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Fishing boats in Marsaxlokk harbour, Malta

Photo: Adobe Stock, for illustration; any people shown are models.

🇲🇹  Retiring in Malta from New Zealand

What New Zealanders need to know: the visa, how your pensions are taxed, what to do before you leave and every year after.

By the retireacross editorial team · Last reviewed

Visa for New Zealanders

Check the visa-free stay for your passport with the consulate before a trial stay. To live there you need a residence route:

With an EU, EEA or Swiss passport (for example a second Irish passport) you need no visa: you register as a resident instead.

Check your figures in the visa checker

Sources: Legal Notice 195 of 2026: Individual Tax Programme Rules (in force 1 January 2027) (checked 2026-10-25) · Mondaq (CSB Group): Legal Notice 195 of 2026, changes from 1 January 2027 (checked 2026-10-22) · CC Malta: Malta Retirement Programme (checked 2026-10-22) · European Commission: Schengen visa policy (90 days in any 180) (checked 2026-10-22)

How your pensions are taxed

No tax treaty between New Zealand and Malta: New Zealand can keep taxing New Zealand-sourced income (and you stay tax resident while you keep a permanent place of abode there); Malta may tax them as a resident, so the same income can be taxed twice, with relief only if Malta gives a foreign tax credit.

  • State pensions: taxable in the paying country.
  • Private pensions: possibly taxed in both countries, without treaty relief.

Sources: Inland Revenue Tax Policy: New Zealand tax treaties (checked 2026-10-26)

New Zealand: You stay New Zealand tax resident while you keep a permanent place of abode there (a home you go back to), even if you are away more than 325 days; NZ Super paid abroad under general portability is paid gross. Official page

Malta's own rules: Progressive rates up to 35%; non-domiciled residents are taxed on foreign income only if it is remitted to Malta, and foreign capital gains are not taxed. There is no wealth tax and no inheritance tax (duty applies when inherited property is transferred). Non-domiciled residents with €35,000 or more of foreign income a year owe a minimum tax of €5,000 (outside the special programmes, which have their own minimum).

Before you leave New Zealand

  1. Check NZ Super before you go (New Zealand): To get NZ Super you must be ordinarily resident in New Zealand when you apply at 65, and meet the residence rule (10 to 20 years since age 20, rising with your birth date). If you plan to leave before 65, check how and when you can apply first. Official page
  2. Call International Services at least 6 weeks before leaving: NZ Super does not follow you automatically: apply to keep it going by calling Work and Income's International Services at least 6 weeks before you leave. It cannot be paid if you move to the United Kingdom. Official page

More for New Zealanders

Rules and figures change and we can make mistakes: confirm with the official source or a licensed advisor before acting.