Malta Agreement and foreign pension information 106-04022000

In Malta, national legislation requires the compulsory payment of social security contributions, usually through deductions from paid employment.

Contributions insure individuals against disability and unemployment and provides for income in the form of a pension once the person reaches retirement age.

Social security covers most workers and the self-employed, including non-contributory benefits for those with low income. The legislation and collection of contributions is the responsibility of the Maltese government through taxation but administration and payment of pensions is the responsibility of the centralised government department.

Widow B Pension and Wife Pension were sunsetted in 1995 and, along with Bereavement Allowance, ceased to be paid from 2020.

See:

• Widow B Pension
• Wife Pension (WP)
• Bereavement Allowance (BVA)

The original Agreement with Malta covered:

• Age pensions
• Invalid pensions (now Disability Support Pension)
• Wife pensions, and
• Pensions payable to widows:
• Sole parent pension (now Parenting Payment Single)
• Widow pension
• Bereavement allowance

Note:

• There was no requirement for invalid pensions (DSP) to be severely disabled
• Widows (females only) were required to have been married (de jure) and not currently a member of a couple
• Any wife pension granted due to being the partner of Australian pensioner who was paid under the Agreement was also deemed to be paid under the Agreement

Portability under the 1991 Agreement was indefinite to any country.

Non-contributory assistance and pensions paid by Malta were still exempt from the Australian income test for customers resident in Malta.

For Australia:

Department of Social Services (DSS)

For Malta:

Ministry for the Family and Social Solidarity (MFSS)

For Australia:

Services Australia

Note: the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) is responsible for double coverage provisions.

For Malta:

Department of Social Security (DSS)

For Australia:

Centrelink International Services (CIS)

Note: the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) is responsible double coverage provisions.

For Malta:

International Relations Unit, Department of Social Security (DSS)

Under the Agreement with Malta, information held about customers may be exchanged between the liaison agencies to determine entitlement to payments under the Agreement and under either country’s domestic legislation (Article 14.1).

For information on bulk data exchange, see International Data Program and indexation of foreign pensions.

The following liaison form is completed by Centrelink International Services (CIS) and sent to Malta:

• AUS187MT - Australia/Malta Agreement on Social Security

For help creating and completing the form, see Agreement liaisons, NZ CICs and exchange of information.

The following liaison forms are completed by Malta and sent to Centrelink International Services (CIS):

Liaison Form - MAL/AUS2

This form is used in all communication from Malta.

• Section 1 - Purpose: completed in all cases
• Section 2 - Reference Number: completed in all cases
• Section 3 - Applicant: provides details of the person applying
• Section 4 - Spouse or Parent/Former Spouse or Parent: completed in all cases
• SUR claims only: provides details of the insured person
• Section 5 - Information provided by Malta: this section specifies the Maltese information and other forms or documents that may be sent with the liaison
• Section 6 - Information requested by Malta: this section specifies the Australian information required by Malta
• Section 7 - Signature: certification by the Maltese competent institution

Insurance Periods – E205

Malta use the generic European form E205 to notify Maltese periods of coverage.

Under the Administrative Arrangements, each country will arrange for an agreed report to be and sent with claims for invalidity/disability pensions.

Medical examinations may also be undertaken upon request for foreign pension claim purpose. Generally, the liaison agency will contact Services Australia and request this be done. There is no provision for reimbursement of costs to either country.

The customer should contact Services Australia if they receive a direct request from the liaison agency to undertake a medical examination. The customer must be advised to undertake Services Australia’s foreign pension medical assessment process. Where the customer has already undertaken a medical examination based on a direct request from the Agreement partner without consulting Services Australia, the customer should contact the liaison agency to discuss any possible reimbursement options.

If a customer is claiming reimbursement of costs based on undertaking a medical examination requested by Services Australia for foreign pension purpose, consider all evidence provided. For example, if incorrect advice was provided to the customer by Services Australia that caused them to seek an independent medical examination which caused the customer to be out of pocket.

See Customer compensation and Act of Grace.

See Agreement Country Document Catalogue (ACDC) for samples of forms, foreign documents and translations.

The Agreement with Malta does not include double coverage provisions.

Any enquiries about double coverage or certificates of coverage should be directed to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) website.

Any queries about taxation of pensions or the requirement to lodge a tax return should be directed to:

• In the other country - the tax authority in the other country
• In Australia - the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) website

See general information on taxation, including issuing Australian payment summaries.

