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Welcome.
A good place to start would be the 'Stickies' on the Malta Forum page, the following link should take you to Redmik's post on the subject.

/forum/viewtopic.php?id=370643

Good Luck.

Ray

We're in a similar situation coming from France as well (self employed, lost the health care last month).  We've got private health insurance for now and only plan to keep it until we're in the system in Malta.  You'll pay tax and social security, like you do in France, but nowhere near as much. There's a limit when it comes to your social security, unlike France where you pay roughly 40% from the first penny you earn and it just keeps going up and up. I can't help with how long it takes, but if you can I'd get private health cover until you've got cover in Malta to be safe.  I'd be able to help in a while because we go next week, but too late by then because you'll probably already be in Malta.

Hey,
when you get here, you'll have to get a social security number (get this first, it's quite easy), then you register with ETC as self-employed, and you will need a tax number and a VAT number.

The first year you will have to pay social security contributions, about 28 euros per week, 500 per four months - payable in April, August and December, regardless of how much you earn. As from the second year, it's based on your income, but capped at 50 euros per week or something like that. The social security contributions are linked to your tax number, you have to go pay at the inland revenue office in Floriana.

This way you are covered for healthcare, although from my own experience, this needs to be taken with a pinch of salt:
- you get free treatment at Mater Dei or other public hospitals, but it can easily take 4-6 months if you want an appointment for a specialist such as a dermatologist or an X-ray/scan;
- dental care is not covered
- a visit to GP (médecin généraliste) is 12 euros, medicine tends to be quite expensive.

Many people therefore have some form of private insurance (but even that doesn't cover dental care).

I'm self-employed and speak French, feel free to PM me if you want more details.

Thanks so much, this is exactly the information I was looking for. Lucky me, I just got my teeth checked before I lost french social security, and everything was ok. I promised to never skip flossing, so I guess I'll just have to keep my word on this

I needed eight (8!) fillings last year!! 38 euros a pop ... :-/

8 ? Wow...

nilonilonilo wrote:

- a visit to GP (médecin généraliste) is 12 euros, medicine tends to be quite expensive.
.

Not true at all. that is via a pharmacy. if one attends the local health centre, which are open 24 hours a day, it is free to access the GP.

I stand corrected, I did not know this.

I remember now : a few years ago my partner had an ear infection while we were staying in Gozo. He went to the healthcare center, waited a bit and got very good care. And paid nothing.

What about being self employed? But as TCN? What do I need? How do I apply for VAT number?Do I need to pay a fee in order to apply for VAT?

TCN cannot be self-employed in Malta unless it's an exceptional case

Check here:
point 3.1

Hello, I'd be interested to know about your experiences getting into the healthcare system please

Register self employed, pay social security and taxes when required and you're in the system. To the OP: 15% is just the tax rate for that specific bracket - social security is paid on top. Total taxation at about 24% of your earnings (very roughly).