Micro Invest updates
Increased support from 2026
Malta Enterprise has issued the Micro Invest 2026–2030 Incentive Guidelines ("the Guidelines") applicable to eligible costs incurred from the calendar year 2026 onwards. These new Guidelines introduce several positive changes aimed at enhancing investment support, encouraging employee retention and wage growth, and streamlining the application process. Set out below are the key changes introduced under the new Guidelines.
Key enhancements to MicroInvest as from 2026
- A. Eligibility Conditions
- B. Increased Aid Thresholds
- C. Updated Wage Cost Support
- D. Refined Eligible Costs
- E. More Flexible Submissions
- F. Administrative Changes
A. Eligibility Conditions
- Undertakings — including start-ups, family businesses, social enterprises and self-employed individuals — employing at least one person and not more than 50 full-time employees are eligible.
- The eligibility criteria no longer include any reference to annual turnover or balance sheet thresholds.
B. Increased Aid Thresholds
- Aid intensity has increased from 45% (65% for undertakings operating from Gozo) to 65% (85% for undertakings operating from Gozo) on tangible assets or increases in wage costs (subject to certain conditions).
- Additionally, the maximum aid has increased from €50,000 per Single Undertaking to €65,000 per Applicant Undertaking (as defined in the Guidelines) over a rolling three-year period.
- In the following cases, the maximum cap has increased from €70,000 per Single Undertaking to €85,000 per Applicant Undertaking:
- Gozo-based businesses
- Registered family businesses
- Female-owned businesses
- Registered social enterprises
C. Updated Wage Cost Support
- Eligible undertakings may claim a tax credit of up to 65% on increases in full-time employee wage costs, calculated by comparing current wage costs to the lower of the previous two years (provided this exceeds the 2025 wage cost or the last supported year), where such an increase is in excess of €5,000.
- For takeovers or mergers, wage costs must be calculated using the taken-over undertaking's wage data or the consolidated wage costs of the merged entities, respectively.
- Wage costs claimed in subsequent applications may not be lower than those previously supported.
- A new government-funded wage support measure has also been introduced, aimed at employee retention and supporting growth in wage costs. To qualify, the annual wage increase per employee must be at least 3%, and support may be claimed in respect of employees who have been employed for more than four years with the same employer, as follows:
- Undertakings operating from Malta — 65% of the wage increase, up to a maximum of €780 per employee for each of the two years following the increase;
- Undertakings operating from Gozo — 85% of the wage increase, up to a maximum of €1,020 per employee for each of the two years following the increase.
- Support in respect of the second year is conditional on the employee's wage cost being maintained or increased further.
D. Refined Eligible Costs
- All tangible assets must be new and fall within the categories specified in the Guidelines.
- The applicant must sign a declaration confirming that the assets have been registered in its name and are required for the carrying out of its operations. Where entities are not required to prepare audited financial statements, the CPA must confirm that a proper ledger of the claimed assets is being maintained.
- Updated eligible tangible assets include:
- Industrial machinery, electromechanical and digital equipment — portable digital equipment (such as mobile phones, tablets and laptops) is limited, for aid purposes, to a quantity equal to the number of full-time employees;
- Certain vehicles (subject to category-specific conditions and cappings);
- Apertures, signage, show windows, and furniture and fittings;
- Refurbishment of business premises, including structural and finishing works (subject to Perit and CPA certification);
- Digital assets, including packaged software solutions, SaaS solutions, software and website development, and accessibility enhancements for disadvantaged persons.
- Certification costs are no longer eligible for support.
E. More Flexible Submissions
- The Scheme will move from fixed application calls to an open submission period, allowing up to one application per year.
- Eligible costs incurred over the previous three consecutive years may be grouped into a single submission, provided such costs were not previously supported under another Micro Invest application.
- Incentive Entitlement Certificates will be valid for a five-year period (replacing the current three-year validity).
- To ensure that an Incentive Entitlement Certificate applies from the year of assessment in which the application is made, applicants should observe the following submission deadlines:
- CPA-fully certified applications: at least one month before the tax credit is required;
- All other applications (i.e. those not certified, or only partially certified, by a CPA): at least six months before the tax credit is required.
F. Administrative Changes
- A minimum eligible invoice value of €500 (excluding VAT) will apply.
- Applications may be fully certified or partially certified by a CPA or submitted directly by the applicant without CPA certification.
- Processing timelines will depend on the level of CPA involvement: applications fully certified by a CPA, in line with the relevant technical guidance publication, will be processed within approximately four weeks of submission, whereas all other applications will be processed within approximately six months.
These changes present valuable planning opportunities but also require careful structuring of applications, particularly where multi-year cost grouping and wage cost support are being considered.
As noted above, the new Guidelines apply to eligible costs incurred by an Applicant Undertaking during the calendar year 2026 and subsequent years. Accordingly, aid under the MicroInvest Scheme in respect of eligible costs incurred during the calendar year 2025 — for which applications must be submitted in 2026 — remains subject to the rules and regulations set out in the previous guidelines (i.e. the MicroInvest 2024 Guidelines).
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