Last updated 20 August 2026
Malta added four new income tax schedules for families on 1 January 2026 — wider tax-free bands for married couples and parents who maintain one, or two or more, qualifying children. This page sets out those schedules, who qualifies, and what they are worth against 2025. Want your own number? Use the Malta take-home pay calculator.
From 1 January 2026, Malta added four new income tax schedules for families maintaining qualifying children: Married, 1 child and Married, 2 or more children for couples, and Parent, 1 child and Parent, 2 or more children for individuals. Each one widens the tax-free 0% band and the 15% band, so the same salary carries less income tax. A married couple with two or more children now pays no income tax on the first €22,500, against €15,000 for a couple without children; a parent with two or more children pays none on the first €18,500, against €13,000.
Nothing else about the tax changed this year. The four rates — 0%, 15%, 25% and 35% — are unchanged, and the base Single, Married and Parent bands are the same as 2025 (they were widened in Budget 2025, not this year). The child schedules are the one genuinely new element for 2026, and most Malta calculators have not yet added them. (MTCA / Budget 2026.)
The six family schedules for 2026. Each is the same four-rate table; what changes is the width of the tax-free 0% band and the 15% band. The four child rows are new for 2026; the base Married and Parent rows carried over unchanged from 2025.
| Situation | 0% up to | 15% band | 25% band | 35% over |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Married (couple) | €15,000 | €15,001 – €23,000 | €23,001 – €60,000 | €60,000 |
| Married, 1 child | €17,500 | €17,501 – €26,500 | €26,501 – €60,000 | €60,000 |
| Married, 2 or more children | €22,500 | €22,501 – €32,000 | €32,001 – €60,000 | €60,000 |
| Parent | €13,000 | €13,001 – €17,500 | €17,501 – €60,000 | €60,000 |
| Parent, 1 child | €14,500 | €14,501 – €21,000 | €21,001 – €60,000 | €60,000 |
| Parent, 2 or more children | €18,500 | €18,501 – €25,500 | €25,501 – €60,000 | €60,000 |
(Bands: MTCA 2026 tax-rate schedules, cross-checked against PwC, Deloitte, RSM and KPMG — verified 26 July 2026.)
The "2 or more children" rows are a floor, not exactly two: a family with three or more children uses the same schedule. For the Single schedule, the full seven-schedule table and the multiply-and-subtract formula, see the Malta income tax rates and brackets reference.
In 2025 there were only three schedules — Single, Married and Parent — so a married couple with children was taxed on the base Married rates; these child schedules did not exist in 2025. The table below shows what the same married household with two or more children keeps after Income Tax and Social Security, computed by this site's own tax engine for each year.
| Salary | Take-home in 2025 | Take-home in 2026 | Extra in 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| €25,000 | €20,800 | €22,125 | €1,325 |
| €30,000 | €24,220 | €25,967 | €1,747 |
| €45,000 | €35,470 | €37,417 | €1,947 |
At €30,000 the same household keeps almost €1,750 a year more in 2026 than it would have in 2025 — the value of the wider 0% and 15% bands the child schedule brings. The gain grows with salary until income clears the 15% band. Social Security is unchanged by your situation; only the income tax falls.
To use one of the four child schedules you must be resident in Malta and maintain a qualifying child. A child qualifies if they are not over 18, or over 18 but not over 23 and in full-time education at a university, college or other institution.
The enhanced rates also carry a nationality condition. For the married-with-child rates, at least one spouse must be a national of Malta or another EU or EEA member state, or a Long-Term Resident of Malta whose child was born in Malta and is resident in Malta; the parent-with-child rates apply the same condition to the parent. A married household with only one earner does not get the child rates and stays on the base Married schedule.
A single parent — unmarried, widowed, divorced or separated — with sole custody of a qualifying child may instead compute tax under the base Married schedule if it is more beneficial, though not under the two married-with-child schedules. Such a single parent may use the Parent, Parent 1 child or Parent 2 children schedules in their own right if they meet the conditions above.
You declare your situation to the tax authority on form FS4, which now carries nationality and Long-Term-Resident fields. The enhanced bands are staggered over 2026, 2027 and 2028 and continue until the last qualifying child ages out — turning 18, or 23 if still in full-time education. Eligibility is subject to determination by the MTCA; this is a guide, and the calculator applies whichever schedule you select without checking eligibility.
The child schedules are one piece of a Maltese salary. For every income tax schedule and the multiply-and-subtract formula, see the Malta income tax rates and brackets reference; for the second compulsory deduction, the Malta social security contributions reference; and if you also do qualifying part-time work, how Malta taxes part-time work at a flat 10% final rate. To put it together for your own salary and situation, use the Malta take-home pay calculator.
Rates verified 26 July 2026. The 2025-versus-2026 figures are computed by this site's own tax engine.
Applies to resident individuals maintaining a qualifying child on the relevant schedule, with no taxable benefits, bonuses or other adjustments. Estimates, not financial advice.