S.L. 123.27 Art. 10Transfer of property by persons about to leave Malta.

(1) When a notary is engaged to publish a deed of transfer of immovable property and the transferor is a person who is about to leave Malta, that notary shall give the notice referred to in sub-rule (3)

not less than two months before the date set for the publication of that deed.

(2) When a notary is engaged to publish a deed of a transfer of immovable property and the transferor is a person who is either not resident in or not a citizen of Malta, that notary shall give the notice referred to in subrule (3) not less than two months before the date set for the publication of that deed.

(3) The notice required to be given by a notary in terms of subrule (1) or (2) shall state the details of the proposed transfer, including the details identifying the parties and their addresses, a description of the property, the date of the proposed transfer and the consideration at which the proposed transfer is to be made, and where an agreement for promise of sale or transfer has been concluded in writing, it should be accompanied by a certified copy of that agreement: Provided that, for the purposes of this sub-rule, the notary shall not be obliged to give notice of any change in the acquirer of the property after the initial notification.

(4) A notary who is required to give a notice in accordance with subrule (1) or (2) may not publish the deed of the relative transfer before the expiration of two months from the date on which he gave the said notice to the Commissioner or before the date given in the said notice as the date of the proposed transfer unless he is so authorised in writing by the Commissioner:

Provided that in any case the notary may not publish the deed of the relative transfer:

(a) unless the transfer is made for a consideration not exceeding the consideration notified to the Commissioner as aforesaid; and

(b) unless he complies with any conditions that may have been imposed in the authorisation in writing given by the Commissioner before the publication of that deed; and

(c) if the Commissioner refuses to give the said authorisation and notifies the notary of that refusal before the publication of the deed:

Provided also that if the notary publishes the deed of transfer without the said authorisation where such authorisation was required, such deed shall not be rendered null, but the notary shall be responsible for any tax which may result to be uncollected by the Commissioner from the transferor.

(5) The Commissioner may refuse to give the authorisation mentioned in subrule (4) if, in the circumstances mentioned in article 46 of the Income Tax Management Act and subject to the procedures provided for in that article, the transferor has not made such payment, and, or made such return, and, or given such security as the Commissioner may have requested in accordance with that article: Provided that the Commissioner may give the said authorisation on condition that on the deed of transfer the notary collects, by means of a deduction from the transfer price, an amount equivalent to the payment or security that the Commissioner requests in accordance with the said article and remits that deduction to the Commissioner within fifteen days of that transfer.The deduction shall be remitted together with the notice that is required to be presented in accordance with rule 6.

(6) For the purposes of this rule:

(a) "a person who is about to leave Malta" is a person who will leave Malta before the tax return date of the year immediately following that in which the transfer is made with the intention to establish his ordinary residence outside Malta;

(b) a transferor who is a resident of Malta and is not a person who is about to leave Malta shall make a declaration to this effect to the notary engaged to publish the deed of transfer and the notary shall record such declaration in the deed;

(c) where the transferor makes the declaration required by paragraph (b), the notary shall not be required to give the notice referred to in sub-rule (3) unless the transferor is not a citizen of Malta;

(d) where it results that the declaration referred to in paragraph (b) is not a correct declaration, the transferor making the said declaration shall be liable to the penalties contemplated in article 52 of the Income Tax Management Act in terms of the provisions of the said article, and the provisions of the second proviso to sub-rule (4), to the extent that it refers to the responsibility of the notary for any tax which may result to be uncollected by the Commissioner from the transferor, shall not apply: Provided that, if the transferor proves, to the satisfaction of the Commissioner, that the declaration required by paragraph (b) was a correct declaration, because at the time of such declaration the transferor had no intention to leave Malta to establish his ordinary residence outside Malta, the Commissioner shall refrain from invoking the provisions of article 52 of the Income Tax Management Act.