How to hire remote employees in

Malta

Sure, it’s a small country. But Malta is home to plenty of great remote talent. In the next few minutes, you’ll learn exactly how you can hire remote talent in Malta—without paying thousands in fees and spending months talking to lawyers about labor laws.

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Employment requirements

Country snapshot

CURRENCY

Euro (EUR)

EMPLOYER TAXES

10%

PAYROLL FREQUENCY

Monthly

OFFICIAL LANGUAGE

Maltese, English

Why hire independent contractors in Malta

Hiring contractors is normally the easier, faster, more flexible choice—but don’t just take it from us. Below are the specific benefits and drawbacks to hiring contractors in Malta.

It’s the fastest way to hire globally

Hiring employees takes months, at the minimum. When you hire with Thera's locally-generated contracts, it’s a matter of days or weeks. This means you can hire the best talent, fast, without losing them to a hellish procession of paperwork.

It’s a lot cheaper

It costs just $0 to sign up for Thera, then $25 per month to hire your contractors with Thera. If you hired employees manually (or did contracting on your own), you’d likely be on the hook for thousands of dollars each month. Setting up an entity alone can cost tens of thousands of dollars.

It’s more flexible for you & your team

HHiring contractors in Malta means you’re generally not on the hook for things like health insurance and paid time off. This makes hiring flexible for you, and it gives your talent more options.

Can be less risky than hiring employees

Hiring employees is a bigger commitment, and can open you up to increased liabilities and regulations. When you hire contractors overseas, your biggest risk is misclassification—but laws surrounding contractor classification are often significantly more straightforward.

Some people want to be employees

The contractor life isn’t for everyone—some people want the security that being an employee often appears to provide. Though it’s rare, this does happen, and it’s one disadvantage of manage an all-contractor team.

You might not have as much control over your talent

Most countries’ contractor-employer relationship laws stipulate that the employer can’t set fixed working hours, among other things. These laws give contractors more freedom over how and when they do their work than an employee would have. In reality, however, most contractors are willing & able to work on the company’s schedule—it’s a matter of setting expectations beforehand.

What to know before you hire in Malta

Hiring in Malta can be confusing, but it’s easier when you know what you’re doing. If you want to hire remote talent in Malta, you have two options: Hire people as contractors, or hire them as employees.

If you want to successfully hire in Malta, you have two options:

Hire talent as contractors

Laws about hiring contractors are significantly more simple in Malta. Onboarding talent takes days, not weeks or months. Both you, the company, and your talent have more flexibility. And in many cases, since you’re remote, the talent you’re hiring is better classified as a contractor, anyway. Of course, it’s not possible in every case, but it’s what we built Thera for.

Hire talent as employees

This is the long route. You can either establish a physical presence with an entity and register as an employer, or you can use an Employer-of-Record (EOR) solution. Odds are, you’ll find using an EOR to be the easier route. Still, using an EOR in Malta is expensive—it can often be $500 per month per employee—and sometimes prone to lengthy onboarding times.

Hire contractors in a couple clicks with Thera

How can I pay people in Malta

If you’re hiring contractors in Malta, you can pay them with Thera in a single click. You won’t need to worry about complicated wire transfers, fees, or currency conversions. We’ll take care of it all. Just make a click and your contractor will get paid in their currency of choice. This is a valuable bonus for talent in countries where the local currency is particularly weak—most people appreciate the ability to receive their payment in stronger currencies.

If you want to hire employees in Malta

If you’ve read up until this point, you’ll know that it’s easier, cheaper, and more flexible to hire contractors in Malta than employees. Still, there are valid reasons why you might want to hire employees instead. The content below is for you—we’ll cover employer taxes and obligations in Malta.

Taxes in Malta

Employer tax

Social Security. A flat rate of 48.05 EUR is added for annual income over 24,986 EUR.

Leave

Paid Time Off (PTO)

PTO is calculated by the:

If an employee has completed 1 year of full-time employment, they are entitled to 192hrs basic leave entitlement plus 24 hours in lieu of the 3 Public Holidays that fall on weekends.
An employee can carry over up to 50% of their paid leave to the following year, so long as there is an agreement with the employer.

Public Holidays

There are 14 public holidays.

Sick Days

The duration of sick leave entitlement provided to workers is dependent on how long they have been employed by their employer:

Sick leave is regulated under the Wage Regulation Order (WRO).
In cases where an employee is not covered by the WRO, the benefit is 2 weeks paid sick leave per year.
After the 2 weeks, an employee may be entitled to a sickness benefit through Social Security.
A medical certificate must be provided to use sick leave.

Maternity Leave

Maternity leave in Malta is 18 weeks and starts 4 weeks before the expected due date. At least 6 weeks after the birth must be taken.

The employer is responsible for paying 100% of wages for the first 14 weeks.

Paternity Leave

There are no provisions in the law regarding paternity leave.

Parental Leave

Parents are entitled to 4 months paid leave for the birth of a child, adoption, fostering, or general care until the child reaches the age of 8.

To be eligible, the employee must have been employed for at least 12 consecutive months.

Other Leave

None.

Marriage Leave

In Malta, 1 working day for employees not covered by the Wage Regulation Order.

Bereavement Leave

2 working days for employees not covered by the Wage Regulation Order.

Termination

Termination Process

In Malta, an employee can be terminated for just cause, redundancy, or due to reaching the age of retirement.

If requested by an employee who has completed at least 1 month of employment, the employer is obligated to provide an employment certificate stating dates employed and a description of duties. If the employee requests, the reason for termination must also be included.

Notice Period

The notice period in Malta is:

Less than 1 month of employment – No notice required
1- 6 months employment- 1-week notice
6 months- 2 years of employment- 2 weeks’ notice
2-4 years of employment- 4 weeks’ notice
4-7 years of employment- 8 weeks’ notice
7-8 years of employment- 9 weeks’ notice
8-9 years of employment- 10 weeks’ notice
9-10 years of employment- 11 weeks’ notice
10+ years of employment- 12 weeks’ notice

It is possible to pay the employee in lieu of notice. However, if an employee is on notice and chooses not to work during this period or resigns without giving notice, they are obligated to pay the employer 50% of the wages that would have been earned during the notice period.

Severance Pay

There are no statutory laws on severance pay.

Probation Period

The probation period is 12 months. During this time, an employee may be dismissed with 1 weeks’ notice if they have completed at least 1 month of employment.

An employee and employer can agree on a shorter probation period; however, the agreement is binding and must be upheld.

Employee requirements in Malta

Working Hours

A standard full-time work week is 40 hours or 8 hours per day.

Overtime

Overtime is regulated by the Wage Regulation Order (WRO) which outlines different overtime rules by industry.

If an employee is not covered by the WRO, overtime is 150% of the regular pay rate of work over 40 hours per week and averaged over 4 weeks.

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