Film and TV incentive in Malta
Malta runs the Malta Cash Rebate: a cash rebate worth 30% to 40%. A payment on approved local spend, usually claimed after delivery or in stages. What matters is the queue: most cash rebates run from an annual budget.
The numbers
- Scheme
- Malta Cash Rebate
- Type
- Cash rebate
- Headline rate
- 30% to 40%
- Minimum local spend
- €100k Malta spend and a budget above €200k
- Cap per project
- No per-project cap; rebate on above-the-line costs capped at €1m or 30% of Malta spend, up to €5m; eligible spend limited to 80% of the budget
- Funding
- Entitlement No published annual budget
- Paid
- 10% advance, balance after final audit
- Foreign spend qualifies
- No
- Currency
- EUR
What this means for the cashflow
If the production qualifies, the money follows. No queue, no annual pot. The production carries the gap until the money arrives, and that is a financing question rather than a budget line.
When it pays: 10% advance, balance after final audit.
Our assumption in the comparison: Assumes the full 40%: 30% base, 35% with Maltese content or Malta Film Studios, 40% when local crew targets are met
The detail
30% base, 35% when Malta plays Malta or Malta Film Studios are used, 40% when local crew and department targets are met. Crew of any nationality qualifies. Scheme valid to October 2028.
What you have to submit
Financial incentives guidelines June 2024 (PDF), Screen Malta. No template. The application takes a top sheet of the overall budget plus an itemised estimate of the Malta spend, with the Financial Form and cultural test from these guidelines.
Building the budget first? Use the free film budget template or the Budget Builder, then map it onto whatever the fund asks for.
How it compares
Counted on the best rate a production can reach after tax, Malta sits at number 4 of the 32 European schemes we track (40%). Work out the net value on your own spend, side by side with up to two other countries, in the incentive comparison.
Pays more
Pays less
Other cash rebate schemes
- Netherlands Up to 35%
- Germany 30%
- Portugal 30% / 25% (large track); 30% to 40% (medium track)
- Hungary 30% (up to 37.5% with foreign costs)
- Czech Republic 25% (35% animation and VFX)
- Poland 30%
- Iceland 25% (35% for large productions)
- Austria Up to 30% (35% with Green Bonus)
Shooting there
We list 31 places to shoot in Malta and 14 studios, production companies and post houses, each checked on its own site.
Source
Figures taken from Screen Malta and checked on 2026-09-05. Incentives change: confirm the current terms with the fund before you commit a budget to them.
All 32 incentives · Compare them on your own spend · Locations by country