VAT in Malta in 2026

Consultoria EHERO

8 minutos de lectura

In Malta, VAT is called taxxa fuq il-valur miżjud, but the tax authority works in English and you will almost always see it as VAT. The standard rate is 18 %, and below it there are three more rates: 12 %, 7 % and 5 %. They are set by the Eighth Schedule of the Maltese VAT law (Value Added Tax Act, chapter 406); the standard rate is in article 19.

What changes the numbers for a store is the lower bracket: food and medicines are taxed at 0 %. The law does not call it a zero rate, but exemption with credit: you do not charge VAT and you still deduct the VAT you incur. The 12 % rate is recent, from 1 January 2024, and it does not apply to any product: it covers four services.

Rate	Percentage	Applies to
General (standard rate)	18 %	Everything not listed in the Eighth Schedule or exempt: clothing, footwear, electronics, perfumes and cosmetics —except oral hygiene products, which are taxed at 5 %—, furniture and toys, as well as soft drinks, bottled water, ice cream not sold in family-size packaging, and food served on the premises
Reduced (parking rate)	12 %	Custody and management of securities; management of credits and guarantees by a person who did not grant the credit; rental of pleasure boats for five weeks or less; and body care services provided by professionals in the regulated professions under the Health Care Professions Act, including those of a gym or similar centre. In force since 1 January 2024
Reduced (reduced rate)	7 %	Accommodation in Maltese licensed tourist establishments and use of sports facilities
Reduced (reduced rate)	5 %	Electricity; books, newspapers and audiobooks, including digital; medical accessories, including oral hygiene products (toothpaste, mouthwash, dental floss), contact lens solutions, and protective masks and visors; items for the exclusive use of persons with disabilities; chewing gum, most sweets, juices and family-size ice cream; tickets to museums, exhibitions, concerts and theatres; minor repairs of clothing, household linen, footwear, leather goods and bicycles; home help and care for children, the elderly and the sick; and the importation of works of art, collectors’ items and antiques
Exempt with credit (exemption with credit)	0 %	Food for human consumption that is not catering, medicines and pharmaceutical products, feminine hygiene products and some items for cancer patients. It works like 0 %: invoices without VAT and you still deduct input VAT

Rates verified on 12 September 2026 against the Eighth Schedule of the Maltese VAT law, chapter 406, consolidated text as of 27-03-2026, in Legislation Malta, the official Maltese legislation portal (legislation.mt).

Food is 0 %, but chewing gum is 5 % and soft drinks are 18 %

Malta is one of the few EU countries that keeps food for human consumption at 0 %, and with it medicines. These are items 9 and 10 of Part One of the Fifth Schedule, the schedule for exemptions with credit. For you, it is a real zero: invoices without VAT and you still deduct input VAT.

The detail is in where “food” ends. Part Five of that same schedule defines it by customs tariff codes —the combined nomenclature—, chapter by chapter, and leaves things out. What falls outside does not stay VAT-free:

5 %: chewing gum and a large part of sweets (the subheadings of 1704 listed one by one in the law), fruit and vegetable juices (heading 2009) and family-size ice cream.
18 %: soft drinks and bottled water —from chapter 22 the law only exempts a few subheadings— and ice cream that is not family-size.
0 %: chocolate, which falls entirely under chapter 18, and milk, under chapter 4.

“Family-size” has a threshold: a component of 350 grams or more. For biscuits, sponge cakes and pastries, the boundary is the packaging: they are 0 % if the manufacturer sells them sealed in their original package, or if the piece weighs 500 grams or more; otherwise, the law treats them as catering food and taxes them at 18 %. The same applies to chocolate, yogurt and milkshakes: outside the manufacturer’s sealed packaging, the law treats them as catering. And catering is always 18 %.

Which VAT you charge customers in Malta if you sell from another EU country

This is the part no rate table covers, and usually the real question. The rate you charge does not depend only on the destination: it depends on how much you sell to consumers in other EU countries.

Below €10,000 a year in distance sales to the rest of the EU — added up across all countries, not country by country — you charge your own country’s VAT.
Above that €10,000 you charge the destination VAT: 18% as the standard rate in Malta, or the reduced rate that applies to the product. You declare it through the One Stop Shop (OSS) in your own country, with no need to register in the destination country.

The threshold adds up all your B2C sales to other EU countries plus digital services, and the switch does not wait for next year: the very sale that crosses the threshold already carries the destination rate.

Selling to a business with a valid EU VAT number is a different story: the sale goes without VAT because the customer accounts for it in their own country, but you have to check that number in VIES and keep proof of the check.

How to set this up in WooCommerce

WooCommerce includes country-based rates, but it does not distinguish rates within a country by product class or monitor the threshold for you. There are three things you need to set up:

A tax class for each rate you use, assigned product by product and not at store level.
VAT number validation at checkout against VIES for business customers, so VAT is not charged when the transaction is under reverse charge.
A control for the €10,000 threshold, because the day it is exceeded the rates change at once across all countries.

All three are covered by EHERO Woo VAT, which we built precisely because these are the three points where stores selling to the rest of the European Union break down.

Two quick checks: check the customer’s VAT number in VIES before invoicing without VAT, and use the EU VAT calculator to see which rate to charge on each sale.

Selling to other EU countries from WooCommerce?

EHERO Woo VAT applies each country’s rate product by product, checks VAT numbers against VIES at checkout and keeps an eye on the €10,000 threshold for you.

See EHERO Woo VAT →

Frequently asked questions

What is the standard VAT rate in Malta in 2026?

18 %, set in article 19 of the Maltese VAT law (chapter 406). Below it there are three more rates: 12 % for four services, 7 % for accommodation with a tourist licence and sports facilities, and 5 % for electricity, books, newspapers, medical accessories and a few more. Food and medicines are 0 %.

Is food really VAT-free in Malta?

Yes, if it is food for human consumption and is not served on the premises: the law treats it as exempt with credit, which works like 0 %. But the definition of food excludes chewing gum, most sweets and juices, which are taxed at 5 %, and soft drinks and bottled water, which are taxed at 18 %. Ice cream only drops to 5 % in family-size packaging —a component of 350 grams or more—; the rest is 18 %. Chocolate and milk are also 0 % when sealed in the manufacturer’s packaging.

I sell to Malta from another EU country — which VAT do I charge?

Your own country’s VAT while your distance sales to the whole EU stay below €10,000 a year. Once you cross that threshold, the destination VAT (18% standard rate), declared through the One Stop Shop.

Do I have to register for VAT in Malta?

Not if you only ship from your own country: that is what the One Stop Shop is for. You do if you store goods there — for example with Amazon’s fulfilment network — because stock held in the country creates a registration obligation regardless of how much you sell.