Legal, Technical and International Affairs Department

The Legal, Technical and International Affairs Department has three main functions distributed among its Directorates. It is responsible for drafting and interpreting tax legislation and to provide advice to Government Departments, Agencies and Authorities on domestic and international taxation matters. It monitors relevant developments in the local and international fields and ensures that administrative practices and legislation contribute to the enhancement of Malta’s reputation and competitiveness in these fields. It also represents the Malta Tax and Customs Administration (MTCA) in the Law Courts.

The following provides an overview of the main responsibilities of the respective Directorates.

Direct and Indirect Taxation Directorates

These Directorates are primarily responsible for all matters concerning tax legislation generally, including drafting new tax legislation (including amendments to existing tax law) and interpretation of such legislation with a view to bring into effect the policies of the Ministry for Finance. They are involved in negotiations at EU level on new initiatives, pro-actively engaging in multiple fora tackling the future of taxation as well as emergent and topical matters concerning taxation. They are also responsible for dealing with technical matters relative to tax legislation as may be required by internal and external stakeholders, including the drafting of guidelines, and managing projects concerning taxes.

International Cooperation Directorate

This Directorate acts as the Central Liaison Office (CLO) in respect of Malta’s commitments in relation to exchange of information and other forms of tax cooperation as per EU Directives and other international instruments/standards, including tax treaties. The CLO has all the necessary legal powers and authority to act on behalf of the Competent Authority of Malta, the latter being the central point of contact for foreign tax authorities wishing to exchange information with the Maltese tax administration. Cooperation on the basis of international instruments takes place mainly in the form of two categories:

1. Exchange of information on request, where a Competent Authority in one jurisdiction requests information from another Competent Authority in a different jurisdiction; and
2. Automatically exchanging pre-established categories of information with other Competent Authorities in a different jurisdictions.

This Directorate monitors developments within the EU and other international fora in the tax area, in order to ensure that Malta continues to adhere to agreed standards of tax cooperation.

Objections and Appeals

This Directorate is tasked with the resolution of disputes between taxpayers and the MTCA in an efficient manner. It -

• treats requests for income tax objections and VAT reviews filed by taxpayers following assessments issued by the MTCA,
• deals with litigation between taxpayers and the MTCA before the Courts of Malta and Gozo in relation to all taxes,
• assists in criminal prosecution for offences against the Revenue Acts, and
• deals with all other disputes involving the MTCA.