How are dividends taxed in Malta?
Malta runs a full imputation system. The company pays tax on its profits first, and when it hands you a dividend, that tax is credited to you as if you had paid it. The result for a normal shareholder is simple: a dividend from a Maltese company carries no further tax. A dividend from a foreign company has no such credit behind it — it is income, taxed at your progressive rate, up to 35 %. Nothing here touches your gain when you sell.
What imputation actually means
In most countries the company is taxed on its profit and then you are taxed again on the slice it pays out. Imputation removes the second layer: the tax the company already paid is imputed to you.
So when a Maltese dividend lands, the tax question is already closed. You do not owe more on it, and there is no allowance you need to stay under.
The worked example
You receive €3,000 in dividends.
- From a Maltese company: no further tax. €3,000 stays with you.
- From a foreign company: taxed at your progressive rate. At the top rate of 35 % that is €1,050, leaving €1,950 — and the source country may have withheld something of its own before the money even reached you.
Two dividends of the same size, and the gap comes entirely from where the company is.
Foreign withholding on top
Before a foreign dividend reaches your account, the company's home country usually takes its own withholding tax. Malta's double tax treaties are there to stop the same income being taxed twice over, but relief is not automatic and the paperwork takes time.
For a small dividend from an international portfolio, many people simply accept the foreign withholding. It is worth knowing it is there, so the number on your statement does not come as a surprise.
The typical beginner's mistake
Expecting the same clean result from a foreign dividend as from a Maltese one. Full imputation only runs behind Maltese company tax — a foreign dividend is ordinary income, taxed up to 35 %.
How you see it in Kiggo
Kiggo shows when a share pays a dividend and how much, but always gross — before any withholding. Kiggo does not know where you are tax resident and does not work out what is left after tax.
Related terms
Frequently asked questions
Do I pay anything extra on a Maltese dividend?
No. Under full imputation the tax the company paid is credited to you, so no further tax is due on it.
What about a foreign dividend?
It is income and taxed at your progressive rate, up to 35 %. The source country may also have withheld tax before you received it.
Is an ETF distribution a dividend?
Not in the same sense — a fund sits under different rules. See the ETF trap for why funds are treated apart from shares in Malta.
Kiggo explains — Kiggo does not advise. We never tell you what to buy or sell, and key figures can only be compared between companies in the same industry. The decision is yours. Last updated 2026-09-18.
Written by Claus Frisch, founder of Kiggo. Not an adviser, not a bank — Kiggo explains, you decide.
