Those who apply for an exemption for vehicle registration tax would need to show they lived 24 months outside Malta from the date of the issuance of the residency document. This was held in a judgement delivered by the Administrative Review Tribunal on 9 October 2025. The case was Guido Gijbels vs Finance Ministry et.
The applicant asked the tribunal to overturn a decision in which his application to have an exemption from the motor vehicle registration tax was rejected. Gijbels explained that he applied for the exemption in August 2024, after he immigrated to Malta from the UK in July.
He applied for his residency card at the end of July. The board at the Ministry of Finance asked for more information in August but Identity Malta’s appointment for the residency card took longer. Nonetheless, Gijbels passed on a list of documents, his employment history and energy bills in the UK. In October 2024, he was informed in writing that his application for the tax exemption was refused. The applicant insisted that he qualified for this exemption.
The ministry disputed the applicant’s claim, insisting he did not show that he lived abroad for a continuous period of 24 months.
To register his residency, he had to file a number of documents in original. There was an exchange of emails with the ministry on the subject. The applicant explained further that he was following the instructions of the competent authorities and accused the ministry of misguiding him on the options available to him.
The chairman of the board within the Finance Ministry testified that the applicant became a Maltese resident at the end of August, but he was already in Malta. Therefore, he was not a continuous resident outside Malta for the previous 24 months. He denied suggesting giving hints that the applicant qualified for the exemption. The chairman insisted that the 24 months start from when the Maltese residency card is issued.
The Tribunal held that Article 19(3)(f) of the Motor Vehicles Registration and Licensing Act reads:
“(3) The following motor vehicles shall, upon registration with the Authority, be exempt from the payment of registration tax
(f)any M1 motor vehicle or a cycle which is the personal property of a private individual and is being brought permanently into Malta by the individual when he is transferring his normal residence from a place outside Malta to a place in Malta, provided that the vehicle qualifies for such exemption. The said exemption shall be given under those conditions, restrictions or limitations prescribed by the minister responsible for finance.”
The conditions lay down that the applicant of the exemption must have been outside Malta for the previous 24 months from having his ordinary residence. Additionally, the applicant must apply before he becomes a Maltese ordinary resident.
The applicant held that he had to come to Malta before applying to make the necessary preparations. Subsidiary legislation defines “transfer of residence” as the actual transfer of the ordinary residence of a person from a place outside Malta to a place in Malta with the date of transfer being the date of issue of the residence document or the date as declared with the Commissioner for Revenue in the case of Maltese applicants”.
Therefore, the law states that the residence document is the document which the board considers as the starting point. The Tribunal disagreed with how the board was interpreting the law. The law then allows that a person would still be resident outside Malta until a residency card is issued. In this case although the applicant arrived in July, since the residency card was issued in August 2024, then that date is when one is to calculate the 24 months. If the interpretation of the law would be as the board is adopting, then nobody would be eligible for the exemption. A person who applies for a residence document, must be in Malta to do the biometrics.
The tribunal upheld the applicant’s claims and annulled the board’s decision.
For more information you can contact one of our Team Members at Mifsud & Mifsud Advocates.
