Below please find a quick overview of all measures announced yesterday:-
| Wage supplement: the €800 grant has been extended until September for the the following sectors:Touristic accomodation, travel agencies, language schools, events organisers and air transport. Other sectors currently with a €800 supplement will be brought down to €600. Other sectors where the markets have now re-opened will move from Annex A to Annex B (such as Hairdressers). Ad hoc agreement with the media extended till September. | Fuel: Fuel prices will decrease by 7c as from Monday 15th June: Petrol @ €1.34 and diesel @€1.21. The decrease is being affected through a decrease in the fuel tax. |
| Commercial utilities: For the summer months of July, August and September, government will be paying 50% of commercial utility bills, capped at €1,500 per applicant. | Tax deferrals: The taxes included Provisional Tax, VAT and National Insurance Contribution on salaries. The period was extended to cover another two months, up to the end of June. National Insurance, income tax and maternity contributions will now start to be paid from 1 July. Other taxes due by companies have been deferred to the end of August 2020. Companies can pay the deferred tax by May 2021, with no interest charged. |
| Rents: A €2,500 grant will be given to those falling under the respective annexes for the months of July, August and September. | Tax refunds: A cheque with tax refunds will be sent in the coming days to 210,000 employees. They will receive €11.5 million. Tax refund cheques to all workers who worked during 2018 – an average family where both parents work will receive up to €328. |
| First time buyers: The measure will be adjusted to include also those who already own a property.The scheme will be modified for all contracts taking place from 9 June, unless a person has benefited from the scheme since 2013. | Property: Taxation on buying or selling of property will be reduced even for those who have already signed a promise of sale. This will be extended till March 2021. For property costing less than €400,000: Stamp duty will be reduced from 5% to 1.5%on contracts to be signed between June 9 and March 31 of next year. Tax for those selling property under development or those contracts made after June 1 up to March 31, 2021 will be reduced from 8% to 5%. |
| Personal Vouchers: All persons over the age of 16 will be given €100 in 5 vouchers of €20 , of these €80 are redeemable in bars, restaurants, licensed accommodation and €20 in retail outlets that had to be closed down by the preventive measures, excluding supermarkets. | Weddings: Couples who had to postpone their wedding will be given a refund of €2,000 out of an allocated €2 million budget for this line item. |
| In-work benefit: There will be an improvement in the in-work benefit while a special supplement of €250 will be given for each family that benefits from the same scheme. | |
| Licenses: Payment for licenses to the Trade Department and the MTA will be waived. This includes hawkers, ironmongers, tourist guides, restaurants and hotels. This will cost €5 million. | Homes for the Elderly: A €2 million fund has been set aside for homes for the elderly |
| Conversion of tax credits into grants: The Malta Enterprise scheme for microinvest will see 30% of credits being given to companies, transmuted to cash grants. They will receive about €2,000 for Maltese Busineses and €2,500 for Gozitan businesses. | A new underwriting facility for private enterprise bonds will be set up through the Malta Development Bank, which will close this year. |
| Re-engineering of business models: €2.5 million will be allocated to help businesses adapt their business model. Each company will get a maximum of €5,000 through Malta Enterprise. | New industrial infrastructure with an investment of €400 million – this investment will prepare the industrial infrastructure for the future. This will include work on an expansion of the Life Sciences Park, the regeneration of the Kordin Business Incubation Centre, a new logistics hub and the transformation of the ex-Marsa landfill into a new industrial park for SMEs. |
| Skills Devlopment Scheme: €5 million is being earmarked for this scheme to be operated by Malta Enterprise, aimed at helping companies provide in-house training. | NGOs: An allocation of €3 million to ease the burden of non-governmental organisations |
| Trade Fairs Refunds: Through the Development Bank and Malta Enterprise, businesses which had been set to participate in international trade fairs will be given an 80% refund. | Refund of 33% in port charges for those ships that bring cargo to our country in order to support the supply chains of our economy. |
| Export Grant: An allocation of €10 million for an Export credit guarantee scheme, in order to encourage investment towards exports to new markets like Africa, the Middle East and Latin America. | A 10% refund will also be given on container discharge fees for import and export but not transhipment. |
| Construction Industry: €4 million has been allocated to the construction industry with the aim of modernising equipment. The assistance will be capped at €200,000 per application. | Support for export promotion. To reach new markets we need to invest more in supporting digital marketing. A budget of €400,000 has been allocated to Trade Malta to reimburse half of the costs involved, with a maximum of €10,000 for local businesses to invest in campaigns aimed at foreign markets. |
| Advertising: A €5 million budget is being afforded to those businesses who want to advertise Maltese products both locally and abroad | |
| Green Recovery: Government is finalising a plan so that by next budget, it can unveil a low-carbon development strategy. |
Malta Enterprise shall be uploading the details of the various measures and schemes on their website. I suggest you follow the space of the below links:-
At EMCS (www.emcs.com.mt) we can assist you in helping you re-engineer your business and review & re-align your operating model base don a detailed business plan. We also specialise in preparing ad hoc training sessions tailor made for the needs of your business and your people. We can also assist you in applying for all the above schemes to finance all of this and also apply for other schemes mentioned above. Feel free to contact me on silvan.mifsud@emcs.com.mt
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