Mauritius: Business Environment

Accounting Rules

Tax Year: From 1 July to 30 June
Accounting Standards: All companies as stipulated in the Companies Act 2001, except for small private companies, which do not qualify as Public Interest Entities (PIEs), must prepare financial statements in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) as issued by the IASB. The First Schedule of the Financial Reporting Act (FRA) 2004 defines PIEs as all companies that are listed on the Stock Exchange of Mauritius, financial institutions, other than cash dealers, regulated by the Bank of Mauritius or by the Financial Services Commission, and companies that exceed one of the following thresholds in the two consecutive preceding periods: (i) annual turnover exceeding MUR 500 million; or (ii) total assets exceeding MUR 500 million.
Companies that do not qualify as a PIE may prepare financial statements in accordance with the IFRS for SMEs.
Accounting Regulation Bodies: Financial Reporting Council (FRC)
Accounting Reports: All companies must maintain statutory books and records that accurately show the transactions and financial position of the company.
The board of every company must ensure that within six months after the balance sheet date of the company, the financial statements are dated and signed on behalf of the board by two directors of the company or, where the company has only one director, by that director.
Publication Requirements: Every company, other than small private companies, shall ensure that within 28 days after the financial statements of the Company and group financial statements are required to be signed, copies of those statements together with a copy of the auditor’s report on those statements are filed with the Registrar of Companies.
The Companies Act 2001 stipulates that the financial statements of all companies, except for small private companies that do not exceed thresholds related to annual turnover and total assets, must be audited in accordance with ISA as issued by the IAASB.
Professional Accountancy Bodies: Mauritius Institute of Professional Accountants
Certification and Auditing: National Audit Office
Accounting News

Tax Rates

Consumption Taxes

Nature of the Tax: Value-added tax (VAT)
Tax Rate: 15% (standard rate)
Reduced Tax Rate: Zero-rated items include exports of goods and services; printed books and booklets; sugar; fertilizers; margarine; rice; yoghurt; edible oils; transport of passengers and goods by sea or air; electricity and water; chilled deep-sea water used for the provision of air conditioning services; photovoltaic systems; bread; cooking gas in cylinders of up to 12kg for domestic use; transport of passengers by public services vehicles; medical, hospital and dental services.
Exempt items include baby food; breakfast cereals; entrance to cinemas, concerts and shows; films, including royalties; educational services; certain financial services; insurance; land; training services approved by the Mauritius Qualifications Authority.
Other Consumption Taxes: Excise duties are levied on liquor, cars, tobacco and oil products.

Corporate Taxes

Company Tax: 15%
Tax Rate For Foreign Companies: Foreign companies are taxed at the same rates as local ones. There is an 80% tax exemption eligible on branch income, being profits attributable to a permanent establishment in Mauritius.
Capital Gains Taxation: No tax is imposed on capital gains. Nevertheless, certain transactions can be taxed as ordinary business profit; for example, if a transaction is in the nature of trade, it is considered an ordinary trading transaction and the gains derived are assessed as income. Gains realised from the sale of any property or interest in property acquired in the course of a business, as part of a profit-making undertaking or scheme, are taxable as ordinary income.
Main Allowable Deductions and Tax Credits: Deductions are available for depreciation and depletion, net operating losses, and payment to foreign affiliates. Expenditure on interest is deductible when it is incurred in respect of capital employed solely in the production of income. Provisions for bad or doubtful debt are deductible only if legal actions have been taken against the debtor.
Certain taxes are deductible, including municipal taxes relating to buildings, land transfer tax, and irrecoverable input VAT.
Losses that occured in an accounting year can be carried forward for a maximum of five years.
Other Corporate Taxes: Mauritius does not levy a real property tax.
A land transfer tax is payable by the transferor at the rate of 5% (exceptions apply).
A leasehold tax is levied on the registration of a deed of transfer of leasehold rights in state land (20% on the open market value of the leasehold right, shared equally between the transferor and transferee).
Stamp duty is paid to the Registrar General on every document at the time of registration, transcription, inscription, or erasure of inscription (between MUR 25 to 1,000).
The employer's Contribution Sociale Généralisée (CSG) is set at 2.5% (for the National Solidarity Fund) and 1.5% (for the Human Resource Development Council levy) of the monthly basic salary. The employer is also required to pay a training levy at the rate of 1% of the total basic wage or salary of its employees.
Other Domestic Resources: Mauritius Revenue Authority; Overview of the Mauritius' tax measures in response to Covid-19; PwC - Worldwide Tax Summary: Mauritius, to obtain a summary of the taxation system in Mauritius

