The Highly Qualified Persons (HQP) Rules, originally introduced and put into effect in 2010, have been amended by Legal Notice 225 of 2015.
As per the HQP Rules, EU, EEA and Swiss expatriates working in Malta under an eligible contract of employment may benefit from a flat tax rate of 15% on their yearly income of a minimum amount of €81,457, for basis year 2015, as adjusted by the retail price index. This tax programme is available for occupations within specific, qualifying sectors and with companies that are licensed and/or recognised by the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA), the Malta Gaming Authority (MGA) or Transport Malta (TM), the authority in charge of transportation.
This programme enables qualifying applicants from the EU, EEA and Switzerland, to benefit from the reduced tax rate for a "qualified period" of five consecutive years. However, through the latest amendment, upon application, eligible individuals are able to benefit from an extension of a further five years to their qualified period. Therefore, the individual may benefit from a maximum qualified period of ten years. It is also important that this extension is not applicable to individuals who have been residing in Malta prior to the 1st of January 2008.
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