Income Tax Act (Cap. 123)
Income Tax Act (Cap. 123), article 28
28. (1) Subject to the provis ions of article 12(1)( k), where a
person not resident in Malta carries on the business of shipown er or
charterer and any ship owned or chartered by him calls at a por t in
Malta, his full profits arising from the carriage of passengers ,
mails, livestock or goods shipped in Malta shall be deemed to
accrue in Malta:
Provided that this article sha ll not apply to goods which are
brought to Malta solely for transhipment.
(2) Where for any accounting period such person produces the
certificate mentioned in sub-article (3), the profits arising i n Malta
from his shipping business for such period, before deducting an y
allowances for depreciation, shall be a sum bearing the same ra tio
to the sums receivable in respec t of the carriage of passengers ,
mails, livestock and goods shipped in Malta as the ratio for th e said
period shown by the certificate of the total profits to the tot al sum
receivable by him in respect of the carriage of passengers, mai ls,
livestock and goods.
(3) The certificate shall be one issued by or on behalf of any
income tax authority with regard to which the Commissioner is
satisfied that it computes and assesses the full profits of the non-
resident person from his shipping business, on a basis not
materially different from that prescribed by this Act, and shal l
certify for any accounting period as regards such business -
(a) the ratio of the profits or, where there are no profits, of
the loss, as computed for the purposes of income tax
by that authority, without making any allowance by
way of depreciation, to the total sums receivable in
respect of carriage of passe ngers, mails, livestock or
goods; and
(b) the ratio of the allowance for depreciation as computed
by that authority to the said total sums receivable in
respect of the carriage of p assengers, mails, livestock
and goods.
(4) Where at the time of assessment, the provisions of sub-
article (2) cannot for any reason be satisfactorily applied, th e
profits arising in Malta may be computed on a fair percentage o f
the full sum receivable on acc ount of the carriage of passenger s,
mails, livestock and goods shipped in Malta:
Provided that where any person has been assessed for any
year of assessment by reference to such percentage, he shall be
entitled to claim at any time within six years after the end of such
INCOME TAX [CAP. 123. 131
year of assessment that his liability to tax for that year be
recomputed on the basis pr ovided by sub-article (2).
(5) Where the Commissioner decides that the call of a ship
belonging to a particular non-resident shipowner or charterer a t a
port in Malta is casual and that further calls by that ship or others in
the same ownership are improbable, the provisions of this artic le
shall not apply to the profits of such ship and no tax shall be
chargeable thereon.
Non-resident air
transport, cable
and wireless
undertakings.
Substituted by:
XLIX. 1974.4.
Renumbered by:
XVII. 1994.2.
Amended by:
I. 2010.20.
Text read from the consolidated PDF published by Legislation Malta. Tables, figures and marginal notes may be incomplete or out of place: the official PDF is authoritative. General information, not legal, tax or accounting advice.