Tax treaty

Australia has a double tax agreement with Malta which avoids the need for the customer to pay tax in both countries.

A person who is 'resident' in one country (according to the definition in the tax agreement) generally only pays tax on pensions in that country.

Tax deductions from income by one country may be allowed as a credit against tax payable in the other country.

Tax deduction

Maltese pensions are not taxed.

The gross rate of Maltese pension, before any deduction, is maintained.

Maltese tax year

Malta generally uses the calendar year (1 January - 31 December) as the tax year.

Australia has a Reciprocal Health Care Agreement (RHCA) with Malta.

See general information on health insurance and Medicare coverage.

Any queries about:

• Health insurance coverage in the other country – tell the customer to contact the health insurance authority in the other country
• Medicare coverage - direct them to Medicare

There are no health insurance deductions from Maltese pension.

The official languages of Malta are Maltese and English.

See Maltese naming conventions and pronunciation.

Telephone country code is +356.

Street address

Title FirstName Surname [Addressee]

38 Triq-il-Merkanti [House number + street]

Zebbug ZBG 2000 [Town/city + postcode]

Gozo [Island, if not main island of Malta]

MALTA

Post Office Box address

Title FirstName Surname [Addressee]

Kaxxa Postali 85 [Post Office Box + number]

Floriana FRN 1131 [Town/city + postcode]

MALTA

Note: the postal code is 7 alphanumeric characters (three letters, representing the locality and four numbers). One space between letters and numbers. For example, ZTN 1073

Same-sex marriage has been legal since 1 September 2017.

For Australia, the Agreement with Malta (Article 2.1) covers:

• Age Pension
• Disability Support Pension (DSP)
• Parenting Payment Single (PPS)

Notes:

• Only severely disabled DSP customers may be granted under the Agreement (Article 2.1(a))
• Only a 'widowed person' may be granted PPS under the Agreement. 'Widowed person' means a female who ceases to be a member of a legally married (de jure) couple and who is not currently a member of a couple (Article 1.1)
• While BVA cannot be claimed after 20 March 2020, claims lodged prior to this date may still be received. See Bereavement Allowance (BVA)

Claims for Australian payments under International Agreements use the same methods and processes as domestic claims.

Forms to claim an Australian payment in Malta can be obtained by:

• downloading the relevant form from the Services Australia website. See Resources
• contacting Centrelink International Services (CIS)
• contacting the Maltese authorities

Australian forms needed

The customer is to complete and provide the following:

All claims:

• AUS140MT - Australian Pension Claim – Social Security Agreement between Australia and Malta
• Mod(iA)MT - Income and Assets - Malta

DSP only:

• AUS142 - Work Capacity - Customer information
• AUS109 - Treating Doctor's report - outside Australia
• AUS175 - Medical Assessment Report - Disability Support Pension (Outside Australia)

Note: Malta arranges for the AUS175 to be completed on a case-by-case basis.

Forms can be lodged at any Maltese Social Security office.

Under Section 4 of the Administrative Arrangements, the Maltese liaison agency will:

• accept and date stamp the AUS140 form
• accept the ModiA form and any other Australian forms and/or supporting documentation
• when required, provide a copy of existing medical information
• verify the customer’s identity and personal details, and
• send the form(s) and any supporting documentation to Services Australia with a liaison form specifying periods of coverage in Malta and information regarding Maltese pensions

See Exchange of information and liaison forms.

If a person is not an Australian resident and in Australia on the date the claim is made, they may use the Agreement to meet the residence rules for claims if, on that date, they are:

• an Australian resident, a resident of Malta or another Agreement country that accepts claims for Australian pension under other Agreement (Article 5.1(a)), and
• physically present in Australia, Malta or that third country (Article 5.1(b))

Claims for Australian payment under the Maltese Agreement may be lodged in certain other Australian Agreement countries.

See the Claim lodgement matrix.

Accepting other Agreement claims

Malta will accept claims for Australian benefits under other Australian social security Agreements.

