Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1510125
5 NEWS maltatoday | SUNDAY • 22 OCTOBER 2023 Moneybase payment services are brought to you by Moneybase Ltd C87193, which is licensed by the MFSA to transact the business of a Financial Institution in terms of the Financial Institutions Act, Cap 376. All investment services are brought to you by Calamatta Cuschieri Investment Services Ltd C13729 which is licensed by the MFSA to undertake investment services business under the Investment Services Act, Cap 370. Let's talk business. Supercharged global payments from a trusted local business account. Open an account within 48 hours Get started on moneybase.com Part of the Calamatta Cuschieri Group CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 "Malta informed the Europe- an Commission in September that it will be delaying the in- troduction of the minimum tax rate because the tax authori- ties need more time," a senior European Commission official told MaltaToday. Along with Malta, the other countries to delay the intro- duction of the new rules are: Slovakia, Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia. "I would not over interpret the reason for the delay be- cause Pillar 2 is a very com- plex rule and the Commission has received a lot of questions from several jurisdictions, in- cluding large ones, on how to interpret the regulations," the official said. The new rules would mean Malta will effectively lose its low-tax jurisdiction status. As things stand today, Mal- tese companies are liable to the top tax rate of 35%, one of the highest in the EU. However, Malta applies an imputation system that affords companies generous refunds on profits that are taxed here. This sys- tem effectively reduces the tax rate for companies to 5%. Under the new regime, the companies in scope of the di- rective will have to pay a min- imum 15% tax, although coun- tries are allowed to introduce specific refunds that would be applicable to all companies. Finance Minister Clyde Caru- ana has not yet said what Mal- ta intends to do, telling jour- nalists last September the tax authorities were still running simulations with the new rules to determine their impact on government revenue and the economy. However, he insisted the new tax regime would be revenue neutral and any announcement would be made in the budget. MaltaToday reported in April that the lack of clarity on the EU-mandated changes to the company tax regime was caus- ing unease among industry's big players. Industry sources had said the lack of informa- tion on how the new tax regime will be structured was contrib- uting to the uncertainty. The new rules will impact several companies employing hundreds in manufacturing and gaming. Although they only make up a fraction of the companies operating in Malta, they are among the largest and are crucial for the export econ- omy. Tax practitioners had al- so questioned why Malta was rushing to introduce the new regime by 2025 when the di- rective allowed the country to delay its introduction. 'Tax authorities need more time' Finance minister Clyde Caruana