WHAT IS A REASONABLE INCOME IN MALTA

Broomie wrote:

My wife and I intend to retire in 2017. Between us we will have a pensionable income of £20,000. Isthat sufficient for two people to live on in Malta?

Secondly, we aren't eligible for state pension yet but when we are, is it payable in Malta?

Thanks.

I would say £20,000 is ample and yes you can have UK state pension paid direct to a Maltese bank. However, I believe it is paid through Citi Bank and can take two or three days for the transfer and may involve charges.
We find it better to have it paid into our UK bank and only remit to Malta what we actually need so as to avoid paying too much tax here. We use Transferwise and get a good rate with very low fees.

Ray

Thanks Ray,

Just out of interest how do you find life in Malta?

Clive

Broomie wrote:

Thanks Ray,

Just out of interest how do you find life in Malta?

Clive

We are in our third year now and still love it, I think one of the most important things is to be very careful in choosing where to live as probably the worst problem is noise!
Avoid property with holiday lets around them, there is a three bedroom farmhouse holiday let about three houses away from us and 2 weeks ago there were 12 carloads of Maltese 'Tourists' in it overnight playing loud music till 5.00am two nights running!
Otherwise just get used to things taking time to happen.

Ray

Thanks Ray,

I can certainly get used to a slower pace of life.

Regards,

Clive

My wife has 2 of her pensions paid directly into our HSBC account and they are  received on the day they are due and the exchange rate is much better than I get with my pensions paid into the UK and transferring it to Malta. There are no charges or commission. Our heating allowance is also paid into the HSBC and usually arrives days before the letter advising  payment.

At the moment 20K is fine but if you are renting beware of the price hikes that are taking place. Also, at the moment the £ is doing well against the € but  it wasn't long ago that it was almost parity.  Having been caught out when that happened, experience dictates that one must be prepared to take a hefty drop in income if it happens again.  We came here long before Malta joined the Euro when things where pretty stable but since then our income has been somewhat erratic.

tristrav wrote:

My wife has 2 of her pensions paid directly into our HSBC account and they are  received on the day they are due and the exchange rate is much better than I get with my pensions paid into the UK and transferring it to Malta. There are no charges or commission. Our heating allowance is also paid into the HSBC and usually arrives days before the letter advising  payment.

But are they UK State Pensions?  When I enquired I was told State pension was paid via Citibank, so the funds went to them on the due date and were then sent out from there, possibly taking up to 3 days and that there might be a fee. Also no more heating allowance as of this year!

Ray

Yes one of them is a state Pension.  A lot of expats declare their State pensions in Malta and their private ones in the UK; whereby attracting no tax in Malta and a small amount in the UK.  It doesn't work in Spain, Italy or Portugal but apparently it does in Malta. Legally (according to EU cross community taxation policies) you must declare all your income in the country on your residency (including: rental income, pensions, interest. I think taxation from salaries must be paid in the country that is the source) and if you receive a Crown pension, that must be taxed in the UK, you claim back your double taxation from the UK.  Very sad to learn about the fuel payments :-(  The BRA are your best source of information; worth joining just for that.

tristrav wrote:

The BRA are your best source of information; worth joining just for that.

Not my cup of tea I'm afraid!

I'd rather go with the information on this and other expat forums.

Ray

I don't belong to the BRA or ever have done but the information I have received from them indirectly has saved me a lot of money and heartache over the 14 years I have lived here.  They are the only organisation recognised to represent British expats by Royal Charter and more importantly the only organisation the Maltese Government confide in.  In truth, I am not over fond of the organisation or some of it's members but I am not foolish enough to ignore their advice.