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Publication of notice by the Malta Business Registry: Additional COVID-19 measures

Author: Stephanie J. Coppini
Published on

On 25th March 2020, the Malta Business Registry (the “MBR”) published an important notice on its website in relation to the following matters.

Annual Returns and Annual Financial Statements

The MBR reiterated the statutory position that every company is required to submit to the Registrar an Annual Return accompanied by the appropriate registration fee by not later than 42 days from the anniversary date of the company’s registration date, and the annual Financial Statements generally by not later than 10 months and 42 days (in the case of private companies) or 7 months and 42 days (in the case of public companies) from its financial year-end, and that these are to be filed on time.

The Annual Return and the Financial Statements can be filed electronically by being registered through the MBR’s online filing portal at https://registry.mbr.mt/ROC/.

The relevant payments of the Annual Return fee are to be effected to either one of the following bank accounts:

  • BOV account with IBAN: MT09VALL22013000000040025310447; or
  • HSBC account with IBAN: MT91MMEB44026000000002173649001.

As already communicated by the MBR, like with any other documents, the Annual Return and the Financial Statements can also be submitted in paper format and may be left in an envelope and delivered in the dedicated letterbox at the entrance of the MBR’s premises. Processing of the documents posted therein will start after 5 days from delivery to minimise any health risks for the MBR’s employees.

Nonetheless, in view of the current circumstances in Malta due to the COVID-19 measures, the MBR introduced a new measure to ease the filing burdens on companies, in that if a company is effected by the COVID-19 situation and the filing of its Annual Return and/or its Financial Statements falls within the period of 23rd March 2020 and 31st May 2020, the relevant penalties on late filings of these statutory documents will be waived by the Registrar, and not imposed on the company if the Annual Return and/or its Financial Statements are filed with the MBR by 31st July 2020.

Other Documents

If a company has any other additional notifications to submit with the MBR but it cannot due to the COVID-19 situation, it is suggested that the company informs the MBR via email on info@mbr.mt. This is important because if such email is not sent within the period generally allowed by law for each notification as applicable, no revisions of penalties will be considered on such a company.

Such email must include all the following details:

  • name of the company;
  • registration number of the company;
  • type of notification/return (the statutory form, for example, Form T); and
  • reasons why such a return cannot be filed.
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