cap/406/eng)):

1. the date of issue;
2. a sequential number, in one or more series, that identifies the invoice uniquely;
3. your name, address and VAT number;
4. the customer’s name, address and VAT number;
5. the quantity and nature of the goods, or the extent and nature of the services;
6. the date of the supply, or of a payment on account, where it can be determined and differs from the date of issue;
7. the taxable value at each rate or exemption, the unit price before VAT, and any discount not already in the unit price;
8. the VAT rate applied;
9. the VAT payable.

The rest of the list are mentions printed only where they apply: “Reverse charge”, “Self-billing”, “Cash accounting”, a margin scheme, or, where no VAT is charged, the provision of the Act or of the EU VAT Directive that covers the supply.

A simplified invoice is allowed where the amount, VAT included, is not more than €100 (item 1(3)). It needs only the date, the number, your name, address and VAT number, the customer’s VAT number, a description of what was supplied, and the VAT or what is needed to work it out (item 5). It cannot be used for a cross-border supply.

## Invoicing a business in another EU country

When a business customer in another EU country accounts for the VAT on your service itself (the [reverse charge](https://settlano.com/glossary#reverse-charge)), your invoice carries no Maltese VAT and says “Reverse charge”. On Article 10 the VAT number on it is your MT number. On Article 11 you register under Article 12 as well, before the first such invoice, and keep Article 11: the Article 12 registration gives you the VAT number your EU customer needs.

## Can you delete or skip an invoice number?

No. Invoice numbers run in a sequence, and the sequence has to hold. That sounds obvious until you think about what most software does when you've made a mistake: it offers to delete the invoice. Delete number 14 and your books run 13, 15, and you have no answer for the question a VAT inspector will ask.

The correct move is to **cancel or credit** the document. The number stays in the series, the history stays attached, and the sequence still explains itself. Settlano won't delete a sent invoice for that reason: cancelling keeps the number as a retained void.

A credit note is itself an invoice under item 1(2) of the Twelfth Schedule, and it has to say which document it amends. The schedule also permits more than one series, so credit notes can have their own sequence as long as each sequence is unbroken on its own.

## What else depends on your invoices?

These are the parts no general invoicing tool can be expected to know, because they aren't invoicing features at all. They're tax rules that happen to depend on what you invoiced.

**The tax point.** The date VAT becomes chargeable is not always the invoice date. It's the earlier of the supply happening and a payment arriving, or the invoice date if a tax invoice follows that date by the 15th of the next month. It decides which return the supply belongs in, so a tool recording only an invoice date can put a supply in the wrong quarter without anything looking wrong.

**The €35,000 line.** Turnover is counted by supply date across the calendar year. You stop qualifying for Article 11 on the day your turnover passes €35,000. Within 15 days you must apply to cancel your Article 11 registration; it ends, and your Article 10 registration starts, on the first day of the following month. Software that totals what it has invoiced is not measuring the same thing.

**Which VAT treatment applies.** A service to a business in another member state, a supply exempt without credit, one outside the scope entirely: each goes in [a different box on the return](https://settlano.com/malta-vat-return) and some carry no VAT at all. A rate field with a percentage in it cannot express that distinction.

## Questions to ask whatever you use

Including ours. None of these need a lawyer to answer, and all of them are things you'd rather find out now than in an audit.

- **Can it delete a sent invoice?** If yes, that's a gap in your numbering waiting to happen.
- **Does it show taxable value and VAT separately?** One combined total is not what the schedule asks for.
- **Does a credit note keep its own unbroken series, and name what it amends?**
- **Does it record a supply date distinct from the invoice date?** If there's only one date field, it cannot know your tax point.
- **Does it know Article 11 from Article 10?** A generic tax-rate field usually doesn't.
- **Does it track the €35,000 threshold by supply date?** Most tools total invoices instead, which is a different figure ([how the threshold is counted](https://settlano.com/malta-vat-threshold)).

## So is your invoice right for Malta?

General invoicing software will make you a document that looks right. Whether it's right in the ways Malta cares about depends on questions most of it was never built to answer, and the answers only surface when somebody asks for your records.