Country Comparison For Corporate Taxation

	Mauritius	Sub-Saharan Africa	United States	Germany
Number of Payments of Taxes per Year	8.0	36.6	10.6	9.0
Time Taken For Administrative Formalities (Hours)	140.0	284.8	175.0	218.0
Total Share of Taxes (% of Profit)	22.2	47.3	36.6	48.8

Source: Doing Business - Latest available data.

Individual Taxes

Tax Rate

Personal income tax	Progressive rates from 10% to 15%
Up to MUR 700,000	10%
Between MUR 700,000 and 975,000	12.5%
Above MUR 975,000	15%
Solidarity levy (on annual leviable income exceeding MUR 3 million)	25%

Allowable Deductions and Tax Credits

Resident individuals are entitled to claim the following deduction from their net income in the income year in which the income is derived:

Category A: Individual having no dependants: MUR 325,000.
Category B: Individual having only one dependant: MUR 435,000.
Category C: Individual having two dependants: MUR 515,000.
Category D: Individual having three dependants: MUR 600,000.
Category E: Individual having four or more dependants: MUR 680,000.

Consult the MRA website for further information.

Special Expatriate Tax Regime

Individuals are considered resident for tax purposes if they are domiciled in Mauritius, spend 183 days or more in an income year in the country, or have a combined presence in Mauritius of at least 270 days in the tax year and the two preceding tax years.

Double Taxation Treaties

Countries With Whom a Double Taxation Treaty Have Been Signed: See the list of Tax conventions signed by Mauritius.
Withholding Taxes: Dividends: 0%; Interests: 0 (resident companies)/15%; Royalties: 10% (residents)/15% (non-residents)

Sources of Fiscal Information

Tax Authorities: Mauritius Revenue Authority
Other Domestic Resources: Customs department
Mauritius tax legislation

Intellectual Property

National Organisations: Website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Regional Integration and International Trade.
For more contact information, visit this page
Regional Organisations: Mauritius is a member of the African Intellectual Property Organization.

Legal Framework

Checking National Laws Online: Government Printing Department
GovtNotice

Standards

National Standards Organisations: Mauritius Standards Bureau
Integration in the International Standards Network: The Mauritius Standards Bureau is a full member of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and of the African Organisation for Standardisation (ARSO). It is also an active participant in regional fora such as the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Cooperation in Standardization (SADCSTAN), SADC Cooperation in Measurement (SADCMET) and the Common Market for Eastern and South African-Standards, Quality Assurance, Metrology and Testing (COMESA-SQMT) structure. MSB is also an Associate Member of Conférence Générale des Poids et Mesures (CGPM).
Classification of Standards: Accreditation is done according to the international ISO standards that are recognized as Mauritian (MUS) ones.
Certification Organisations: Mauritius Standards Bureau

Business Practices

General Information
Opening Hours and Days: Shops' opening hours in the main cities are generally from 9.30 am to 7.30 pm (Monday-Saturday). Certain shops are open till noon on Sundays and public holidays.
The opening hours of offices in the private sector are normally 8 am to 5 pm from Monday to Friday and 9am to noon on Saturday.

Banking hours:
Monday to Thursday : 9.15 am -3.15 pm
Friday: 9.15 am -3.30 pm
Saturday: 9.15 am -11.15 am (some banks only).

Public Holidays

New Year's Day	1st Jan
New Year Holiday	2nd Jan
Chinese New Year	movable
Abolition of Slavery	1st Feb
Thaipoosam Cavadee	movable
Maha Shivaratree	Maha Shivaratree
National Day	12th Mar
Ugadi	movable
Eid al-Fitr	movable
Labour Day	1st May
Ganesh Chaturthi	movable
All Saints' Day	1st Nov
Arrival of Indentured Labourers	2nd Nov
Divali	movable
Christmas Day	25th Dec

Holiday Compensation: According to the Workers' Rights Act (art. 30 and 24), for work performed on public holidays, a worker shall be remunerated at not less than twice the basic hourly rate for every hour of work.

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