Conclusion: Trading on US markets as a resident of Malta, the US IRS is going to tax you IN THE US as a local because of the absence of a tax treaty with Malta, even if you happen NOT to be a US citizen. Big deal. In fact, you might be better of in the UK or Ireland as they have tax treaties with the US. I'm not sure about futures daytrading profits qualifying under that 15% rate. A similar question should be asked for Malta. If you are a frequent trader, would Malta not consider you taxwise to engage in a business activity on Maltesian soil? Switzerland does for all residents, Swiss nationals AND foreigners!
I am not liable to American taxes on my profits from buying and selling stocks on NYSE and Nasdaq. "Section 864(b)(2) indicates that trading in stocks or securities, either through a third-party or by the taxpayer or his own employees, for the taxpayers own account does not constitute a trade or business within the United States." No, Malta would not consider that business as far as I know.
The place looks to be as good as it can get for a trader. Also once you have a permit they do not have any requirements for actually staying there. from: http://www.henleyglobal.com/maltaresidence.htm *** A further advantage of this status is that as long as the resident abides by the rules of the permit, the permanent resident need not spend any particular time actually residing in Malta. **** Been there a couple of times a few years ago in business ( from Norway), did not have much time to look around but got to see Valetta, which is nice. Espescially coming in from the sea during night time , Valetta is a fantastic sight. Climate is good , so the only thing I can think of is the lack of real beaches. So mainly rocky access to the sea, also some public sea water pools. It is only a few hrs away with boat to Sicily ( where the beaches are lovely)
I just called a lawyer on Malta, and they confirmed this is not a business. The whole point is that you as a foreigner is not going to "steal" jobs from the locals. So as long as you don't offer your services on maltese soil, you are fine. Anyway, the tax issue is not the purpose with this thread. Still not anyone here living on Malta?
I have been doing some research on Malta as it seems like a great place to base myself in Europe for a few years. Rental properties seem dirt cheap given the 15% tax rate. Would be interested in hearing from people who live there or have spent time there. What is the lifestyle like on the island. As a single 30s guy am I going to be bored out of my mind? How friendly are the local women towards foreigners
There are lots of British expats living in Malta. British women are notoriously "friendly" to foreign men when abroad. Apart from that Malta is not some third world country where the women "love you long time". You'll need to have what it takes same as anywhere.
Well I went to Malta when I was in the navy in 1998 and it was a blast. When your not trading there's tons of clubs with tons of chicks everywhere. Trust me you will like malta the women are fine. There's like a school there that women from all over the world go to. So have fun and don't hesitate.
Are you going to trade from Malta? I spent one month in Malta last year intending to move there. However, there was no way I could trade with the internet connection i had. I rented an apartment (dirt cheap) and installed internet, but I had to go to an internet cafe every day to trade. I even switched ISP in my apartment but it was the same. It turns out that I was not given "priority" in their cables. When you're constantly downloading quotes, you don't have "priority" all the time. This creates lags and completely wrtong quotes. An internet cafe usually have priority. I thought of "buying" priority from the ISP but the level of service is not the standard you find North of the Alps or in the US. Nice spot, though, wouldn't mind living there. But I wouldnt say the girls are attractive.
Yes I would be trading. Only trade a handful of index futures and no scalping so latency isn't a huge deal for me. I googled and found this: http://www.maltanet.net/page.jsp?id=1223&siteid=1&mainid=1223 They offer dedicated bandwidth so it sounds possible to get a decent connection there? What ballpark would I be looking at to rent a nice furnished apartment in a good area, preferably with sea views? I looked at a few sites and it seems around 1k euro/month will get this, but it almost seems too good to be true.
I thought about living there a few years ago so I went there for a few weeks. It's a nice island, very beautiful and I'd happily return, but it's really really small. People have their lives there as locals...really nice people...but it's a different place than you might be thinking. It's very congested in reality, for the most part anyway. The island is tiny and most of the housing is clustered. The thing I didn't like when I was there was that even though it's very close to Europe(big plus for me) the flight taxes were really heavy which would make hopping a plane to the Alps for the weekend really expensive. Big turnoff...they were working on getting cheaper flights, not sure if they did though. When people say there's a lot of Brits there...they're about 80 years old and mostly retired army who were stationed in Malta when they were younger and Malta was a British province(or whatever). I'd go there and check it out if I were you...but having been there and gone to continental Europe, Spain and Portugal are both highly more desirable to me. Also, Malta isn't as cheap as you'd think...they still use the Maltese Lira which is probably even more expensive versus the dollar now. Regarding the women I have no idea as I saw very few attractive women. I'll tell you the clubs are spilling out with 16 year old kids drunk because that's the drinking age which I find a bit young. All in all, I'd not live there but I'd visit again if flights were cheap...really pretty places and Valleta and Gozo are both gorgeous, but the rest of the city is nothing amazing. Cheers.