Advice regarding our car.

I moved to Malta with my daughter just under 2 weeks ago and I plan to apply for our E-cards.  My partner visits regularly but won't be becoming a resident (he works abroad so wont spend the days in Malta considered enough for forced residency - 184 I think?).

We have brought our car over with us (2006 Golf 1.9 Diesel) and it's in my name and I've owned it for more than 2 years.  I understand that as soon as I apply for the E-Card I need to register the car here too.  When we go back to England will I have to pay any export fee or tax?  I haven't found anything to say I will but things here aren't always clear I'm told and it doesn't hurt to ask. 

Our other option is for me to sell the car to my partner and to take it out of Malta for over 24hrs every 6 months (this isn't an issue for us). 

I just want to make sure that if we go for option 2 it's legal, allowed, etc. 

Does anyone have any advice or direct experience with either scenario?  We don't know how long we plan on staying here so I want the easiest option in terms of getting the car back to the UK when the time comes.

Thanks in advance.

first thing I will say is you are obliged to apply for the e-residency card at or before 90 days

Hi Alanaos,

The only option that will work is registering the car here in Malta.

If you sell the car to your partner it still is only allowed to stay in Malta 6 months out of every 12 ! A 24 hour visit to Sicilly will not be enough.

And, as a resident of Malta, you are not allowed to drive a foreign plated car . Only the owner ( your partner).

You will not have to pay taxes when the car leaves the island. In fact, the car has to leave Malta, otherwise the taxes are payable, even in 5 years time ( as just happened to a friend who left Malta after 5 years).

Cheers
Ricky

Yes Toon, I'm well aware of that. We only arrived last week and there's no rush right now.

That's great info Ricky. I've been given so much conflicting advice about what is and isn't allowed from people we know already living here.  I doubt we'll stay 5 years so registering it sounds like the way forward.

Read this from  Malta government website..........

https://www.gov.mt/en/Life%20Events/Mov … sport.aspx

Be aware that to register the vehicle in Malt and be exempt from the registration tax you will have to prove that you have owned the vehicle for more than two years and that the vehicle has been outside of Malta for at least two years before your application.
They are very strict and will require bank statements etc .

Terry

Cheers Terry.  The proof won't be a problem thankfully.  I've got the registration doc showing how long I've owned the car for, we had a service done in the UK before we left so the receipt from that should prove the car was still there a couple of weeks back and of course, the ticket from the ferry crossing when we bought it in from Sciscily.

I don't know whether you're already aware, but you need to complete a transfer of residency form within 30 days of the car arriving, or you won't be able to apply for exemption from the registration tax.  When you hand the form in, you won't be able to drive your car until you get a temporary permit.  That can take about two weeks, but we phoned after a week and they checked the form and documents we sent were okay, then emailed a copy of it to us.

Sam4321 wrote:

I don't know whether you're already aware, but you need to complete a transfer of residency form within 30 days of the car arriving, or you won't be able to apply for exemption from the registration tax.  When you hand the form in, you won't be able to drive your car until you get a temporary permit.  That can take about two weeks, but we phoned after a week and they checked the form and documents we sent were okay, then emailed a copy of it to us.


They should give you the temp permit when you hand the form in, they certainly did with ours.
If they don't give you one, ask for it before you leave the counter.

Terry

Another question.  Once the transfer of residency has been completed, providing he is insured, will my partner be able to drive the car when he visits (as a non resident)?

tearnet wrote:

They should give you the temp permit when you hand the form in, they certainly did with ours.
If they don't give you one, ask for it before you leave the counter.

Terry


I don't know whether it's changed, or my husband did it wrong.  He handed the form in at Transport Malta, like it said on the form, then was told they only check it and forward it on to the Ministry of Finance who issue the permit, so they couldn't give him one there and then.

It looks as thought the time limit has been reduced to 20 days.  I had better get the wheels in motion then!