Claim lodgement consideration

The customer must also satisfy any other rules under the other Agreement and social security law provisions, including portability. For example, DSP can be claimed in a third country but has an ongoing residence requirement. Therefore, if the claimant is:

• living in the other country, DSP cannot be paid
• temporarily in the other country, DSP may generally be paid for the period it is portable under domestic legislation

The normal rules for working out the start day a claim is ‘made’ and the start day apply to a claim under the Agreement with Malta. However, the Agreement also allows:

• the date of lodgement of a claim for an Australian payment in Malta to be used as the date of lodgement in Australia (Article 11.2)

For coding help, see:

• Claims for Australian payments under International Agreements) and
• Start Day (CLK)

The Agreement allows:

• totalisation of periods of qualifying Australian residence and periods of coverage in Malta to meet any minimum periods to qualify for an Australian pension, for example, 10 years for Age Pension (Article 7.1)
• the total of any non-continuous Maltese periods of coverage to be considered to be continuous to meet any continuous residence requirement to claim an Australian pension (Article 7.2)

Note:

• Overlapping Australian residence and Maltese periods of coverage are only counted once (Article 7.3)
• Adjoining periods of Australian qualifying residence and Maltese periods of coverage, with a break of up to 3 months in between, can also be considered to be continuous (Policy)

See Resources in International Social Security Agreements for examples of totalisation.

Maltese periods of coverage:

• means an insurance period, for example, a period during which contributions were paid, or any equivalent period, as defined in the Maltese legislation
• where equivalent periods may include deemed periods, such as for child rearing or military service
• where both actual and deemed periods may be used when totalising for Australian qualification purposes, as long as they are certified and don’t overlap
• must be certified by the Maltese Competent Institution

To be able to use the totalisation provisions, a person who is not an Australian resident at the date of lodgement must have at least 12 months Australian Working Life Residence (WLR) in Australia of which 6 months must be continuous (Article 7.4(a)).

Note: unlike WLR for rate, this period cannot be rounded.

No minimum WLR is required if the person is an Australian resident at the date of lodgement (Article 7.4(b)).

The Agreement allows the ongoing residence requirement for DSP and PPS to be met by customers who reside in Malta (Article 13).

For customers outside Australia, the Agreement with Malta (Article 8.1) refers to the overall rate calculation contained in section 12(1) of the Social Security (International Agreements) Act 1999.

This means customers paid under the Maltese Agreement have:

• a proportional rate paid according to their Australian Working Life Residence (WLR)
• the Rate Limiter/Limited Rate applied, and
• additional child amounts (S14A SS(IA)A 1999) included, if eligible in the proportional rate. These amounts are paid automatically as a component of the Australian pension
• their Maltese pension proportionalised (Randisi concession) for use in the income test using denominator of 300 (Article 8.1)

Note:

• In some circumstances, their partner's WLR may be used. See Working Life Residence (WLR)
• Autonomous customers who are paid a proportional rate and receiving a Maltese pension will also have the Randisi concession applied to their Maltese pension (Article 8.2)

Non-proportional rate extension

Customers paid under the Agreement and temporarily outside Australia, cannot have their non-proportional portability rate extended if they are unable to return to Australia.

Returns to Australia

The proportional rate continues to apply for the first 26 weeks of a temporary return to Australia (Article 8.3).

• For returns to Australia before 9 June 2018, manually code the Temporary Return to Aust Ind on the Residence Savings (RSS) screen.

Customers in Australia under the Agreement are generally paid a direct deduction rate (Article 8.5).

The Agreement does not include a comparison rate in Australia.

Departures from Australia

The inside Australia rate continues to be paid for the first 26 weeks of a temporary departure from Australia (Article 8.7).

Payments under the Agreement

Under the Agreement, provided the customer remains qualified, Australian payments are payable indefinitely in both countries, that is, for temporary or permanent absences (Article 13.1).

Third country portability under the Agreement

Portability to third countries for a customer paid under the Agreement is the same as for an autonomous customer leaving Australia (Article 13.2). See Portability of payments.

If necessary, a customer who receives an autonomous payment that stops being payable due to portability reasons can transfer to the Agreement to continue payment if:

• the payment is covered by the Agreement
• the customer meets any payment limitations, such as severely disabled, and
• the customer is able to meet the lodgement provisions of the Agreement

If transferred to the Agreement, all Agreement rules apply to the customer, including portability and rate of payment.

See Transfers to international social security agreements.

A person who has sufficient Australian qualifying residence (or an exemption) can transfer from the Agreement to autonomous only if they are an Australian resident and in Australia.

On return to Australia, system processing will automatically transfer to from the Agreement to autonomous if the person is an Australian resident who has only used the Agreement to extend their portability while outside Australia.

Former resident provisions may affect customers who transfer to autonomous if they leave Australia again within 2 years of becoming an Australian resident.

