Malta tax guide
Provisional tax in Malta: the 20/30/50 instalments
Provisional tax is how the Maltese self-employed pay income tax during the year instead of in one frightening lump after it. Three instalments, fixed dates, and a benchmark that is always one year behind your reality. Here is how it works, with a calculator for your own figures.
What provisional tax is
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, benchmarked on your last self-assessment. By the time the return is filed, most of the tax is already paid.
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.
Your three instalments
- Instalment 1
- not yet
- Instalment 2
- not yet
- Instalment 3
- not yet
Enter the tax figure from your last self-assessment to see the three instalments.
Computed by the same engine the Settlano app uses, on 2026 rates, verified 13 Jul 2026. The three amounts always sum exactly to the figure you typed.
Where the benchmark comes from
The instalments are computed from your last self-assessment, not from what you are earning right now. A good year therefore inflates next year's instalments, and a bad one deflates them, always one step behind reality.
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 interest at 0.6% a month, so a reduction built on hope rather than figures ends up costing more than patience would have.
The first year, and the TA22 route
A first-year trader usually receives no provisional-tax schedule, because there is no last self-assessment yet. The tax still accrues; it just all arrives with the first return, which is why the quiet first year catches people. The registration guide covers what starts when.
Part-timers on the TA22 flat-rate route settle through form TA22 by 30 April of the following year instead of through these instalments. And Class 2 social security shares the same three dates as its own separate bill, so each instalment day is really two payments.
When it is late
A late instalment attracts additional tax of 1% a month or part of one under article 44(1)(a) of the Income Tax Management Act; unpaid income tax separately carries interest at 0.6% a month under article 44(2A), capped at the tax itself. 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 your last self-assessment, so the instalments settle this year's tax using last year's figures.
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 interest at 0.6% a month, 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: there is no last self-assessment to benchmark on, so no schedule is issued. The tax on your first year's profit still exists, and it lands with your first 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.
Settlano estimates each instalment as the year moves and reminds you before every date.
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