Business Development (Malta Enterprise)

What it funds

Nine project categories, among them process re-engineering with the adoption of digital technology, software development and digital solutions for an international market. The eligible costs include a dedicated digital technologies item: licenses, services and SaaS subscriptions, covered for two years at most. Alongside it sit wages, expert advisory services, tangible and intangible assets, and rent. Malta Enterprise decides whether to pay through a grant, a tax credit or both. The rules are in the Incentive Guidelines V1.2.

Requirements and what is left out

• Submit a complete application before the project starts, and start it within twelve months of approval.
• Companies earning from gambling, real estate sales, financial services, wholesale or retail are excluded, with the stated exceptions. Technology providers serving those sectors remain eligible.
• VAT, tax and social security arrears above the threshold in the guidelines block the application, unless a repayment plan is being honored.
• Advisory services count only from an independent external expert, with defined deliverables and timeframe: recurring work such as routine tax or legal services is left out.
• Licenses and recurring fees are covered for two years at most.
• Companies established less than five years ago must attach a business plan.
• The aid is de minimis: the ceiling applies to the single undertaking, group included, and counts together with any other de minimis aid received.
• Any change to the project needs approval first: costs that were not approved are not reimbursed.
• Once a year's budget is committed, Malta Enterprise may suspend applications until the following year.

How to apply

1. Contact Business First, which assigns a Malta Enterprise relationship manager to check whether the project fits the scheme.
2. Prepare the cost budget, backed by quotes where possible, and the business plan if the company is under five years old.
3. Register on the client portal and submit the form, the de minimis declaration and the attachments there, before starting the project.
4. Wait for the letter of approval, which sets the amount and how to claim reimbursement.
5. Claim reimbursement with invoices and proof of payment; for a tax credit the agency issues a certificate.

The client portal is reached from the scheme page on the Malta Enterprise site.

What this budget builds

The digital transformation category asks for a process review before buying tools, which is the right order. I start from a map of the flows between departments, find where data is retyped by hand and where the ERP does not reach, and write the project from there: integrations, automations and the cloud services they need. The two-year limit on subscription fees belongs in the budget from the start, because from the third year the subscription is entirely the company's cost.

This entry is informational and is not advice: I do not handle grant applications, and before committing to a purchase it is worth reading the official source above or talking to whoever files the application.