If your tool passes the six questions above, keep it. If it doesn't, at least you now know which parts you're carrying yourself. How Settlano's own invoices answer them is on the [invoicing page](https://settlano.com/invoicing-app-malta).

## Common questions

### What must a Maltese tax invoice show?

On Article 10, Cap. 406's Twelfth Schedule lists them: the date, a sequential number, your name, address and VAT number, the customer's name, address and VAT number, what was supplied and how much, the date of supply where it differs, the taxable value and the unit price, the VAT rate and the VAT payable, with any discount shown. A credit note is itself an invoice under item 1(2), and it has to say which invoice it amends.

### Can I issue a VAT invoice on Article 11?

No, not for your sales in Malta. The tax invoice is an Article 10 duty, and on Article 11 you must not show VAT: VAT shown on an invoice is owed, and showing VAT that is not due is an offence. For each sale you give a fiscal receipt instead, on a form MTCA supplies or approves, or from a fiscal cash register, and you keep a copy.

### Can I delete an invoice in Malta?

You should not. Invoice numbers run in a sequence, and a deleted invoice leaves a hole in it that you cannot explain later. The correct move is to cancel or credit the document so the number stays in the series with its history attached. Any tool that offers a delete button on a sent invoice is offering you a problem.

### Does general invoicing software work for Malta?

For the look of the document, usually. For the parts that are specifically Maltese, it depends entirely on the tool, which is why this page is a list of questions rather than a verdict. Software built for no particular country cannot know the €35,000 Article 11 threshold, the tax point rules, or which VAT treatment applies to a cross-border service, because none of those are invoicing features.

### Can I use a separate numbering series for credit notes?

Yes. The Twelfth Schedule permits one or more series, so a separate credit note sequence is sound as long as each series is itself unbroken. Settlano keeps invoices, credit notes and quotes on three separate counters for that reason.

### What is a tax point and why does it matter on an invoice?

It is the date the VAT becomes chargeable, and it is not always the invoice date. Under the Fourth Schedule it is the earlier of the supply happening and a payment being received, or the invoice date if a tax invoice follows that date by the 15th of the next month. It decides which return the supply belongs in, which is why software that only records an invoice date can put a supply in the wrong quarter.

## The figures on this page

- The tax-invoice particulars: Twelfth Schedule · [Cap. 406, the VAT Act](https://legislation.mt/eli/cap/406/eng)
- The tax point (when VAT becomes chargeable): Fourth Schedule · [Cap. 406, the VAT Act](https://legislation.mt/eli/cap/406/eng)
- The €35,000 Article 11 line, counted by supply date · [Cap. 406, the VAT Act](https://legislation.mt/eli/cap/406/eng)

Every figure above is read from the same dated config the Settlano engine computes with: 2026 rates, verified 13 Jul 2026. The rules behind them were put to a commissioned accountant and legal review in August 2026, before launch.

## Changes to this page

Changes to what this page tells you, newest first, with the law behind each: corrected where it had been wrong, clarified where it could mislead, and where the law itself changed. New sections and rewording that keeps the meaning are not listed.

- **9 Oct 2026:** **Corrected.** On Article 11 you stop qualifying on the day your turnover passes €35,000. Within 15 days you must apply to cancel the Article 11 registration; it ends, and Article 10 starts, on the first day of the following month. Turnover of exactly €35,000 still qualifies. Source: Cap. 406, article 11(5)(b) and (7), and the Sixth Schedule, Part One, item 3.
- **9 Oct 2026:** **Clarified.** The tax invoice and its particulars are an Article 10 duty. On Article 11 you show no VAT and give a fiscal receipt for each sale in Malta. Source: Cap. 406, articles 50 and 51, with the Twelfth and Thirteenth Schedules.

> Estimates, not advice. This page is general information about Maltese tax rules for planning. It is not tax, legal or accounting advice. Figures are for the 2026 tax year (2026 rates, verified 13 Jul 2026) and should be confirmed with your accountant or the Malta Tax and Customs Administration (MTCA).