Your car to Malta: the ToR clocks and driving on the left

Yes, your car can come along to Malta, and without registration tax if you meet the relocation exemption. It is called the Transfer of Residence, or ToR. Without that exemption you pay the Maltese registration tax. It is based on the car's value, CO₂ emissions and age.

Two things to know up front:

• The Maltese motor vehicles law itself says: the exemption applies to the car that is your personal property and that you bring permanently when you transfer your normal residence to Malta. If you later sell it in Malta, the tax is due after all on the market value.
• The trap is the steering wheel: Malta drives on the left, and your Dutch car remains left-hand drive.

The exemption: twice twenty-four months

The Transfer of Residence exemption sets two hard conditions:

• The vehicle was in your name continuously for at least 24 months and used by you before the moving date.
• You lived outside Malta continuously for at least 24 months.

Whoever has had the car for less time falls outside the scheme. A lease takeover just before departure does not count.

The law lays the foundation: a passenger car that is private property and that you bring permanently to Malta when transferring your normal residence is exempt, under the conditions set by the Minister of Finance. If your application is rejected, the registration value and the tax of the day your application reached the ministry apply. In the motor vehicles law your normal residence is the place where you live for at least 185 days a year because of your personal and occupational ties.

The clocks: the window, the thirty days and the sales ban

Clock	Deadline
Declaring the ToR	not earlier than two months before and at the latest twelve months after you settle
Deadline for submitting the file	30 days after the car arrives in Malta
No sale after registration	12 months
Exchanging the driving licence	not compulsory; it is when it expires, is lost or damaged

The file goes to Transport Malta (Vehicle Licensing Unit, Paola), the Maltese authority for vehicles and traffic. You can send it by registered post or hand it in person. You include:

• the registration certificate;
• your proof of insurance;
• a proof of purchase;
• the ferry ticket, as proof of entry;
• proof of use in the Netherlands (maintenance history counts).

If you sell the car within twelve months of registration, the exempted tax becomes payable after all. After the file come the inspection, the Maltese plates and the annual circulation licence (Malta's road tax). On the Dutch side, do not forget the RDW export.