Australian payments may be issued to customers outside of Australia. If the customer intends to be outside of Australia:

• long-term (12 months or longer), their Australian payment may be issued to an overseas bank account. See Overseas Bank Account Details (OBAD) for payment requirements by country
• for less than 12 months, payment will generally continue to their normal Australian bank account every 2 weeks

See Delivery of payments to Centrelink customers outside Australia.

For Malta, the Agreement covers the Maltese social security system for particular payments.

Main payments

Contributory pensions:

• Pensjoni tal-Irtirar - Retirement Pension (AGE)
• Pensjoni tal-Invalidità - Invalidity Pension (INV)
• Pensjoni tar-Romol - Widows Pensions (SUR)

Note: Retirement pensions may be 'Two-Thirds' (contributions after 1979) or increased, decreased or national minimum (contributions prior to 1979).

Non-contributory payments are not paid outside Malta. They should be reviewed if necessary.

• Pensjoni tal-Età - Age pension
• Assistenza għal Diżabilità - Disability assistance
• Assistenza għal Diżabilità Severa – Severe disability assistance/ Assistenza Miżjuda għal Diżabilità Severa - Increased severe disability assistance
• Assistenza għal Mard – Sickness assistance
• Assistenza għal Diżabilità Severa Intellettwali - Severe intellectual disability assistance
• Assistenza għal Persuna b’Vista Batuta - Visual impairment assistance
• Għajnuna dwar il-Lebbra – Leprosy assistance
• Għajnuna dwar it-Tuberkulosi - Tuberculosis assistance
• Għotja għal Carer – Carer’s grant
• Allowance għal Carer - Carer’s allowance/Allowance Miżjuda għal Carer - Increased Carer’s Allowance
• Għajnuna Soċjali - Social assistance
• Assistenza għal Persuna Dipendenti mid-Droga – Drug addict assistance
• Assistenza għal Diżimpjieg - Unemployment assistance
• Allowance għal Ġenitur Waħdu mhux Miżżewweġ - Single unmarried parent allowance
• Għotja għal Ħalib – Milk grant
• Għotja lil Persuni li ma jikkwalifikawx għall-Pensjoni Kontributorja - Deficiency contribution bonus

The following known payments are paid by the Maltese authorities but are not covered under the Agreement:

• Benefiċċju għal Diżimpjieg (Unemployment benefit)
• Benefiċċju għal Mard (Sickness benefit)
• Benefiċċju għal Korriment (Injury benefit)
• Pensjonijiet tat-Teżor (Treasury pension) /Il-Pensjoni tas-Servizz (Service pension)
• British Service Pension
• Allowance supplimentari (Supplementary allowance)
• Benefiċċju tal-Enerġija (Energy benefit)
• Child Benefits:
• Allowance tat-Tfal (Children’s allowance)
• Allowance għal Tfal fil-Kura (Child in care allowance)
• Allowance għall-Tfal b’Diżabilità (Disabled child allowance)

For help with:

• Assessment of Maltese pensions, see Assessment
• Coding of Maltese pensions, see Eligibility and Coding

The requirement to claim Maltese pensions applies to Maltese AGE and INV.

• Customers may voluntarily claim SUR.

See Foreign pension claims.

Conversion case

A customer receiving a Maltese INV pension may be entitled to transfer to a Maltese early AGE pension - similar to our Transfer to Age. Malta calls this a ‘Conversion case’.

To facilitate this, the Maltese authority may request a Maltese AGE claim to be sent to the customer. A voluntary claim for Maltese AGE pension should be issued to the customer when one of these requests is received.

See Assisting customers to claim a foreign pension.

Eligibility and coding of foreign pensions tab contains detailed information on Maltese payments that are subject to CFP legislation.

Claim packs are available for AGE, INV and SUR.

Claim packs are issued through the Foreign Pension System (FPS). See Assisting customers to claim a foreign pension.

Specific requirements for Maltese claims

The customer is to complete and provide the following:

AGE only:

• Application for Retirement Pension (App_RP)

INV only:

• Application for Invalidly Pension (App_IP)

SUR only:

• Application for Survivor’s Pension (App_WP)
• Marriage certificate
• Death certificate
• Deceased’s Birth certificate

Requests for additional information

If information provided with the claim for Maltese pension is incomplete, Malta will send requests for information in Maltese direct to customers.

Under the Administrative Arrangements, Maltese forms can be lodged in Australia at any service centre. See Processing a foreign pension claim.

