Why Malta is bad?

[sp00k]

I've been investigating where to incorporate for last 2 months.
And Malta seems the only lowest non-resident tax and looks pretty clean.
Their corp tax is 35% but I am told is easily reduced to 5% for the income outside the Malta.
Is there some catch? Why it isn't so popular as Cyprus?
Opening and running wise it cost same or even less today after all Cyprus companies have to audit.

 

[negon]

You can't protect your privacy with a malta corp. that's one of the biggest issue for the users here on the forum. The other thing is, tax planning, you may check with which countries Malta has double tax treaties?!

What would you have to do to get the tax rate down to 5% ?

 

[sp00k]

You have to get the funds out of the company. By paying the dividends to a shareholder or sending them to a holding outside the Malta.
I don't see why I'll need to hide an identity. Planned business is pretty clean and simple by selling software online.

 

[negon]

If that's the case not need to hide your identity. If you pay out the money by using the dividends as an instrument there is also no need to prove the control and management to take place in Mala, you want to check that with and local CPA!

 

[uplana]

I have a friend that own a Malta company I will have to ask him about tax and all that stuff to see what makes it a good place to incorporate a business.

Most gambling companies are registered in Malta!

 

[sp00k]

Yes please ask, will appreciate any feedback.
Also if anybody can recommend reliable and not expensive agent and accountant there.

 

[negon]

Yes please ask, will appreciate any feedback.
Also if anybody can recommend reliable and not expensive agent and accountant there.

You need and agent to help you to incorporate your business in Malta?

 

[sp00k]

If he is good and not overpriced just share the contacts

 

[negon]

Well, overpriced I don't know it is always a question of what level of service you need and how professional that company you want to help you is

Here are one of the very heavy guys Jurisdiction Malta | e-Management - e-commerce business solutions they can do incorporation in Malta and Curacao and they know everything that anyone need to know about these two jurisdictions!

 

[colotx]

Is accounting and filing of tax required in Malta?

 

[JohnLocke]

Is accounting and filing of tax required in Malta?

Yes it is, you need to ask your agent to help you with this task.

 

[dirtyharry]

Setup a holding company offshore and then open a Malta company if that is what you want. Transfer the shares of the Malta company to the Holding offshore company so you are able to transfer dividends, royalties and others tax free to the holding!

 

[offshorewebhosting]

There are so many ways to structure something like this.

If you have nothing to hide, then an Irish company would do just fine (12.5% tax) or a Mauritius entity (15%). If you want to squabble over the difference then you could use the entity as the sales entity that earns a royalty of some kind from each sale which in turn pays to a parent entity (trust/foundation which then acts as some form of tax saving entity since it won't pay tax on the income, only when it is drawn).

 

[bountymounty]

@offshorehosting - seems likke a valid solution but as well a very expensive and complicated one?

 

[offshorewebhosting]

Setting up and managing offshore entities are generally expensive. Add trusts or foundations to them and your paperwork burden will increase as well as your costs.

Where people get burnt is on the ongoing fees that are charged by the chosen management company. Fees can easily be €300 per hour and to open an email or to approve a payment or to submit compliance documents etc. all adds up. You may think you are paying €2500 per annum but end up paying €700 per month + €2500 per annum + time spent on end of year financials etc.

So the reason for wanting to set up an offshore entity needs to be good. You may need licensing (such as gambling) or you may be offering a product that is not legal in your local jurisdiction or expensive to get licensing for (financial products as an example) or even a lack of legislation (crypto related products). Those are good reasons to have an offshore entity designed to be regulated or licensed.

If you are selling some digital product and you want to save a few bucks, then, in my opinion, a simple offshore entity may be best. Running an IE entity is cheap and easy to set up. No one is going to bat an eyelid when dealing with one, you are going to cough up 12.5% on your profits. If however you are churning out products and finding yourself with a large amount of income, then a more complicated and expensive structure may be desired and the associated costs would be acceptable.

You can of course, start with a simple structure, and as your business takes off, move to a more desirable one. How you do it, is really up to you...

 

[diablo]

You outlined it very well @offshorewebhosting

 

[happyjohn]

Cyprus seems to be way cheaper compared to Malta and most other offshore jurisdiction. So Cyprus is EU that opens the doors for banking and payment processing.

 

[offshorewebhosting]

Personally, I am not keen on Cyprus, remember this: Bank of Cyprus depositors lose 47.5% of savings

We use IE entities to as a means to contract with payment companies who transfer directly to the parent entity.

 

[lostguy]

Well well, what about Deutsche Bank and all the other huge banks where people lost their money in 2008 / 2009 I think this is not a valid answer for Cyprus any longer! The entire world was different back then and someone had to pay the bill!

You could also say, I don't trust the USA any longer with my money or the UK or Germany because people lost their money!

 

[Spinat]

Personally, I am not keen on Cyprus, remember this: Bank of Cyprus depositors lose 47.5% of savings

We use IE entities to as a means to contract with payment companies who transfer directly to the parent entity.

typical comment from people with commercial interest Malta is a competitor to the gambling island Curacao.