The Malta Retirement Programme: 15% tax on the pension you bring in.

Malta will tax a qualifying retiree's remitted foreign income at a flat 15% — with a €7,500-a-year floor. In exchange you buy or rent a home above a set threshold, keep a pension as the core of your income, and actually spend time on the island. Here is the whole deal, condition by condition.

Who the MRP is for

The Malta Retirement Programme (Subsidiary Legislation 123.134) is a special tax status for people living mainly on a pension. Since a 2020 rule change it is open to non-EU nationals — that includes Americans and Canadians. Qualifying pension income includes periodic pensions such as US Social Security, CPP, OAS, occupational and personal pensions, and lifetime annuities.

The defining test: your pension must make up at least 75% of your chargeable income in Malta, and it must be received in (remitted to) Malta. If most of your income is dividends, rents, or IRA drawdowns structured as lump sums, the MRP is the wrong fit — look at the Global Residence Programme instead, which has no pension test but a €15,000 minimum tax.

You cannot be in employment while on the programme. Holding a non-executive board seat in a Maltese company is allowed, as is activity in a public institution connected with philanthropy, education, or research.

The tax deal, precisely

• 15% flat rate on foreign-source income that you remit to Malta — pension included. Double-tax relief can be claimed against it.
• Foreign income you keep outside Malta is not taxed in Malta (the remittance basis).
• Income arising in Malta (and certain capital gains) is taxed at 35%.
• Minimum tax: €7,500 per year, plus €500 for each dependant and each special carer. That's your floor even in a low-remittance year.

The qualifying property

The property must be your principal place of residence worldwide. You cannot let or sublet it, and nobody outside your household (dependants and registered household staff) may live there. Rental agreements must run at least 12 months. Note that as a non-EU buyer you'll usually also need an AIP permit — covered in the Housing guide.

The other conditions

• Health insurance covering you and dependants across the EU — you will not qualify for free Maltese public healthcare on this programme (see Healthcare).
• Day counts: more than 90 days a year in Malta, averaged over any five-year period; and not more than 183 days in any other single jurisdiction in any year.
• Fit and proper: clean criminal record, valid travel document, and you can't simultaneously hold another Maltese special tax status (GRP, HNWI rules, etc.).
• Annual return: you file a Maltese tax return each year and confirm the conditions still hold. Breach a condition and the status is lost.

How to apply, from the US or Canada

1. Model the tax first. Compare MRP (15%, €7,500 floor, 75% pension test) against the GRP (15%, €15,000 floor, no pension test) and plain non-dom taxation (progressive rates, €5,000 minimum in some cases — see the remittance guide).
2. Engage an Authorised Registered Mandatory (ARM). You cannot file an MRP application yourself — only an ARM registered with the Malta Tax and Customs Administration can submit it, with the €2,500 fee.
3. Secure the qualifying property — purchase or 12-month-plus lease at the thresholds above.
4. Assemble evidence: pension documentation showing the 75% test, health insurance, police conduct certificates, passport documents.
5. On approval, complete residence formalities and biometrics; Identità issues your residence documentation. Then meet the day-count and filing conditions every year.

MRP vs the alternatives

Want permanent residence from day one and no annual tax-status conditions? That's the MPRP — roughly €100,000 in fees plus a €375,000 property, but no tax deal. Not a pensioner? The GRP gives the same 15% remittance rate with a €15,000 floor. Still working remotely? The Nomad Residence Permit (€42,000/yr income) taxes remote-work income at 10% after the first exempt year, but caps out at four years. Compare all four →