Amnesties on penalties for unpaid income tax and VAT rates will no longer be the norm as the government has pledged a crackdown on tax cheats.

Finance Minister Clyde Caruana said on Monday that as of June 2022, interests on unpaid tax and VAT will be hiked to 7.2%.

Caruana said the country's achievements could only be safeguarded if everyone paid their taxes.

The finance minister said that while the government would continue to help those who felt behind on their tax payments due to economic and fiscal hardship, “unjustified” delays in tax payments would not be tolerated.

Caruana said exemptions on interest payments on unpaid tax balances would no longer be the norm.

“The government believes everything possible should be done to safeguard the country’s fiscal morality”.

Malta was in June placed on a list of untrustworthy financial jurisdictions by the Financial Action Task Force, a global anti-money laundering watchdog.

The country must improve its implementation of three key anti-money laundering issues before it can be taken off the FATF grey list.

One of the keys planks is an improved commitment to effectively fight tax crimes by using intelligence to catch tax cheats.

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