Deferral of payment of certain duties and taxes
Duty
Following to the proposal of the Customs Department to defer certain excise duty payments, Legal Notice 146 of 2020 (Deferment of Excise Duty payable during the Months of April and May 2020 Regulations, 2020) was published. The notice prescribes, that:
- Duty on all excise goods and services payable on various dates during the month of April 2020 will become due 60 days later, but not later than 28th June 2020.
- Duty on all excise goods and services payable on various dates during the month of May 2020 will become due 60 days later, but not later than 26th July 2020.
VAT
The Commissioner for Revenue amended the Guidelines on the COVID-19 Tax Deferral Scheme, clarifying that beneficiaries of the scheme not having quarterly periods, should settle the deferred VAT in two equal instalments as follows:
- for VAT due in March 2020, by 15th June 2020 and 15th September 2020;
- for VAT due in April 2020, by 15th July 2020 and 15th October 2020.
It was also earlier noted by the Commissioner that taxpayers who chose to pay VAT under the Mini One Stop Shop (MOSS) are not eligible to benefit from the COVID-19 Tax Deferral Scheme.
Extension of SME Grant Schemes in view of COVID-19
The Ministry for Foreign and European Affairs has announced new deadlines (15th May, 17th June and 30th June 2020) for both the SME Consultancy Services Grant Scheme and e-Commerce Grant Scheme. It was done in view of ever-changing circumstances of the pandemic when SMEs need to reevaluate their business strategies.
Under the e-Commerce Grant Scheme SMEs can benefit from non-repayable Grants, part-financing up to 50% of the eligible expenditure on investment required to develop an e-commerce website and/or mobile application to enable online payments or booking systems through the integration of an online payment gateway. The grant is capped at maximum of €5,000.
SME Consultancy Services Grant, which is capped at €4,000, is a scheme supports SMEs to part-finance 80% of costs for external consultancy services to assess and evaluate their operations, processes and systems; and the potential of the enterprise to undertake proposed investments, aimed at the potential future business growth and at rendering it more competitive.
FIAU Notice
The FIAU issued a notice reminding that all Subject Persons to submit the Risk Evaluation Questionnaire (REQ) without undue delay by not later than 4th May 2020 at 17:00
As from 5th May 2020, the REQ will only be available to be completed for information purposes. Subject Persons who fail to submit the REQ by 4th May 2020 are still encouraged to complete the REQ but may still be subject to an imposition of an administrative penalty in terms of Regulation 19 of the Prevention of Money Laundering and Funding of Terrorism Regulations (S.L. 373.01).
EU Update
On 20th April 2020 the European Commission together with several partners launched a European COVID-19 Data Platform to enable the rapid collection and sharing of available research data. The platform, part of the ERAvsCorona Action Plan, marks another milestone in the EU’s efforts to support researchers in Europe and around the world in the fight against the coronavirus outbreak.
For further information please contact:
Jonathan Corrieri, Partner
Corrieri Cilia, Valletta, Malta
e: jonathan@corriericilia.com
t: +356 2017 3205
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