What are the Malta Files?

Over the last three months EIC.network has dug into 100,000s of documents that show how Malta operates a tax system where companies pay the lowest tax on profits in the EU.

MaltaToday has previously written extensively about Malta's tax system, which enjoys popular support from the island's political class and the financial services industry.

READ MORE Every year Malta wipes out €2 billion in foreign tax by giving shareholders 85% rebates on their tax

The information used included extensive details of Malta's over 70,000 companies in its public company register.

The Malta Files show how Malta works as a base for tax avoidance inside the EU. Although profiting from the advantages of EU membership, Malta also welcomes large companies and wealthy private clients who try to dodge taxes in their home countries.

This damages the budgets of other EU countries and reveals a weakness in the European Union, which allows member states sovereign rights over their taxation.

The research was undertaken by the network European Investigative Collaborations (EIC), which has brought together 13 media outlets and 47 journalists in 16 countries, and which include L’Espresso, Le Soir, NRC, DER SPIEGEL, The Romanian Centre for Investigative Journalism / TheBlackSea.eu, Mediapart, Politiken, NewsWeek Serbia, El Mundo, Expresso, Dagens Nyheter, MaltaToday, The Intercept and Agência Sportlight.

OUR STORY • Russian billionaire’s fast loan empire uses Malta to pay peanuts in tax

MORE  Z comme Zadnikar: ce que permet légalement le yachting maltais

Malta, il paradiso fiscale degli italiani: così i MaltaFiles svelano chi ha il conto offshore

Turkish President Erdoğan’s son-in-law in off-shore tax scheme