Maltese companies with clients outside the euro area: collecting dollars and pounds

A Sliema digital agency works for a retailer in London and a hospitality group in Miami. London pays in pounds by international transfer, which the agency's bank converts into euros. Miami wires dollars, which arrive a week late and $35 short, converted too. The agency's costs include a London freelancer paid in pounds and US software paid in dollars, so it buys both currencies back each month.

VAT on services abroad

For most services a Maltese company sells to businesses in the UK or US, the place of supply is the client's country. The invoice carries no Maltese VAT and states the reason. Keep evidence that the client is a business: company details and a signed engagement letter.

The W-8BEN-E

A US client will usually ask for Form W-8BEN-E before paying. It confirms your company is foreign. For services performed in Malta, payments are generally made without US withholding, and the Malta-US tax treaty covers other income types.

Collect on their rails

UK businesses pay each other by Faster Payments; US businesses by ACH. Asked to pay a Maltese IBAN, both have to send an international transfer, which costs them more and takes longer.

Sterling and US account details in your company's own name change that. The London client pays by Faster Payments, usually in seconds. The Miami client pays by ACH, usually in one to two business days. Both amounts arrive in full, in the invoiced currency.

Keep pounds and dollars for their costs

Many Maltese service companies have costs in the same currencies their clients pay in: UK freelancers, US software, advertising, travel. Paying those from matching balances avoids converting euros back into pounds and dollars. The surplus is converted to euros when you need it, at a rate you see first.

Paying into Malta: the local rail

Source: European Payments Council: SEPA Instant Credit Transfer. Checked when this guide was last updated; the scheme's own page has the current figures.

Where Rivet fits

A Rivet business account gives a Maltese company US account details in its own name on every plan and, from the Growth plan, sterling details for Faster Payments and euro details with an IBAN. Payments are matched to invoices, balances can be held or converted at a rate shown before you confirm, and Visa company cards spend from any balance. Rivet is not a bank; regulated partner institutions hold the funds.

See also the GBP business account guide.