• All foreign pension claims and supporting documents must be scanned, and
• The original foreign claim form and (copies of) supporting documents must be sent in paper form to Centrelink International Services (CIS). See Processing a foreign pension claim

Centrelink International Services (CIS) only:

CIS will complete the following or arrange for the following to be completed as necessary and attach the documents to the foreign pension claim to send to the Agreement country. See Agreement Liaison Detail (ALD) for method of transmission.

All claims:

• AUS187MT - Australia/Malta Agreement on Social Security

For help creating and completing the form, see Agreement liaisons, NZ CICs and exchange of information.

INV only:

• Copy of existing Australian medical information

Enquiries about claims for Maltese payments in Malta or a third country should be directed to the Maltese social security authorities.

Maltese payments can be paid by direct deposit in Australia.

Any queries about the non-payment of Maltese pension should be directed to the Maltese pension authorities.

Agreement pensions are paid as 13 payments per year but are usually specified in weekly amounts on notices.

A ‘special bonus’ and ‘cost of living bonus’ is added to the weekly amount and there are also two bonus payments at a set rate paid in June and December.

Amounts are coded as Frequency: ‘ANN’ using the following calculation:

• when the amount paid weekly is provided:
• ANN= (weekly rate + special bonus + cost of living bonus) x 52 + 2 bonus payments
• when the amount paid 4 weekly is provided:
• ANN = (4 weekly rate + (4 x special bonus) + (4 x cost of living bonus)) x 13 + 2 bonus payments

Note:

• Special bonus is 3.12 Euro
• Bonus payments are 135.10 Euro each (270.20 Euro in total)
• Cost of living bonus is variable and should be confirmed with the Maltese authorities, if unknown

Maltese non-contributory assistance and pension payments are paid in varying frequencies: weekly (1 WE), 4-weekly (4 WE) or annually (ANN).

Other benefits or private pensions are normally paid monthly or annually.

Maltese pensions must be recorded in the source currency Euro (EUR). Official statements provide the foreign currency amounts.

Amounts recorded in source currency on the Foreign Pensions Details (FPD) screen must not be changed to the Australian dollar amount.

Note: payments into Australia are made in Australian dollars.

Maltese payments are generally increased for Consumer Price Index (CPI, or cost of living) in January each year.

For more information on bulk exchanges and auto adjusted CPI increases, see International Data Exchange Program and auto-indexation of foreign pensions.

• directly deducted (Article 8.5) and ignored in the income test (Section 8(8)(zc) Social Security Act 1991) for customers under the Maltese Agreement who are in Australia
• proportionalised and assessed as ordinary income (Article 8.5) for customers paid:
• under the Maltese agreement who are outside Australia.
• autonomously who are on a long-term outside Australia rate
• ordinary income (not proportionalised) for customers paid:
• autonomously who are in Australia
• under an agreement other than Malta or New Zealand who are inside or outside Australia.

See Rate Calculation for when a direct deduction or proportional rate is applied.

Note: each member of a couple is deemed to receive half of the total amount received by the couple (Article 8.6).

• Benefiċċju għal Diżimpjieg - Unemployment benefit

A beneficiary is entitled to a maximum of 156 days of Unemployment benefit.

This payment is different to Unemployment Assistance (Assistenza għal Diżimpjieg).

• Allowance supplimentari - Supplementary allowance
• Benefiċċju tal-Enerġija - Energy benefit
• Benefiċċju għal Korriment - Injury benefit
• Benefiċċju għal Mard - Sickness benefit

This payment is different to Sickness Assistance (Assistenza għal Mard).

• Pensjonijiet tat-Teżor - Treasury pension /Il-Pensjoni tas-Servizz – Service pension

Treasury pension (Pensjonijiet tat-Teżor) more commonly known as a Service pension (Il-Pensjoni tas-Servizz), is a pension paid to ex-civil servants, ex-police officers and ex-Armed Forces officers. In addition, there are other benefits in this scheme that aim to help widows and orphans of ex-civil servants and also to give allowances to retired members of parliament.

• British Service Pension

British Service Pension may be paid to customers in Malta who served in the British armed forced. This payment can also be made to widows of ex-servicemen.

British Service Pension is paid in Euro currency to customers residing in Malta and administered by the British Pensions Office in Malta. CPI is applied every April to British Service Pension paid to customers in Malta in line with other UK payments.

See International Data Exchange Program and auto indexation of foreign pensions.

Non-contributory assistance and pension payments

The following payments are exempt income for both customers paid under the Agreement and autonomous, who are resident in Malta (Article 8.4).

