A person is eligible to register under article 11, and thus eligible to benefit from the respective exemption, if they qualify as a small enterprise for this purpose. In terms of Part One of the Sixth Schedule to the VAT Act, a small enterprise would be any taxable person whose domestic annual turnover during the preceding calendar year, if any, does not exceed the domestic threshold (€35,000) at the time of application. This notwithstanding, a person would not be eligible to register under article 11 where their turnover for the calendar year in which the application is made has already exceeded the domestic threshold. In terms of article 11(2), a backdated registration under article 11 is not possible. Where a person already registered under article 10 of the VAT Act opts to switch to an article 11 registration, such article 11 registration shall only take effect as from the first day of the month following that in which the Commissioner receives the application for registration under article 11.
For the avoidance of doubt, in relation to an article 11 registration, only supplies which take place in Malta for VAT purposes (i.e. in accordance with the place of supply rules contained in the Third Schedule to the VAT Act) are to be taken into consideration, both for the purpose of calculating the domestic annual turnover and for the purpose of assessing whether the domestic threshold has been exceeded.