Malta VAT Return — Article 10 Quarterly & Article 11 Annual

Establish whether the client is Article 10 (standard periodic VAT, charging 18%/7%/5%) or Article 11 (small enterprise exemption, turnover below €35,000, simplified annual declaration). Confirm the VAT number format (MT + 8 digits), filing frequency, and the quarter or year being processed. If the client is Article 10 but turnover has crossed the Article 11 exit threshold, flag for voluntary upgrade discussion.

Gather all inputs needed for classification: full bank statement(s) for the period, sales invoices, purchase invoices from both local and foreign suppliers, and any credit notes. For Article 10 clients, confirm whether there are EU or non-EU supplier invoices that will trigger reverse charge. Identify any SaaS subscriptions (Google, Microsoft, Adobe, AWS, Notion, etc.) and request the legal entity name from the invoice to determine the correct reverse-charge box (EU: 9a/13a vs non-EU: 11/15).

Classify every bank-statement and invoice line against the Malta VAT Act box structure: standard-rate sales to Box 18/23, reduced-rate sales (7% accommodation/repairs to Box 18a/23a; 5% food/pharma to Box 19/24), EU B2B service sales to Box 1, intra-EU goods to Box 2, exports to Box 2, EU service reverse charge to Box 9a/13a and 3/6, non-EU reverse charge to Box 11/15 and 4/7, capital goods (gross ≥ €1,160) to Box 30/36, overheads to Box 31/37. Apply 10th Schedule hard blocks (entertainment, motor vehicles, tobacco, alcohol, pleasure craft) with no exceptions. Flag Tier-2 ambiguities — fuel/vehicle type, mixed-use phone lines (Melita, GO, EPIC), cash withdrawals, round-number owner transfers — for client clarification before finalising.

Aggregate classified lines into the Article 10 return boxes (or the 4-box Article 11 annual declaration for small enterprise clients). Compute output VAT (Boxes 3–7, 18–24), input VAT (Boxes 9–15, 27–38), and net payable or refundable position (Box 44 credit brought forward, Box 45 net due or Box 46 repayment claim). Cross-check: total sales per VAT return must reconcile to sales invoices; total EU reverse-charge base must reconcile to supplier invoices. Confirm the e-filing deadline: 21st of the month following the quarter end for Article 10 e-filers (e.g. Q1 due 21 April), or 15 March for the Article 11 annual declaration.

Perform a final pre-submission review: check that all reverse-charge entries are self-balancing (net cash effect zero for a fully taxable client), confirm no blocked inputs have been recovered, verify VIES numbers for all EU B2B zero-rated sales, and ensure the return is submitted via cfr.gov.mt VAT Online before the deadline. Where a repayment is claimed, note CFR's standard processing timeline. Record the submission confirmation number and file the supporting workpapers.