How Malta taxes part-time work

The 10% part-time rate

Income from qualifying part-time work is taxed at a fixed 10%, and that tax is final: within the annual cap it is not added to your other income and need not be declared in your annual tax return. It is a much lower rate than the normal progressive bands, which reach 15%, 25% and 35% — the point of the scheme is to keep tax on a second, part-time job simple and light.

The 10% applies up to an annual cap that depends on the kind of work:

• Part-time employment — 10% on up to €10,000 of gross part-time pay a year.
• Part-time self-employment — 10% on up to €12,000 of net profit (turnover less allowable expenses) a year.

Where a married couple both qualify, each spouse has their own cap. The 10% rate has applied since 2022; part-time income earned before 1 January 2022 was taxed at 15%. (Rate and caps: MTCA — verified 20 August 2026.)

Who qualifies

The part-time rate is not for everyone with a part-time job. The basic condition is that part-time work must not be your only or main occupation — you must already be one of the following:

• a full-time employee, or
• a pensioner, or
• a full-time student (including apprentices).

So a single person whose only job is part-time does not qualify — unless they are a pensioner or a full-time student. A married person who works only part-time still qualifies, as long as their husband or wife is a full-time employee, a pensioner, or a student or apprentice. For part-time self-employment there are extra conditions — you register with Jobsplus and the work must be for someone other than your full-time employer. (Conditions: MTCA — verified 20 August 2026.)

How you claim it — and can opt out

The 10% is a benefit you choose to apply; it is not automatic. You declare and pay the tax on form TA23 for part-time employment, or form TA22 for part-time self-employment, and the tax due is payable by 30 April of the following year. Because it is a final tax, income taxed this way inside the cap stays off your normal tax return.

You can also opt out: if the flat 10% would leave you worse off than the normal rates — for instance if your total income is low enough to fall in the 0% band — you may choose to have the part-time income taxed at the normal progressive rates instead. (MTCA; opt-out per PwC Tax Summaries — verified 20 August 2026.)

What happens above the €10,000 cap

The 10% only covers part-time income up to the cap. Anything above it is declared in your tax return and taxed at the normal rates, on top of your other income. Malta's own worked example: on €15,000 of part-time employment income you pay 10% on the first €10,000, and the remaining €5,000 is taxed at the normal rates. The table shows the final 10% tax and the amount that spills over the €10,000 employment cap:

(The 10% tax is 10% of the income up to the €10,000 cap; the excess above the cap is taxed at the normal rates on your return. MTCA example — verified 20 August 2026.)

For part-time self-employment the same idea applies against the higher €12,000 net-profit cap: €15,000 of net profit would leave €3,000 to declare above the cap.

How this fits your main job — and this calculator

The 10% part-time tax sits alongside your main income, it does not replace it: your full-time salary is still taxed under the normal Single, Married or Parent schedule, and the qualifying part-time income is taxed separately at the flat 10%. The 10% is an income tax, and it is the whole of the tax on that income: because you only qualify when you already pay Social Security through a full-time job, a pension or your studies, you make no additional Social Security contribution on the qualifying part-time income. The Social Security on your main salary is unchanged — see the Malta social security contributions reference for how that works. (No SSC on qualifying part-time income: MTCA Manual on the Taxation of Part-Time Work.)

This site's Malta take-home calculator does not model the part-time flat-rate tax: it works out the normal progressive Income Tax and Social Security on a single salary, with no separate 10% part-time stream, so it will not produce the part-time final-tax figure. Use the rule on this page for qualifying part-time income, and the calculator for your main salary.

The full picture

Part-time work is 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 for the 2026 family rates, the Malta 2026 parent and child rates. To work out your main salary, use the Malta take-home pay calculator.