Russia and Malta signed a protocol on changing the tax agreement

On October 1, a protocol was signed to amend the agreement on the avoidance of double taxation between Russia and Malta in terms of increasing the tax to 15% at the source of income in the form of dividends and interest.

It will be applied from January 1, 2021.

The document defines a list of exceptions under which preferential treatment will be applied to income in the form of dividends and interest. Exceptions are provided for institutional investments, as well as for public companies that have at least 15% of their shares in free circulation and own at least 15% of the capital of the company paying the specified income during the year. For such income, the tax rate is set at 5%.

The changes will not affect interest income paid on Eurobonds, bond loans of Russian companies, as well as loans provided by foreign banks.