Malta Payslip Generator

How payroll works in Malta

Maltese payroll runs on two parallel deduction systems administered by two different authorities. Income tax is deducted at source under the Final Settlement System (FSS), operated by the Commissioner for Revenue. Social Security Contributions — commonly called NI (National Insurance) — are deducted separately and remitted alongside tax. The employer withholds both from gross pay each period, pays them over on the employee's behalf, and reports the annual totals on the FS3 (Payee Statement of Earnings) at year end.

The employer also pays its own share of Social Security Contributions on top of the employee's wage — this is a cost to the business, not a deduction from the employee. The payslip you receive shows the employee-side story: what was earned, what was withheld, and what lands in your bank account. If you want to model take-home pay before you build the payslip, use our <a href="/mt/salary-calculator">net salary calculator</a>.

• Wages must be paid at intervals not exceeding four weeks; most employers pay monthly, some weekly.
• Income tax is withheld under FSS and reported to the Commissioner for Revenue / FSS (cfr.gov.mt).
• Social Security Contributions (NI) are handled through socialsecurity.gov.mt and reported annually on the FS3.
• Employment conditions and payslip rules are enforced by DIER (dier.gov.mt).

What a payslip in Malta must legally contain

Legal Notice 274 of 2018, as amended by LN 439 of 2018, sets a mandatory minimum list of contents for every itemised payslip. Crucially, it is not enough to show amounts — the payslip must also show the hours behind those amounts and the state of the employee's annual leave. These are the fields generic international payslip tools most often leave out, and their absence is exactly what makes a payslip non-compliant in Malta.

• Employer's name and address.
• Employee's name and job title / designation.
• The wage payment period the payslip relates to.
• Total wages paid and a full breakdown: basic wage, bonus, allowances and commissions.
• A detailed HOURS breakdown: normal hours at the normal rate; hours worked on Sundays and public holidays that form part of the regular schedule; and overtime split into hours in excess of normal daily/weekly hours (paid at 1.5x) versus hours worked on a Sunday or public holiday when not scheduled (paid at 2x).
• Annual leave AVAILED (hours taken in the period) and the remaining annual-leave BALANCE.
• Tax (income tax / FSS) deducted.
• Social Security Contributions (NI) deducted, plus any other deductions from wages.
• Non-compliance carries a fine of not less than €500 and not more than €1,165, enforced by DIER (dier.gov.mt).

How to create and read a payslip in Malta, step by step

1. Fill in the employer name and address, and the employee name and job title — all four are mandatory under LN 274/2018.
2. State the wage payment period (for example "January 2026") and the payment date, which must be on or before the day wages are due.
3. Enter the hours breakdown: normal hours, Sunday/public-holiday hours, overtime at 1.5x and overtime at 2x. This is the Malta-specific detail the law requires.
4. Enter the annual leave availed in the period and the remaining leave balance.
5. Add the earnings — basic wage, plus any overtime, bonus, allowances or commissions — to arrive at total wages.
6. Let FSS income tax and Social Security Contributions (NI) be calculated on the taxable base, then subtract them (and any other deductions) to reach net pay.
7. Check totals against the FS3 rules published on Commissioner for Revenue / FSS (cfr.gov.mt), then download the payslip as a PDF and issue it to the employee.

Every payslip line explained

Reading a payslip in Malta becomes straightforward once you know what each line means and which side of the ledger it sits on.

• Basic wage — the core contractual pay for normal hours worked in the period. This is the largest earning line for most employees.
• Overtime — hours in excess of normal daily/weekly limits paid at 1.5x, and Sunday/public-holiday hours (when unscheduled) paid at 2x. The payslip shows both the hours and the amount.
• Bonus — including Malta's statutory bonus and weekly allowance payments, which are added to earnings and are taxable.
• Allowances and commissions — any regular or one-off supplements to pay; each must appear as its own breakdown line.
• Social Security Contributions (NI) — the employee share, broadly 10% of the wage within the applicable band, withheld and remitted via socialsecurity.gov.mt.
• FSS income tax — income tax deducted at source under the Final Settlement System and paid to the Commissioner for Revenue / FSS (cfr.gov.mt).
• Net pay — total wages minus FSS tax, NI and any other deductions; this is the amount actually paid into the employee's bank account.

Mandatory data versus optional data, and record retention

It helps to separate what the law forces onto the payslip from what employers may add for clarity. The mandatory items cannot be omitted; the optional items are good practice but not legally required.

• Mandatory: employer name and address; employee name and job title; pay period; total wages and their breakdown; the full hours breakdown (normal, Sunday/public-holiday, overtime 1.5x and 2x); annual leave availed and balance; FSS tax; NI; and other deductions.
• Optional (good practice): year-to-date totals, employer-side Social Security cost, employee number, tax-status code, and a note of the pay method.
• Sick leave: since the LN 439/2018 amendment, sick-leave availed is no longer a mandatory printed payslip line — the employee may instead request the sick-leave balance up to four times a year.
• Retention: keep payroll records and issued payslips so they reconcile with the annual FS3; both employer and employee should retain copies for tax and employment-dispute purposes.

Malta-specifics that generic tools get wrong

Most international "payslip" generators were built for jurisdictions that only require pay amounts. They will happily produce a document that looks like a payslip but fails Malta's legal test. These are the details to watch for.

• The LN 274/2018 hours breakdown — normal, Sunday/public-holiday, and overtime split into 1.5x and 2x bands — is frequently missing from generic tools but is legally required in Malta.
• The annual-leave AVAILED and BALANCE line is a Malta-specific statutory requirement that most templates omit entirely.
• Statutory bonuses and the weekly allowance are a Maltese feature; they must be shown as earnings and treated as taxable.
• The employee job title / designation is a mandatory field that generic payslips often drop.

A note on legitimate use

This generator exists to help employers, accountants and employees produce accurate, LN 274/2018-compliant payslips and to help workers understand a payslip they have received. It should only ever reflect genuine hours worked, real earnings and correct deductions. Creating a payslip that misstates income — for example to support a loan, visa or benefit application — is fraud and can carry serious legal consequences. When in doubt about the legal requirements, consult <a href="https://dier.gov.mt">DIER (dier.gov.mt)</a>, and for tax figures rely on the <a href="https://cfr.gov.mt">Commissioner for Revenue / FSS (cfr.gov.mt)</a>.