Foreign Buyers Guide to Property Tax in Malta [2026]
Most overseas buyers arrive with the tax question the wrong way round. They ask what the rate is, hear five per cent, and relax. The rate is rarely the problem. What catches people out in Malta is the order in which the money falls due, and the conditions attached to the permit that allows a non resident to buy in the first place.
So here is the honest version: what you pay, when it is owed, which reliefs are genuinely open to you, and the one decision that changes all of it.
What you actually pay to buy
Duty on documents and transfers runs at 5% of the purchase price. It is not paid in one go. A fifth of that duty, so 1% of the price, is provisional and falls due when you sign the promise of sale, the konvenju. The remaining 80% is settled on the final deed. Ask your notary at the outset whether that provisional payment is recoverable if the promise of sale lapses, because the answer depends on why the deal failed and it is far easier to hear before you sign than after.
Then there is the notary. Fees commonly land between 1% and 2.5% of the price depending on how complicated the title is, and searches and registration sit on top. Agency commission in Malta is normally the seller's cost, not yours, which surprises buyers coming from markets where the fee is split.
Budget on the basis that a straightforward purchase costs you the 5% duty plus roughly 1% to 2.5% in professional fees. Anyone quoting you a single all in percentage is guessing.
The permit decides more than the paperwork
Under Chapter 246, a non resident needs an Acquisition of Immovable Property permit, the AIP. That covers non EU nationals, and it also covers EU citizens who have not been continuously resident in Malta for five years. Spouses buying jointly with a Maltese or EU citizen are exempt. The fee is €233 and the AIP Section works to a 35 day turnaround on a correctly submitted application.
The fee is trivial. The conditions are not. A property bought on an AIP permit is for your own residential use and cannot be let out, and outside the designated areas you are limited to one property. There are also minimum values below which a non resident cannot buy, index linked and revised every year. At the time of writing the published thresholds sit around €143,410 for a flat or maisonette and about €247,701 for other property. Treat those as a checking point with your notary rather than a fixed number, because old brochures and older blog posts still quote figures from several revisions ago.
If your plan involves renting the place out between visits, the AIP route quietly kills it. That is worth knowing before you fall for a farmhouse in Gozo, not after.
Special Designated Areas change the maths
Inside a Special Designated Area, the restrictions fall away. Portomaso, Tigné Point, Fort Cambridge, Pender Gardens, SmartCity, Ta' Monita and the Cottonera development are the names you will hear most. In an SDA, any nationality can buy without a permit, without a minimum value, without a cap on how many properties they hold, and with the freedom to let.
You pay for that freedom in the asking price. SDA stock is premium and priced accordingly. The trade off is worth making anyway if you intend to rent, to buy more than one unit, or to keep the exit simple, because you are buying a property with a resale market that includes every foreign buyer rather than only those willing to take on a permit. Our page on Special Designated Areas sets out where they are.
The reliefs foreign buyers assume are not for them
Several are, provided you meet the conditions rather than the nationality assumption.
First time buyer relief removes duty entirely on the first €200,000 of the value of a sole residence. It turns on whether this is your first residential property and whether it will be your sole residence, not on where your passport was issued. Buy on Gozo and residential purchases attract 2% rather than 5% under the Gozo incentive. And if you are drawn to the old townhouse rather than the new block, the relief on qualifying older and Urban Conservation Area property applies to value up to €750,000, currently running to 31 December 2026.
That last one rewards exactly the kind of property most international buyers say they want when they arrive, and most talk themselves out of by the third viewing.
Holding it, and eventually selling it
Malta charges no annual property tax. No council tax, no recurring charge on the value of the home. For anyone arriving from the UK, France or the United States, that is the line worth rereading.
Rental income, where the permit allows it, can be taxed at a flat 15% final withholding rate, or declared in your annual return at the standard rates if that works out better. Most owners take the 15%.
On the way out, the notary withholds property transfer tax at the point of sale. Since 2015 this has replaced any capital gains calculation, and the standard rate is 8% of the sale price, not of your profit. Read that twice, because it is the figure that decides whether a short hold makes sense. A property you buy and sell within a few years has to appreciate meaningfully just to cover the duty going in and the transfer tax coming out.
None of this is difficult. It only becomes expensive when the permit route and the plan for the property were decided in the wrong order. Work out what you intend to do with the place, then let that choose between an AIP purchase and an SDA one, and the tax follows sensibly from there. If you would like that mapped against a specific property, speak to one of our agents before you sign anything.
Frequently asked questions
Can a foreigner buy property in Malta without a permit?
Inside a Special Designated Area, yes, whatever your nationality, with no minimum value and no limit on how many properties you hold. Everywhere else a non resident needs an AIP permit, and that includes EU citizens who have not lived in Malta continuously for five years.
How much is stamp duty in Malta for a non resident?
5% of the purchase price. A fifth of it, so 1% of the price, is provisional and paid on the promise of sale, with the balance due on the final deed. Residential property on Gozo attracts 2% under the Gozo incentive.
Can I rent out a property bought on an AIP permit?
No. Property acquired under an AIP permit is for your own residential use. If letting is part of the plan, buy inside a Special Designated Area instead, where there is no such restriction.
Does Malta have an annual property tax?
No. There is no annual property tax or council tax on the value of your home. Your recurring costs are ground rent where it applies, utilities, insurance and any service charge.
What tax do I pay when I sell?
The notary withholds property transfer tax on the sale, most commonly at 8% of the sale price rather than on the gain. It replaced capital gains treatment on property in 2015 and is final, so factor it in before planning a short hold.