# Provisional tax in Malta: the 20/30/50 instalments

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

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

Provisional tax is how the Maltese self-employed pay income tax during the year instead of in one lump after it: three instalments on fixed dates, worked out from the tax on an earlier return. For 2026 that is the return for your 2024 income, two years back. Here is how it works, with a calculator for your own figures.

**Key fact:** Provisional tax is paid as 20%, 30% and 50% of your benchmark, by 30 April, 31 August and 21 December, worked out on the tax in the last return due before the year began (for 2026, the return on 2024 income) ([S.L. 372.18](https://legislation.mt/eli/sl/372.18/eng); 2026 rates, verified 13 Jul 2026).

## Your three instalments

*Worked by the calculator on this page (https://settlano.com/provisional-tax-malta) for its prefilled figures:*

On a benchmark of €3,000.00, the instalments are €600.00 by 30 April, €900.00 by 31 August and €1,500.00 by 21 December, summing exactly to the benchmark. Class 2 social security is due on the same dates, as its own separate bill.

## What is provisional tax?

Malta does not wait until the year ends to collect income tax from the self-employed. Provisional tax spreads the bill across the year in three instalments, 20%, 30% and 50%, [due 30 April, 31 August and 21 December](https://settlano.com/malta-tax-deadlines), benchmarked on the tax in the last return that was due before the year began. By the time the return is filed, much of the tax is usually already paid.

When you file the return for a year, the provisional tax paid towards it is credited against the tax the return shows. If you've overpaid, you're refunded; any balance is due with the return, by 30 June in law (MTCA accepts the return online until 31 July, a date it confirms each year, and for 2026 it moved the payment there too).

The share pattern is worth noticing: half of the year's provisional bill lands on 21 December, four days before Christmas. That is the instalment that surprises people, and it is the reason a running set-aside beats a year-end scramble. For the year's tax at five levels of profit, see [what a Maltese freelancer actually keeps](https://settlano.com/what-a-maltese-freelancer-keeps).

![The three provisional tax instalments on a €3,000 benchmark, and when each falls due.](https://settlano.com/assets/img/charts/provisional-16x9.webp)

*Provisional tax on a €3,000 benchmark: €600 (20%) by 30 April, €900 (30%) by 31 August, €1,500 (50%) by 21 December. Drawn by the Settlano engine from the 2026 rates, verified 13 Jul 2026.*

## How is each instalment worked out?

Each instalment is a fixed share of your benchmark: at least 20% of it by 30 April, a further 30% by 31 August and a further 50% by 21 December ([S.L. 372.18](https://legislation.mt/eli/sl/372.18/eng), rules 4 and 5). The benchmark is the full tax for your benchmark year as its return shows it, with any provisional tax already paid towards that year added back (rule 6). It is not what you are earning right now.

If your income has genuinely dropped, you can apply to the MTCA to reduce the schedule. The safety catch is that underpaid provisional tax after a reduction carries additional tax at 0.6% for each month or part of one, so a reduction built on hope rather than figures ends up costing more than patience would have.

## Which return sets your instalments?

Not the one you file this year. Your benchmark year is the last year of assessment whose return was due before the calendar year of the first instalment (rule 2). So your 2026 instalments rest on the return for year of assessment 2025, which covers your 2024 income: two years back, not one. The return you file during 2026, on your 2025 income, does not change them, even though it arrives before the August and December instalments.

Say the tax on your 2024 income was €3,000. Your 2026 instalments are then €600, €900 and €1,500, as in the calculator above. If your profit doubled in 2025, they do not move: the extra tax for 2025 is paid with the 2025 return. A strong year therefore raises your instalments two years later, and a weak one lowers them. The tax for the year itself is settled when you file its return. To estimate this year's tax, use the [self-employed tax calculator](https://settlano.com/self-employed-tax-calculator-malta).

## How do you pay, or reduce, an instalment?

Pay each instalment by its date, quoting the payment reference the MTCA gives you, online or through your own bank, so the money is matched to you. MTCA's practice is to ask for provisional tax and Class 2 together on one document, the PT1. The three dates and shares are set by the [Payment of Provisional Tax Rules (S.L. 372.18)](https://legislation.mt/eli/sl/372.18/eng), not chosen each year.

To pay less because this year will genuinely be lower, you deliver a P.T. Reduction Form stating your estimate of this year’s tax (rules 10 and 11, and the Schedule to the Rules). You can do it more than once a year. Each instalment still to come then becomes the lower of its normal share and your estimate less what you have already paid. The printed form still mentions 1%; since June 2022 the additional tax on an underpayment has been 0.6% for each month or part of one (rule 14).

