The following are subject to income or capital gain in Malta: MeDirect will pay your income/trade consideration net of withholding tax due and remit the withholding tax to the Maltese tax authority where applicable. Please note that the information above is for guidance purposes only. We advise you to consult your tax advisor in order to get more specific advice and to assess your overall tax position.

Interest income earned on Investment Cash Accounts, Savings Accounts, Me Accounts and Fixed Term Deposits is not subject to foreign withholding tax. Income from securities issued by foreign companies may be subject to withholding tax in the country where the security was issued. However, a Maltese investor may benefit from a lower foreign withholding tax rate or be entitled to a refund of foreign withholding tax by virtue of the double taxation agreement between Malta and the country where the issuer of the security is located. We advise you to consult your tax advisor in order to get more specific advice and to assess your overall tax position.

The W-8BEN Form is issued by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) of the United States of America with the purpose of allowing non-US persons to benefit from a reduced rate of taxation on dividends and coupons paid by US companies. If you wish to invest in US securities, you will have to provide us with a duly signed W-8BEN form. The W-8BEN form is valid for three calendar years after the year in which it was signed and submitted to IRS. A new form must be submitted when the existing one expires or if there is a change in circumstances making any information on the form incorrect.

The W-8BEN form can be completed and submitted digitally by logging in to your Online Banking. Click on ‘Profile’, choose ‘Document Centre’ from the dropdown menu and follow the steps indicated on screen. If you need specific advice and/or assistance in assessing your overall tax position, we advise you to consult your tax advisor.

Maltese tax residents can choose either to have 15% Maltese withholding tax, if any is due, automatically deducted from the gross amounts earned. This includes interest earned from deposit accounts and from dividends or interests earned from your investments. Alternatively, you can opt to not to have Maltese withholding tax automatically deducted at source. We suggest you to consult your tax advisor in order to asses which option is better for you.

You can benefit from foreign withholding tax reduction on income paid on US equities, ETFs and bonds. In order to claim the benefit on your behalf, we need you to submit a W-8BEN Form. We do not offer foreign tax refund services.

The APIs (account aggregation, payment initiation and confirmation of available funds) all relate to PSD2. MeDirect Developer Portal allows third parties licensed by a national competent authority to use Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) to enable them to co-create the best user experience possible.