Enterprise Support Incentives (Amendment) Regulations, 2015

L.N. 118 of 2015

MALTA ENTERPRISE ACT

(CAP. 463)

Enterprise Support Incentives (Amendment) Regulations, 2015

IN exercise of the powers conferred upon him by article 5 of the

Malta Enterprise Act, the Minister for the Economy, Investment and

Small Business, in consultation with the Malta Enterprise

Corporation, has made the following regulations:-

The title of these regulations is the Enterprise Support Citation.

Incentives (Amendment) Regulations, 2015, and these regulations

shall be read and construed as one with the Enterprise Support S.L. 463.04

Incentives Regulations, hereinafter referred to as "the principal

regulations".

Regulation 17 of the principal regulations shall be Re-numbers

regulation 17 of

renumbered as regulation 18.

the principal

regulations.

Immediately after regulation 16 of the principal Adds new

regulation to the

regulations, there shall be added the following new regulation

principal

regulations.

'' Tax credits for

(1)

Where the Corporation is

qualifying

satisfied that an undertaking carrying on or

certifications.

intending to carry out an activity that may

contribute to the economic development of

Malta requires assistance to achieve qualifying

certifications awarded by a certifying body to

improve processes, products or services or to

achieve growth in international markets, the

Corporation may provide such an undertaking

with a tax credit

Provided that for the purposes of this

regulation, a ''qualifying certification'' and a

''certifying body'' shall have the meaning

attributed to them in the Guidelines.

(2) The total amount of tax credits that

may be granted in terms of this regulation shall

not exceed fifty per cent (50%) of the eligible

costs as may be prescribed in the Guidelines and

as incurred and paid for as from the 1st March

2015 till the 31st December 2017

Provided that the total amount of tax

credits that may be granted in terms of this

regulation may not exceed the amount of

twenty-five thousand euro (€25,000).

(3) The tax credit referred to in this

regulation shall be due as a deduction from tax

payable by an undertaking on its chargeable

income derived from its trade or business for

that year of assessment commencing on the 1st

January of the year immediately following the

year in which the eligible costs are incurred, and

where the tax credit, for that year of assessment,

exceeds the income tax payable by such an

undertaking for that year, the excess in tax credit

shall be allowed to be carried forward to the

subsequent year of assessment and deemed to be

a tax credit for that year

Provided that unutilised tax credits

can only be availed of from the first year of

assessment following the date of the Incentive

Entitlement

Certificate

issued

by

the

Corporation and any unutilised tax credit can

only be carried forward to the next two years of

assessment

Provided also that ''Incentive

Entitlement Certificate'' means an Incentive

Entitlement Certificate as defined in the Act

Provided further that a tax credit

shall not give rise to a right to a refund of tax.

(4) Where an undertaking has benefited

from the provisions of this regulation, the tax

credit shall be deemed to have relieved from tax

so much of that undertaking’s chargeable income

which, when multiplied by the rates of tax which

it was chargeable in that year, is equal to the tax

credit on the investment; and where such

undertaking or any subsequent company

distributes the income which is so deemed to

have been relieved from tax such undertaking or

undertakings shall state in the dividend warrant

pertaining to any such distribution that such

income has been relieved from tax by a tax

credit in accordance with this regulation; and the

tax which has so been relieved shall not be

available for refund for any purpose of the

Income Tax Act.

(5) (a)

The chargeable income which

is deemed to have been relieved from tax in

accordance with sub-regulation (4) shall, for the

purposes of the Income Tax Act, be allocated to

the Final Taxed Account of the company in

question and any dividends, or part thereof,

distributed from such income shall be exempted

from income tax in the hands of the members of

the company on receipt of such distribution.

(b)

Where a dividend referred to

in paragraph (a) is distributed to a member

which is also a company, in this sub-regulation

referred to as ''the second company'', the said

dividend shall likewise be distributed by the

second company to its members in the form of

dividends exempt from income tax in the hands

of the recipients, and where a member of the

second company is again a company, the

preceding provisions shall apply mutatis

mutandis as though references to the first

company were references to the second

company, and as though references therein to the

second company were references to that

member, and the principle set out in this sub-

regulation shall continue to be applied for as

long as such income or part thereof to which this

regulation applies are distributed by way of

dividends.

(6) Applications for assistance under this

regulation shall reach the Corporation by not

later than ten in the morning central European

time of the 31st December 2017.''.

4. In regulation 18, as renumbered, of the principal Amends

regulations, for the words ''de minimis aid from the Corporation as regulation

re-numbered, of

well as from any other entity.'' there shall be substituted the words ''de the

regulations.

minimis aid from the Corporation as well as from any other entity:'',

and immediately thereafter there shall be added the following new

provisos

''Provided that, as from the 1st January 2014, assistance

provided under regulations 4, 5, 6, 7 and 12 shall be in

conformity with Commission Regulation (EU) No 1407/2013 of

18 December 2013 on the application of Articles 107 and 108 of

the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union to de

minimis aid. A single undertaking may receive a total amount of

up to two hundred thousand euro (€200,000) of de minimis aid

over a consecutive three fiscal year period. This maximum

threshold includes all aid granted as de minimis aid from the

Corporation as well as from any other entity

Provided further that for the purposes of regulations 4, 5,

6, 7 and 12, a ''single undertaking'' shall include all undertakings

having at least one of the following relationships with each

other

(a) one undertaking has a majority of the

shareholders’ or members’ voting rights in another

undertaking;

(b) one undertaking has the right to appoint or

remove a majority of the members of the administrative,

management or supervisory body of another undertaking;

(c) one undertaking has the right to exercise a

dominant influence over another undertaking pursuant to a

contract entered into with that undertaking or to a

provision in its memorandum or articles of association;

(d) one undertaking, which is a shareholder in or

member of another undertaking, controls alone, pursuant to

an agreement with other shareholders in or members of

that undertaking, a majority of shareholders’ or members’

voting rights in that undertaking.

Undertakings having any of the relationships referred to in

paragraphs (a) to (d) through one or more other undertakings

shall also be considered to be a single undertaking.''.

€0.36