You pay €1.210 per litre for diesel in Malta. Of that, €0.657 (54.3%) is tax and €0.553 is the product itself — crude oil, refining, transport and the retailer's margin combined. The tax is made up of €0.472 excise duty, €0.000 in other levies, and €0.185 VAT at 18%.
Fuel is one of the most heavily taxed products in Europe, and the split between what the fuel costs and what the state collects explains most of the price gap between neighbouring countries. Here is exactly how the money you pay for each litre is split up in Malta, using the European Commission's weekly figures from 20 July 2026.
| Component | Per litre | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Product cost | €0.553 | 45.7% |
| Excise duty | €0.472 | 39.0% |
| Other levies | €0.000 | 0.0% |
| VAT (18%) | €0.185 | 15.3% |
| Total tax | €0.657 | 54.3% |
| Pump price | €1.210 | 100% |
The fuel itself: crude oil, refining, storage, transport to the station and the retailer's margin. The European Commission reports these as a single figure. This is the part that moves when oil markets move — and it is broadly similar across the EU, because everyone buys on the same world market.
A fixed amount per litre set by the national government, charged whatever the oil price does. Excise is the single biggest reason a litre costs more in one country than in its neighbour: it does not fall when crude falls.
Country-specific levies on top of excise — carbon charges, biofuel obligations, strategic stock fees, regional surcharges. Small in most countries, but they are the part that changes most often as climate policy tightens.
Value added tax at 18%, applied to everything above — including the excise duty. That is why VAT is a tax on a tax, and why a rise in crude prices raises the tax take automatically.
Filling a 50-litre tank in Malta costs about €60.50 at today's price. €32.85 of that goes to the state and €27.65 covers the fuel itself. Put differently: roughly 54.3% of every fill-up is tax.
At 54.3%, the tax share in Malta is 12.2 percentage points above the EU average of 42.1%. Across the 27 member states Malta ranks 1st by tax burden on diesel.
The most heavily taxed diesel in the EU right now is in Malta (54.3%); the lightest burden is in Sweden (26.6%).
We do not yet have a full year of comparable breakdown data for Malta.
54.3% — €0.657 of every €1.210 litre. That is €0.472 in excise duty, €0.000 in other levies and €0.185 in VAT.
Almost always because of excise duty, not the fuel itself. Every EU country buys on the same world market, so product cost is similar everywhere (€0.553 per litre here). What differs is the fixed duty each government adds — and the VAT rate applied on top of it.
Yes. VAT at 18% is calculated on the full price including excise, so it is charged on the tax too. This is why the total tax take rises automatically whenever crude oil gets more expensive.
Weekly. The figures come from the European Commission's Oil Bulletin, which member states report every Monday and the Commission publishes mid-week. The numbers on this page are from 20 July 2026.
Crude oil, refining margin, storage, transport to the filling station and the retailer's own margin — reported by the Commission as one combined figure of €0.553 per litre. It is not broken down further at source.
Source: European Commission — Weekly Oil Bulletin. Data from 20 July 2026 · European Commission Weekly Oil Bulletin.