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Malta Enterprise COVID-19 Support Measures




The Government of Malta has launched a number of business support measures to help businesses mitigate the impact of Covid-19 (Coronavirus).


A package of support measures was made available to businesses with a value of €1.81 billion, which is equivalent to 12.9% of Malta’s GDP in 2019. From this total, €210 million, or 1.5% of GDP, will be used as a direct fiscal grant to businesses, the self-employed, and employees who are impacted by COVID-19.


Malta Enterprise is publishing this guide to assist affected companies in manoeuvering through, and dealing with, the immediate challenges presented by the pandemic, outlining the relevant support available to businesses and their employees.


This document will be continuously updated with new developments as they arise. All information will be updated on our website: covid19.maltaenterprise.com.


For any queries relating to support measures, send an email on covid@maltaenterprise.com or call our call centre on number 144.


SUPPORT MEASURES


Malta Enterprise is here to support local and foreign businesses in Malta in dealing with the impact of COVID-19 on businesses.


The specific support measures announced by Government are:


Deferral of payment of taxes


A two-month deferral to enterprises, including the self-employed, to pay Provisional Tax, VAT and National Insurance Contribution on salaries. This will apply for taxes owed until the end of April. All tax forms should be submitted according to normal deadlines. The incentive is primarily aimed, but not limited to, the tourism and hospitality, entertainment, transport, and manufacturing sectors. Enterprises will still collect National Insurance on their employees’ wages, but will keep these dues for the duration of the deferral.


These deferrals are estimated to improve liquidity by €700 million.

On line application is available on http://covid19.maltaenterprise.com/

eID login is required. In order to activate your eID all you have to do is:-

· Call Identity Malta on +356 2590 4300

· Ask to reactive your E-ID

· Give them your ID Number and Email Address

· Click on the link received & create a new password

· Go into the website to apply


Further liquidity measures


€900 million in bank garuantees for companies requesting operational loans with low interest rates and longer repayment periods. These schemes will be financed by grants from the National Development and Social Fund and EU funds.


Three-month moratorium from banks for business or personal loans. This will alleviate the burden of bank loans for ALL persons and businesses in this challenging period. Please contact your local bank for assistance.


Quarantine Leave


A grant of €350 per employee to businesses (including self-employed) that had full-time employees on mandatory quarantine leave. The grant is also available to full time self-employed persons who had to undergo mandatory quarantine.


Applications for this scheme may be submitted from next Wednesday 25th March


Assistance on wages


Employees of enterprises that suffered from a complete suspension of operationswill be entitled to two days’ salary based on a monthly salary of €800 which is equivalent to €320 per employee per month.


Employees of enterprises that are registering a reduction of 25% or more in sales over the same period last year will be entitled to one days’ salary. That is a grant of €160 per employee per month and applies for all businesses.


Self-employed individuals employing more persons whose business is registering a reduction of 25% or more in sales over the same period last year will be entitled to two days’ salary. That is a grant of €320 per employee per month and applies for all businesses.


Self-employed operating their own business who had to shut down operations due to national health prevention measures will receive 2 days’ salary per week. That is €320 per month.


Self-employed individuals employing more persons who had their operations suspended due to national health prevention measures will get 3 days’ salary per week and 2 days’ salary for every employee. That is €480 per month for the self-employed and €320 for each employee.


Employees who had their full-time employment terminated as from 9th March 2020will be eligible for an increased unemployment benefit of up to €800 monthly.


The employment of the persons for which this benefit is claimed must be guaranteed by the employer for at least the 3-month period of the scheme.


Social measures


Families requiring one of the parents to stay at home to take care of school-aged children and who cannot work from home will get €800 salary per month to cover the income of one parent, once they use up all their paid vacation leave.


Persons with Disability or Vulnerable Persons who lose their job due to the fact that they prefer to stay home for health and safety reasons will benefit from an unemployment benefit of €800 per month.


Government will increase rent subsidies for individuals who have their job terminated.


Employment of third country nationals


Jobsplus will assist Third Country Nationals living in Malta to find an alternative job.


No new third country national applications will be received from now on except for applications related to highly qualified persons.


Companies who terminate an active employment contract shall be denied the possibility of recruiting other third country nationals.


Facilitating Teleworking activities


This call supports employers and self-employed to invest in technology that enables teleworking and to partially cover the costs of teleworking solutions. Support shall be limited up to €500 per teleworking agreement and €4,000 per undertaking. The grant shall be awarded against 45% of the eligible cost. This call is eligible for costs incurred between 1st March and 30th March 2020.


Applications for this scheme may be downloaded from the link below:


These measures will not be the final set of economic support measure to counter the economic impact of COVID-19. Other social and economic measures will be launched according to the circumstances and needs arising in the coming weeks.


Please follow for updates and applications forms on COVID-19 Malta Enterprise website covid19.maltaenterprise.com.


The above special schemes do not exclude possible assistance through established support measures managed by Malta Enterprise and these can be found on www.maltaenterprise.com/support, and include:


Business Advisory Services 2018-2020


The Business Advisory Scheme is designed to support business undertaking access advisory services to address specific circumstances. The scheme is intended to help entrepreneurs, managers and business owners in formulating business strategies to ensure sustainability and growth. Beneficiaries will receive a Business Advisory Voucher (valid for 6 months) which can be used to pay for an advisor or consultant to assist in addressing specific difficulties or development initiatives within the business endeavour. The voucher has a monetary value of up to €500 with a minimum of 5 hours of advisory services.


Business Development & Continuity


The Business Development & Continuity Scheme is intended to facilitate projects that are expected to contribute to the regional development of Malta and to support existing undertakings sustain operations during restructuring. The Scheme may support various activities such as the initial development phase of undertakings establishing an operational base in Malta, expansion projects, consolidation of activities and the reorganisation of activities. Supported initiatives should lead to the development of new business or to ensuring the continuity of current operations. The support shall be primarily awarded in the form of tax credits yet the Corporation may approve that the support is provided in full or partially as a cash grant.


Skills Development Scheme


The scheme supports business to provide training to develop and update the skills and knowledge of their workforce when such training is not legally mandatory for the operation of the business. Through the training it is envisaged that assisted undertakings will upgrade skills of employees, address skills shortages, facilitate re-skilling, tackle skill mismatches and work towards developing a knowledge-based workforce. In principle the aid shall be granted in the form of a tax credit however the Corporation may consider and approve that the aid is awarded as a cash grant in respect to training requirements directly related to particular activities.


Family Business Support Services


The scope of this measure is to support the development of Family Businesses in building internal capacities and supporting them in the transfer of their business activity. The support provides advisory during business transition and access to specific training deemed beneficial in facilitating the growth of Family Businesses. Beneficiaries must be registered as Family Business.


Assistance on Mergers and Divisions (Scheme managed by Commissioner for Revenue)

Businesses may need to consolidate, reorganise or in some cases even merge with other organisations in order to survive and be better prepared to face a post-Covid business environment. In that cane one can submit a request for ruling to the Office of the Commissioner for Revenue, so as to ensure that capital gains taxes and stamp duty are not paid in cases where such reorganisations are carried out for bona fide reasons.


Note that rulings need to be in conformity with LN 104 of 2013 (RULINGS (INCOME TAX AND DUTY TREATMENT OF MERGERS AND DIVISIONS) RULES), and have to be approved by the Commissioner for Revenue.

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