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Malta Extends Business COVID-19 Aid Schemes Including Loan Moratoriums And Tax Deferrals

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The Malta Development Bank’s COVID-19 Guarantee Scheme (CGS) has been extended, including a moratorium on the repayment of bank loans, Finance Minister Clyde Caruana announced earlier today.

The moratorium scheme has been extended by another six months. This is the second time this scheme has been extended, now to an overall period of 18 months, with it set to expire in September 2021.

Furthermore, Caruana announced a number of other measures to help support businesses through the ongoing pandemic as Europe braces for a third wave of infections amidst a sluggish vaccine rollout.

An extension has also been applied to the tax deferral scheme, alleviating employers from paying all eligible taxes until the end of the year, December 2021.

As such, all payments of such taxes will start as of May 2022, with no interest or penalties charged in respect to taxes that would have been deferred as a result of the scheme.

Lastly, businesses that have pending tax balances will be given a one-time concession to settle the tax owed. This includes an exemption on capital gains taxes when selling property and will apply according to the amount of revenue received from the sale of property by the date of the promise of sale agreement.

The promise of sale agreement needs to be registered by March 2022.

“Businesses will benefit from much-needed additional breathing space,” Caruana said.

Caruana noted that the Malta Development Fund is currently exploring ways to help mitigate the long-term economical effects of the pandemic, including providing safety nets for “good businesses” that aren’t able to pay their expenses at this moment in time.

“The financial instruments we implement will help provide a cushion to help businesses and banks for a number of years,” he said.

Malta is currently in a quasi-lockdown with all non-essential businesses, including restaurants, bars and gyms, closed until 11th April.

In the meantime, Malta has the highest rate of daily vaccinations in the EU with the number of active daily cases on a downward trend.

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