Topic
Company law & compliance
Companies Act changes, beneficial ownership, anti-money-laundering rules and statutory filings.
52 news items and articles, newest first
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Legal Notice 184 of 2026 – Companies Act (Register of Beneficial Owners) (Amendment) Regulations, 2026
Legal Notice 184 of 2026 amends the Companies Act (Register of Beneficial Owners) Regulations with the objective of strengthening Malta’s framework on beneficial ownership transparency and aligning it more closely with…
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Key Factors to Consider Before Opting for a Voluntary Winding Up under the Maltese Companies Act
Voluntary winding up is a formal process regulated by the Maltese Companies Act (Chapter 386 of the Laws of Malta), allowing members of a company to dissolve the entity in an orderly manner. Before opting for a…
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Non-cash consideration for allotment of shares
Non-cash consideration for allotment of shares Act XVII of 2025 was enacted which brought a number of changes to the Maltese Companies Act One of the changes relates to the issue of shares in exchange for a non-cash…
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Malta’s Audit Exemption Rules 2025: The pros and cons
In 2025, Malta introduced new rules (Legal Notice 139 of 2025) under the Income Tax Management Act (Cap. 372), significantly changing when companies are required to have their accounts audited. The rules, which apply to…
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Guidance note published by the FIAU for Limited (Registered) Company Service Providers
The FIAU has issued a guidance note for limited Company Service Providers (CSPs) that are required to be registered by the MFSA. This follows the recent changes to the Company Service Providers Act and the rulebook…
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Amendments to the Companies Act Register of Beneficial Owners) Regulations
By virtue of Legal Notice 127 of 2025, a number of changes recently took place in the above-mentioned regulations. The main aim of the Malta Beneficial Ownership Regulation changes reflect the first transposition phase…
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Simplified Dissolution Procedure introduced for Maltese Companies
Act No. XVIII of 2025, was recently published, providing for the introduction of a “simplified dissolution procedure” (hereinafter referred to as ‘SDP’) for limited liability companies. The provisions of this Act are…
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Audit exemption Rules 2025
By means of Legal Notice 139 of 2025, the Government has published the above-mentioned rules, with the aim of easing certain compliance obligations and offer targeted relief to newly established companies meeting…
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New Form F (3) Appointment of a new auditor
Upon the appointment of the first auditor or in the case an appointment of a new auditor following the resignation or removal of the previous auditor, the company is to submit this new form to the Registrar, within 14…
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Amendment to the general proviso in the Memorandum and Articles of Association
The Malta Business Registry has issued a notice on its website to inform practitioners, Corporate Services Providers and the public in general of an amendment which with effect from the 1st August 2024 needs to be…
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Donations to Voluntary Organisations Rules
By means of Legal Notice 86 of 2024, the Government of Malta has published the ‘Donations to Voluntary Organisations Rules’, by virtue of which a company which makes a donation to which these rules apply, shall have the…
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Organisations engaged in philanthropic work exempt from income tax.
By means of Legal Notice 62 of 2024, the Government of Malta has published a notice which mentions the following philanthropic organisations as exempt from income tax. Aditus Foundation Fondazzjoni Dar il-Hena Foodbank…
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Donations to certain voluntary organisations
The Minister of Finance has in his Budget Speech for the year 2024 announced that businesses donating amounts to voluntary organisations registered with the Commissioner for Voluntary Organisations with respect to…
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Malta’s new insolvency framework
Malta has in December of 2022 introduced a new insolvency framework by publishing two new sets of legislation namely ‘The Insolvency Practitioners Act’ and ‘The Pre-Insolvency Act’ while amending the Commercial Code.…
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FIAU publishes a new set of Implementing Procedures for Accountants and Auditors
The Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit (FIAU) has in December 2022, published a new set of Implementing Procedures – Part II, aimed at providing additional guidance to Accountants ad Auditors on their AML / CFT…
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Open Beneficial Ownership Register Declared Invalid by the European Court of Justice (ECJ)
The ECJ has on the 22 November 2022 declared invalid the provision of the Fifth European Union Anti-Money Laundering Directive that requires EU countries to provide public access to beneficial ownership registers. In a…
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Companies to provide the MBR with an electronic email address
The Malta Business Registry (MBR) has issued a notice on its website informing all companies that they have up to the 30th of September 2022 to provide the MBR with an adequate email address that is accessible to all…
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Common issues related to the role of a Money Laundering Reporting Officer (‘MLRO’)
On the 6th April 2022, the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit (‘FIAU’) has issued a guidance note entitled ‘Common issues related to the role of a Money Laundering Reporting Officer’. The purpose of this Guidance Note…
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GUIDANCE NOTE ON TAX RELATED SUSPICIOUS REPORTING PUBLISHED BY THE FIAU
The FIAU has published a guidance note in relation to tax-related suspicious reporting. The aim of this guidance note is to provide subject persons with important tax-related ML/FT indicators that are found on goAML…
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Amendments to the Companies Act
On the 26 October 2021, Maltese Parliament enacted Act LX of 2021, which includes a number of amendments to the Companies Act. Such amendments are aimed at enhancing transparency of information concerning directors and…
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Filing of financial statements with the MBR by shipping companies
The Malta Business Registry has just informed practitioners that the declaration by the directors that must be attached with the financial statements to be filed in accordance with Regulation 64 (1) of the Merchant…
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Various amendments to the Companies Act in the pipeline
The Government of Malta has recently published Bill No. 233 which proposes a number of amendments to the Companies Act (Chapter 386 of the Laws of Malta). We have summarised below the main amendments which we can find…
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Act L of 2020 comes into force – Amendments to the Company Service Providers Act
The amendments to the Company Services Providers Act came into force on the 16th March 2021 which amongst others provide for the removal of exemptions applicable to certain warranted professionals, who were not required…
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Company Service Providers (Exemption) Regulations
The Government of Malta has published Legal Notice 105 of 2021 which provides for a list of persons who will be exempt from seeking authorization from the MFSA to act as company service providers, thus being exempted…
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Increase in tax exemption threshold for voluntary organisations
Pursuant to LN 39 of 2021, the Enrolled Voluntary Organisations (Tax Exemption) Rules (SL 123.190) have been revised. In terms of the changes, which apply as of year of assessment 2022, the tax exemption in terms of…
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Joint notice by the MBR and the CfR with respect to share transfers
The Commissioner for Revenue and the Registrar of Companies would like to notify that, in respect of share transfers and changes in issued share capital/voting rights of companies and other commercial partnerships where…
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Amendments to the Company Service Providers Act
By means of Act No. L of 2020, the Government of Malta has published an Act to amend the Company Service Providers Act (Chapter 529 of the Laws of Malta). The provisions of the Act are not yet in force and they shall…
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Amendments to the Company Service Providers Act
By means of Act No. L of 2020, the Government of Malta has published an Act to amend the Company Service Providers Act (Chapter 529 of the Laws of Malta). The provisions of the Act are not yet in force and they shall…
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MBR GUIDANCE ON REGISTER OF BENEFICIAL OWNERS OF COMMERCIAL PARTNERSHIPS
The Malta Business Registry (MBR) has on the 5th October 2020, published new guidance on the Register of Beneficial Owners of Commercial Partnerships. The guidance provide an overview of the requirements in terms of the…
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Amendments to the Register of Beneficial Owners Rules
By virtue of Legal Notice 247 of 2020, the Maltese Government has amended the rules relating to the register of beneficial owners. The main amendments are as follows: All companies registered in Malta, must on each…