I think for
CFC rules for
active income, the setup would not work.
As mentioned above, CFC rules are about the location of the shareholder.
The intention of CFC rules is to tax companies in low-tax jurisdictions that would otherwise escape taxation.
So you live in a high-tax country A like France or
Spain, but you own a company in a country that is located in a territorial-tax country B where passive foreign income like royalties are not taxed.
That company has only passive royalty income and it has a local director in country B. The shareholder flies to country B once per quarter for a board meeting.
The substance criteria would be fulfilled, it is actually managed from country B. There is no PE in country A.
Such a company would not be taxable in country A under any other rule.
CFC rules were introduced to tax such companies, and that is why they only cover passive income in many cases.
Malta's CFC rules are completely irrelevant if the owner of the company does not reside in Malta.
Malta could already tax the company due to management and control being exercised in Malta, or a PE in Malta, so there is no need for CFC rules either.
If Malta does not apply such rules to US LLC's, then I wonder why not every business in Malta - at least if they don't have local customers or whatever the criteria for "Malta-sourced income" are - is set up as a US LLC.