Buying a Malta home through a company: duty, AIP and the 5% fringe benefit
For many international buyers, holding assets through a company is second nature. It is how the business is owned, how the portfolio is owned, and it feels natural to buy the Malta apartment the same way. For a trading business that instinct is often right. For a single home, especially one you intend to live in, Maltese rules make it an expensive habit.
In short: a company buying a home in Malta pays 5% duty on the full value, with none of the reliefs available to individuals. A Maltese company owned by non-residents still needs an AIP permit outside a Special Designated Area. If you then live in the property, the tax authorities treat 5% of its value each year as a taxable benefit. On a later sale the company pays 8% of the price, and selling the company's shares instead attracts 5% duty. A company can still make sense for a let investment, but it should be a considered decision, not a default.
This note is about the mechanics of the purchase. It does not deal with residence or citizenship, which are separate questions with separate rules.
What a company pays at the deed
Duty on documents is charged at 5% on the higher of the price or the market value. For individuals that figure is softened in several ways: the exemption for first-time buyers, the reduced rate on the first part of the price for your own residence, the heritage reliefs. A company can use none of them, because a company cannot be a first-time buyer or have a residence. It pays 5% from the first euro.
As with any purchase, part of the duty is paid when the konvenju is registered and the balance on the final deed.
Whether an AIP permit is still needed
This is the point on which advice most often goes wrong. Chapter 246 looks through the company to the people who own it.
- A Maltese company owned by non-residents is treated as a non-resident buyer. Outside an SDA it needs an AIP permit, with the minimum values and restrictions that come with one.
- A foreign company needs one outside an SDA in any case.
- Inside a Special Designated Area, no AIP permit is needed, whoever owns the company.
The difference is not only paperwork. Property bought on an AIP permit is for the buyer's own residence and cannot be let. For a company that intends to earn rent, that alone points to an SDA. Our guide to buying in a Malta SDA explains the exemption, and our SDA page lists the designated developments we represent.
Living in a home the company owns
This is the cost that surprises people most. If a company provides a property for the use of its shareholder or director, free or below market rent, the Fringe Benefit Rules treat it as a benefit. The annual value is 5% of the higher of the property's market value or its cost, less any rent actually paid.
To make that concrete: a €3,000,000 apartment used by its owner through a company creates €150,000 of taxable benefit a year, taxed at the individual's personal rates. No cash changes hands, but the tax is real, every year.
Selling it later
When an individual sells a home they have owned and lived in, an exemption from the final tax can apply if the conditions are met; we set them out in our guide to selling in Malta. A company cannot meet them. When it sells, it pays the final withholding tax of 8% on the transfer value.
A common suggestion is to sell the company rather than the property. The Duty on Documents and Transfers Act anticipates this. Where a company's assets are mainly Maltese immovable property, a transfer of its shares attracts duty at the property rate of 5% rather than the lower rate for ordinary shares.
What has to be disclosed
Buying through a company does not buy privacy. Every Maltese company must register its beneficial owners, anyone holding more than 25% or otherwise in control, with the Malta Business Registry. The 2026 amendments to the beneficial ownership regulations widened what is recorded, including place of birth and residential address, and allow access to anyone who shows a legitimate interest in preventing money laundering.
For a foreign company, the notary, the agent and the bank are all subject persons under the anti-money-laundering rules. Each must identify the natural persons behind the buyer before the deed. Expect to document the source of funds in detail.
The running cost of a company that owns one home
A company is not a one-off cost. Each year it files an annual return with the Registry, with a fee that starts at €100 and rises with authorised share capital. It keeps accounts, and a company holding a property of this value will not fit the small-company thresholds, so expect an audit. It needs a registered office in Malta, which usually means a corporate service provider. And the company bank account brings its own due diligence, reviewed periodically.
Side by side
| Individual | Maltese company | Foreign company | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Duty on purchase | 5%, with reliefs where eligible | 5%, no reliefs | 5%, no reliefs |
| AIP outside an SDA | If non-resident / non-EU | If owned by non-residents | Yes |
| AIP inside an SDA | No | No | No |
| Living in it | No tax on your own occupation | Fringe benefit, 5% of value a year | Fringe benefit, 5% of value a year |
| Tax on sale | Exemption possible for own home | 8% final tax | 8% final tax |
| Selling shares instead | Not applicable | 5% duty | 5% duty |
| Annual upkeep | None | Return, accounts, audit, office | Home country plus Malta due diligence |
When a company can still make sense
None of this means a company is always wrong. Where the property is a let investment in an SDA, owned alongside other assets and never used by the owner, the fringe benefit issue falls away and the structure may fit the wider portfolio. That judgment belongs to a tax adviser who can see the whole picture, and it should be made before the konvenju, when changing the buyer costs nothing. Within the QLZH group, Zet Finance advises on exactly this.
Questions buyers ask
Does a company pay less duty on a Malta property?
No. A company pays 5% on the full value and cannot use the reliefs available to individuals.
Does a Maltese company owned by foreigners need an AIP permit?
Outside an SDA, yes. The law looks at who owns the company. Inside an SDA, no permit is needed.
Can I live rent-free in a home my company owns?
You can, but the annual value, 5% of the higher of market value or cost, is taxed as a fringe benefit.
Can I avoid tax on a sale by selling the company instead?
No. Shares in a company that mainly owns Maltese property attract 5% duty on transfer.
Can a company claim first-time buyer relief?
No. First-time buyer schemes are for individuals only.
Will buying through a company give me tax residence in Malta?
No. Owning property, directly or through a company, does not by itself make anyone tax resident.
A conversation worth having early
The right structure is easy to choose before the konvenju and expensive to change after it. If you are weighing personal ownership against a company, tell us what the property is for and who will use it. We will show you what each option costs on the numbers of a real listing and introduce you to an adviser if the answer is not obvious. Our Prime team is a good place to start.
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