They are paid 4 weeks in advance unless another frequency is noted. They are not generally payable to people outside of Malta, but would be assessed the same as an agreement pension if the person is outside of Malta:

• Pensjoni tal-Età - Age pension

May be awarded to a person who reaches 60 years of age; does not have enough paid or credited Maltese contributions to be eligible for a contributory Retirement pension and satisfies the means test.

• Assistenza għal Diżabilità - Disability allowance

May be awarded to a person with a disability who is 16 years of age and over.

• Assistenza għal Diżabilità Severa – Severe disability assistance/ Assistenza Miżjuda għal Diżabilità Severa - Increased severe disability assistance/ Assistenza għal Diżabilità Severa Intellettwali – Severe intellectual disability assistance

May be awarded to a person with a disability who is 16 years of age and over and can be engaged in a gainful occupation.

• Assistenza għal Mard – Sickness assistance

Awarded to a person whose treatments incur an additional expenditure.

This payment differs to Sickness benefit (Benefiċċju għal Mard).

• Assistenza għal Persuna b’Vista Batuta - Visual impairment assistance

May be awarded to a person who is 14 years of age and over who is completely or partially visually impaired

• Għajnuna dwar il-Lebbra – Leprosy assistance/ Għajnuna dwar it-Tuberkulosi - Tuberculosis assistance

Awarded to a person who suffers from the disease, or who has a family member who is living within the household, and who suffers from one of these diseases

• Għotja għal Carer - Carer’s grant

Awarded to a parent who is not employed for care of a child(ren) in receipt of an Increased Severe Disability Assistance. Paid 4 times a year.

• Allowance għal Carer - Carer’s allowance /Allowance Miżjuda għal Carer - Increased carer’s allowance

May be awarded to a person who is over eighteen (18) years of age and is taking care of a relative, with low dependency, on a full-time basis living within the same household.

• Għajnuna Soċjali - Social assistance

May be awarded to a person who is responsible for the household who may:

• be incapable of working due to medical reasons; or
• cannot engage in employment due to having care and custody of own children and is legally or de facto separated.

• Assistenza għal Diżimpjieg - Unemployment assistance

Awarded to a person responsible for household and other eligible members forming part of the household, who is unemployed. Paid weekly.

This payment differs to Unemployment benefit (Benefiċċju għal Diżimpjieg).

• Assistenza għal Persuna Dipendenti mid-Droga – Drug addict assistance

May be awarded to a person who is following a drug or alcohol rehabilitation therapeutic program. Paid weekly.

• Allowance għal Ġenitur Waħdu mhux Miżżewweġ - Single unmarried parent allowance

May be awarded to a single unmarried parent who is not in paid employment.

• Għotja għal Ħalib – Milk grant

Awarded to a mother who has the care and custody of a child who is less than 40 weeks of age and requires weaning or complementary feeding else to a mother who cannot breastfeed for medical reasons.

• Għotja lil Persuni li ma jikkwalifikawx għall-Pensjoni Kontributorja -Deficiency contribution bonus

Up until 2019, customers aged between 62 and 74 and who did not have enough Social Security Contributions to qualify for a Contributory Pension were eligible for this payment.

From 2020, the bonus continues to be paid to those customers ineligible for a minimum pension beyond 74 years of age. Therefore, the payment of this bonus does not stop at 74 years of age.

Customers automatically qualify for this payment at grant. Paid annually.

• Child Benefits:
• Allowance tat-Tfal - Children’s allowance
• Allowance għal Tfal fil-Kura - Child in care allowance
• Allowance għall-Tfal b’Diżabilità - Disabled child allowance

Payment for dependent children is exempt from the income test if the child meets the Australian definition of a dependent child (section 8(8)(j) Social Security Act 1991).See Payment for dependent children. Otherwise, it is assessed as ordinary income.

The Agreement includes embargo provisions (Article 12.4) but they are not used.

Arrears debts for customers and partners are raised under s1228A Social Security Act 1991 and recovered by normal methods under the Act. See Comparable foreign payment lump sum arrears debts.

When an arrears period is not provided, the arrears period end date may be assumed to be the end of the month before the date on the notice or liaison form.

A contravention debt may also occur if the customer does not advise of the grant of their Maltese payment within their notification period. See Foreign pension coding.

Life certificates are not used by Malta.

Customers in Australia are sent notices at grant and will receive an annual statement in between January and March each year.