Concept
Mauritius combines moderate taxes, an Anglo-French legal tradition and a mild climate, which is why entrepreneurs and remote workers have long favoured the island. The corporate rate holds at 15% and remains the jurisdiction's calling card, while personal income tax turned progressive on 1 July 2025. The main benefit for an arriving resident is the system's essentially territorial logic: foreign income is taxed only on the part brought onto the island.
Taxes
From 1 July 2025 the Finance Act 2025 replaced the former flat rate with a progressive scale. The first MUR 500,000 of annual chargeable income is exempt, the next MUR 500,000 is taxed at 10%, and everything above MUR 1 million at 20%. The former solidarity levy has been abolished, but a temporary Fair Share Contribution was introduced for top earners: on net income above MUR 12 million an extra 15% is due on the excess, a rule set for income from 1 July 2025 and the two years that follow. The tax year runs from 1 July to 30 June, returns are filed by 30 September, and electronic filers are usually granted an extension to mid-October.
Residence and territoriality
A person is treated as a tax resident who spends at least 183 days on the island in a tax year, or 270 days in total across that year and the two preceding ones, or who is domiciled in Mauritius — provided their permanent home is not located outside it. A resident is formally taxed on worldwide income, but the foreign part falls into tax only to the extent actually remitted to Mauritius. It is this semi-territoriality (in effect a remittance basis) that planners value. Salary for work physically performed on the island counts as Mauritian income even if the money arrives in a foreign account. The basic tests — days and the centre of vital interests — are covered separately.
How to obtain status
There are several routes. The Occupation Permit is a combined work-and-residence permit in three categories: investor (a transfer of at least USD 50,000 into a Mauritian company, turnover of at least Rs 1.5 million from the first year and Rs 20 million cumulatively by the fifth), professional qualified by salary level, and self-employed in services (the same USD 50,000 and letters from three clients). The Premium Visa is a one-year visa for remote workers and retirees with foreign income from USD 1,500 a month, with no right to local employment; it is one of the options on the map of digital nomad visas. Residence through property comes from buying a home from USD 375,000 in an approved scheme — IRS, RES, PDS, Smart City, IHS or G+2; the status holds while the property is retained and extends to a spouse and children up to 24. Such "residence-by-investment" programmes are collected in the residence-by-investment visas overview. From 1 December 2025 a non-refundable USD 50 fee applies to Occupation Permit and retirement-permit applications.
Substance and tax discipline
The low rate and the remittance regime rest on real presence. After the revision of the treaty with India and the OECD's wider campaign against empty structures, Mauritius tightened its substance requirements: a company must carry on genuine activity and keep people and expenditure on the island (CIGA), otherwise access to reliefs and treaties comes into question — more in the note on economic substance. For an individual the discipline is no less demanding: under automatic exchange of information via CRS, both remitted and foreign-retained income is visible to other countries' tax authorities, so remittance planning is built with an eye on reporting at home (see tax transparency). Anyone comparing the island with the classic non-dom should look at the UK's 2025 reform that closed the old regime — UK non-dom 2025.
Corporate angle
The island is often taken not only as a personal residence. A Global Business company in Mauritius enjoys a partial-exemption regime: 80% on certain types of foreign income — foreign dividends and interest — lowers the effective rate to roughly 3% where the substance and CIGA conditions are met, while the base corporate rate stays at 15%. Families therefore often combine personal resident status with a Mauritian holding company or fund, and the structure itself is measured against alternatives in the holding structures overview. Where a risk of dual residence arises, the dispute is settled by the tie-breaker of the relevant treaty — the mechanics are covered in a separate note. Nearby on the map of tax residences sit zero-tax islands and territorial regimes — Cayman and Bahamas and the UAE.
Context
The island's historical role is a gateway for capital into India and Africa. For decades investors went through Mauritius thanks to the treaty with India, which exempted gains on shares of Indian companies from withholding tax. The 2016 protocol changed that: from 1 April 2017 India taxes such gains itself, while investments made before that date remain protected by grandfathering. After the treaty was revised and under OECD pressure, the emphasis shifted to real presence and substance, to wealthy residents and companies with genuine activity on the island.
This material is for reference purposes and does not constitute individual advice.