Mauritius has signed and ratified 43 Double Taxation Agreements (DTA) to date with leading developed and emerging economies around the globe, thus offering a wide range of fiscal benefits and enabling efficient tax planning.

The DTA network provides for interesting tax planning opportunities thereby enhancing the image of the jurisdiction as a tax-planning centre.

The attractive concessions provided by those treaties include:

• Elimination of double taxation through tax credit equivalent to Mauritian tax.
• Reduction in withholding taxes on dividends, interest and royalties.
• Exemption from capital gains.
• Possible exemption on interest payments on loans.

¹ Awaiting Ratification, ² To be signed by Foreign Jurisdiction, ³ Treaties under negotiation

Click here for the DTA summary table.

Mauritius offers full protection of foreign investments in key African nations through its network of Investment Promotion and Protection Agreements (IPPAs). As at date, Mauritius has signed 44 IPPAs, including 23 African countries. The IPPAs guarantee Mauritian investment with respect to expropriation and social unrest in contracting states. They also provide for arrangements for settlement of disputes between investors and the Contracting states.
 

¹ Awaiting Ratification

Mauritius has signed Tax Information Exchange Agreements (TIEAs) with the following countries:

In Force: Australia, Denmark, Finland, Norway, States of Guernsey, Iceland, USA
Awaiting ratification: Austria, Faroe Island, Greenland

In addition, TIEAs with Argentina, Greece, Isle of Man and the Republic of Korea are awaiting signature.

These agreements provide the legal framework for the respective Tax Authorities to provide assistance to each other for the exchange of information that is foreseeably relevant to the administration and enforcement of the domestic laws of the Contracting Parties concerning taxes, in a secure and confidential manner. The information includes information that is foreseeably relevant to the determination, assessment and collection of such taxes, the recovery and enforcement of tax claims, or the investigation or prosecution of tax matters.

Mauritius is also one of the forty countries constituting the group of ‘early-adopters’ of the OECD’s Standard for Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information (Common Reporting Standard - CRS), which sets the benchmark that countries would now have to adhere to in a highly proactive fiscal-information world. The first reporting under this standard will be undertaken by September 2018.

In view of implementing the US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) in Mauritius, Mauritius signed a Tax Information Exchange Agreement (TIEA) and a Model 1 Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) with the US in December 2013. The Mauritius IGA follows a Reciprocal Model 1A approach whereby all Reporting Mauritius Financial Institutions are required to disclose information on reportable accounts substantially owned by US citizens and residents to the Mauritius Revenue Authority (MRA) for onward submission to the US Inland Revenue Service (IRS). The agreements have now been incorporated in the local regulatory framework in regulations made under s76 of the Income Tax Act cited as the Agreement for the Exchange of Information Relating to Taxes (United States of America – FATCA Implementation) Regulations 2014 (Mauritius FATCA Regulations).