## What about your first year, or the TA22 route?

A new business usually receives no provisional-tax schedule in its first calendar year, and usually none in its second either. Each year's instalments rest on the return for the income of two years earlier, and for both of those years that is income from before the business started; where there was neither a return nor an MTCA determination for that year, the benchmark is nil (rules 2 and 7). The tax still accrues: each of those years' tax arrives with its own return. So your third year brings two bills at once: the instalments begin, on your first year's tax, and your second year's tax is due with its return. [The registration guide](https://settlano.com/register-self-employed-malta) covers what starts when.

Part-timers on the [TA22 flat-rate route](https://settlano.com/ta22-malta) settle through form TA22 by 30 April of the following year instead of through these instalments. And [Class 2 social security](https://settlano.com/class-2-social-security-malta) shares the same three dates as its own separate bill, so each instalment day carries two separate amounts.

## What happens if you pay late?

A late instalment attracts additional tax of 0.6% for each month or part of one, under article 44(1) of the Income Tax Management Act and rule 14 of the Payment of Provisional Tax Rules, with no interest on top. That charge has no cap. It is limited in time instead: it stops at the tax settlement date (rule 14(2)). [Income tax still unpaid after the tax settlement date](https://settlano.com/malta-tax-deadlines#what-late-actually-costs) carries a different charge from then on: interest at 0.6% a month under article 44(2A), capped at the tax itself.

There is one relief. If your instalments fell short of what the benchmark asked for, and your return for the year then shows less tax than the benchmark, the additional tax on that difference is cut by 90% (rule 14). The dates are fixed and known a year in advance, which makes this the most avoidable charge in the whole system.

## Common questions

### What are the provisional tax dates in Malta?

30 April, 31 August and 21 December, carrying 20%, 30% and 50% of the benchmark respectively. The benchmark is the tax on the last return that was due before the year began, so the 2026 instalments rest on your 2024 income.

### Why are my 2026 instalments based on 2024?

Because the rules take the last return that was due before the year began. For 2026 that is the return for year of assessment 2025, which covers your 2024 income. The return you file during 2026 does not change them; the tax for each year is settled when you file its return.

### What if my income has dropped since last year?

You can apply to the MTCA to reduce the instalments. Reduce them too far, though, and the underpaid provisional tax carries additional tax at 0.6% for each month or part of one, so a reduction is a judgement call worth making with real figures rather than optimism.

### Do I pay provisional tax in my first year?

Usually not, and usually not in your second year either: each year's instalments rest on the return for the income of two years earlier, from before the business started, and with neither a return nor an MTCA determination for that year the benchmark is nil. The tax on those years' profit still exists, and each year's lands with its own return, so the money still needs setting aside from day one.

### Is Class 2 social security part of provisional tax?

No. It is a separate bill that happens to share the same three dates, which is convenient for diaries and confusing for everyone else. Each instalment day you pay both: the provisional tax share and the Class 2 contribution.

### I use TA22. Do I still pay the instalments?

The part-time flat-rate route settles through form TA22 by 30 April of the following year instead of through the provisional instalments. If only part of your income is on TA22, the rest still runs through the normal system.

## The figures on this page

- 20% · 30% · 50% of the benchmark, due 30 April, 31 August and 21 December · [S.L. 372.18, rules 4 and 5](https://legislation.mt/eli/sl/372.18/eng)
- A late or short instalment carries additional tax of 0.6% for each month or part of one, with no interest on top · [S.L. 372.18, rule 14](https://legislation.mt/eli/sl/372.18/eng)
- Tax still unpaid after the settlement date carries interest at 0.6% a month, capped at the tax · [Cap. 372, the ITMA](https://legislation.mt/eli/cap/372/eng)
- The TA22 route settles by 30 April instead of instalments · [MTCA, part-time self-employment](https://mtca.gov.mt/personal-tax/self-employed/part-time-self-employment)

Every figure above is read from the same dated config the Settlano engine computes with: 2026 rates, verified 13 Jul 2026 · The charging acts: [Cap. 123](https://legislation.mt/eli/cap/123/eng). 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.** Provisional tax is worked out on the tax in the last return that was due before the year began: for 2026, the return for year of assessment 2025, which covers 2024 income. With no such return the benchmark is nil, so a business started in 2026 usually has its first instalments in 2028. Source: S.L. 372.18, rules 2, 4 to 6 and 7(1)(c).
- **28 Sep 2026:** **Corrected.** A late or short provisional tax instalment is charged additional tax of 0.6% for each month or part of a month. Source: S.L. 372.18, rule 14.

> 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).