Mauritius company formation for non-residents

Why founders choose Mauritius

Mauritius is an international financial centre with a long record of holding and investment structures into Africa and India. Its main draw is a network of tax treaties and investment agreements, combined with a regulated, audited company.

A Global Business Company is a Mauritius resident company that holds a Global Business Licence from the Financial Services Commission. It is built for business conducted mainly outside Mauritius.

It needs resident directors, a local bank account and an annual audit. If you want a simple holding company with minimal upkeep, other jurisdictions may suit you better.

Founders usually come to Mauritius with a specific purpose: holding an African or Indian subsidiary, pooling investors in a fund, or running a regional treasury. If that is you, the extra upkeep buys a company that counterparties and tax authorities recognise.

In return, you get a company with a documented local presence, which is what treaty partners and banks look for.

How a GBC is set up and run

A GBC must be administered by a licensed management company in Mauritius. The management company files the licence application with the FSC, provides the registered office and secretary, and usually supplies the resident directors.

The company itself is incorporated with the Corporate and Business Registration Department under the Companies Act 2001. One shareholder is enough, and it can be a person or a company.

The FSC reviews a business plan and due diligence on every beneficial owner. Most files take 2–4 weeks from KYC approval, depending on how complete the documents are.

Mauritius also offers the Authorised Company, which is managed outside Mauritius and is not tax resident there. It is lighter to run but cannot use the treaty network, so the GBC is the usual choice when treaty access matters. We explain the difference on a short call.

The GBC can hold shares, lend within a group, provide services outside Mauritius and trade. Some activities, such as funds, investment advice or insurance, need an additional FSC licence on top, and we flag this at the start.

Management and control in Mauritius

Section 71(4) of the Financial Services Act 2007 sets out how a GBC shows it is managed and controlled from Mauritius. The FSC applies these tests case by case.

The FSC can also look for more, such as office premises, staff, local spending or an arbitration clause naming Mauritius. The more activity the company has, the more substance the FSC and the tax authority expect.

• At least 2 directors resident in Mauritius, of enough standing to exercise independent judgement
• Board meetings that include at least 2 resident directors
• Principal bank account kept in Mauritius
• Accounting records kept at the registered office
• Financial statements prepared and audited in Mauritius

Tax on a Global Business Company

The corporate tax rate in Mauritius is 15%. A GBC can claim an 80% partial exemption on specified income, including foreign dividends and certain interest, which gives an effective rate of about 3% on that income.

The partial exemption has its own substance test set by the Mauritius Revenue Authority. The company must carry out its core income-generating activities in Mauritius, employ enough suitably qualified people, directly or through its management company, and spend in proportion to its activity.

No foreign tax credit is allowed on income that uses the partial exemption. Recent Finance Acts added a corporate climate responsibility levy for larger companies and a domestic minimum top-up tax for multinational groups with revenue of €750,000,000 or more. Your specialist confirms which, if any, apply to you (confirm with your specialist).

Treaties and residence certificates

Mauritius has signed double taxation agreements with many countries, including a number in Africa and Asia. A GBC can ask the MRA for a tax residence certificate, which it needs to claim treaty benefits.

Treaty benefits are not automatic. Most treaties now include anti-abuse rules, and the other country will look at whether the Mauritius company has real substance and a business purpose. We plan the structure with that test in mind.

The MRA publishes the list of treaties in force on its website. We check the treaty that matters to you, including any limitation-of-benefits or principal-purpose test, before you commit to the structure (confirm with your specialist).

Registers, disclosure and lists

The company's basic details are on the public register. Beneficial ownership is filed with the Registrar and held by the management company, but it is not published. That is privacy within the law, and it is disclosed to authorities as required.

Mauritius left the FATF list of jurisdictions under increased monitoring in October 2021 and the EU's AML high-risk third country list in 2022. It is not on the EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes as of the February 2026 update.

Banks and treaty partners receive information about the company under the Common Reporting Standard and exchange-of-information agreements. Plan on the tax authorities where you live knowing about the company and its income.

What running the company involves

Each year the GBC pays its annual FSC and Registrar fees, holds board meetings in Mauritius, keeps its records at the registered office and has its financial statements audited in Mauritius. The audited statements are filed with the FSC, and the company files its tax return with the MRA.

The management company handles most of this, and we coordinate it for you on one calendar. For banking, we introduce you to banks in Mauritius and prepare the application. The bank decides.

Missing the audit or the FSC filing deadline can lead to penalties and, in serious cases, to the licence being suspended. A late tax return costs a GBC MUR 2,000 a month, up to MUR 20,000, under the MRA's penalty rules. The management company tracks these dates, and we send you the cost of each renewal well before it is due.