Maltese Government May Take Lenient Approach Over New Tax
By by Robert Lee, Tax-News.com, London
17 December 2003

The Maltese government is ready to take appropriate measures in the cases of people who had already signed a promise of sale agreement on inherited property and would be suffering hardship as a result of the new capital gains tax levied on the sale of such property, Parliamentary Secretary Tony Abela said yesterday.

Addressing parliament during the budget debate on Monday, Mr Abela revealed that he has received complaints from many taxpayers who have already entered into a promise of sale agreement and had not planned for the new capital gains tax on such income.

Mr Abela reiterated that the new tax applies only to the sale of inherited property and not to inheritance as such, and confirmed that the tax will only apply to the portion of the capital gain after stamp duty costs and inflation at 3% have been deducted (for property inherited after 1992). Therefore, a house bought at Lm30,000 and sold for Lm60,000 would result in a taxable income of LM18,000, Abela explained.

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