Tax on wages

Hey,

I know you don't get taxed on your wages until you've reached a certain amount- anyone know what that amount is?

I was under the impression it was 8500. But I got taxed today and I've only earned just over 7000 so far. I'm probably being pathetic and quibbling, I'm just a bit disappointed as I thought I had one more month tax free :(!

thanks!

we disucssed this before: https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=48709

you should pay tax each month on a proportionate basis, not only once you reach your tax allowance part way through the year

Thanks hammersfan, I totally forgot about that! Oh well, my tax free months are over and such is life!

The link in the previous post took me to a table saying;
Chargeable income 0-8500
Rate 0%
Deduct € 0.00

Chargeable income 8501-14500
Rate 15%
Deduct € 1275

etc.

So I assumed I wouldn't get charged any tax until I hit the 8500 mark, but I guess it's not worked out like that. I'm quite clueless about these things.

Thanks for ur help

I also got charged 11% which seems random. HR in my company are not able to help (they don't know!) so perhaps I would be best trying to contact our company accountant? Mainly for guidance so I just really understand why I'm getting charged each amount. Makes me feel better when I understand and can work it out and pre-empt my deductions each month!

Probabaly best to talk to the Company Accountant. My guess is that as we are in a new Financial Year now, all your 2010 earnings were tax free because you didn't earn enough to reach the threshold of €8,500, but for 2011 they've anticipated you will and thus proportioned it out over the whole year and that proprtion equates to 11% per month.

Tim

spot on hammers - you get a full years tax allowance even if you aren't here for the full tax year

That makes perfect sense, thanks everyone :)

Hi Iamharibo Ive just been reading through this post plus the previous post we were referred to and I was taken to the Inland Revenue Malta tax page. You must be classed as a resident then because the rates for non residents are: 0 - 700 taxed at 0% 701 - 3100 20% 3101 - 7800 30% 7801 and over 35%. My boyfriend was told by HR of the company that he is going to that it would be 35% (albiet not once you reach a certain amount so we were assuming it would be 35% of everything!) What was the process to be classed as a resident? Plus Im assuming that the first however much amount that is untaxable (different depending on if resident or non resident) is only when you first start working in the country would that be right? Otherwise if the above was applied every new tax year then every year there would be months where no tax is applied. Let me know guys

if you have a Maltese work permit you are a resident - the non-resident tax rates only apply to Maltese living overseas

ps tax rates are

single

0 -8,500 0%
8,501 -14,500 15%
14,501 -19,500 25%
19,501 & over 35%

married

0 - 11,900 0%
11,901 -21,200 15%
21,201 -28,700 25%
28,701 & over 35%

Fantastic thanks for the info George! All the more money to enjoy a drink with the expats!

OK so how do you pay?  Monthly... Quarterly... Annually, is it automatically removed from your check  ???


Sorry if it's a repeat but I did not read everything....  The lengthy paragraphs above looked too complicated for my little brain.

Chad

since all employers must use an FSS systemyour tax should be deducted automatically from your pay each month (or however often you are paid) along with your social security contributions. don't you get a payslip? there are all the details on it...

still unemployed...  but working on taking care of that..  Just good to have the info.

Last guy that wanted to hire me tried to do so with shady contracts so I moved on...

Chad

oh i see. thought you got a job already? well then all the info should be on the payslip. and it will also say for how many weeks you are paying social security plus a letter in brackets which signifies your category for social security (i.e. how much you should pay). you can always check and confirm the amount of tax you should pay and social security with the rates on ird.gov.mt Be careful as it is your responsibility to pay taxes if the employer's FSS (final settlement system) does not deduct your taxes correctly you can still be fined by the IRD, so make sure you will pay the correct amount. if the employer's FSS does not deduct the correct amount, you can just pay the balance together with a tax return which you would receive from IRD - this is usually received around may/june after the end of the year when you started working :)