Companies to start paying tax that was deferred through Covid scheme

Businesses that availed themselves of a tax postponement measure that had been launched back in March 2020 are going to have to start paying their bills.

As part of the packet of Covid-19 financial aid, the finance ministry in March 2020 had implemented a scheme that postponed the payment of taxes in order to help companies and businesses with their liquidity difficulties.

This measure had been extended to December 2021, with the exception of taxes paid by employers under the FSS scheme, government said.

The Tax Commissioner has announced that the beneficiaries of this tax deferral scheme will be given the possibility to pay the taxes that were eligible under this measure over a period of 30 months, until the end of December 2024, government added.

The first amount will start being paid in June, with payments each month. During this period, interest on the deferred taxes is frozen.

In the case where beneficiaries do not go ahead with the payments by the end of December 2024, the benefits given under the tax deferment scheme can be lost and the interest would again be owed on the amount that would not be paid, just as though the scheme did not apply, government said.

During this period, government said, businesses are expected to also pay their taxes of the current period.

In cases where businesses have a balance of other periods owed that are not covered under the deferred tax scheme, these must also be paid by December 2024, as long as there isn't a different agreement with the Office of the Tax Commissioner, government added. Individuals or commercial entities that have some difficulty in doing this are urged to come forward and speak with the Office of the Tax Commissioner.

In addition, informative meetings with all those interested partners will take place, in order to explain how this process will work.

For more information phone on 144 or send an email to: servizz@gov.mt