All you need to know about becoming a tax resident in Mauritius

Are you emigrating to Mauritius and wondering how you will trigger the tax residency rules? Today we tell you all you need to know about becoming a tax resident in Mauritius.

What does the legislation tell us about tax residency for individuals?

Well, an individual is considered to be resident in Mauritius for tax purposes if he or she:

1. Has a domicile in Mauritius unless his/her permanent place of abode is outside Mauritius, or;
2. Has been present in Mauritius for an aggregate period of 183 days or more in an income year, or;
3. Has been present in Mauritius for an aggregate period of 270 days in an income year and the preceding two income years.

How does the MRA apply the legislation?

Now, something important to consider for non-citizens is that the MRA does not consider condition 1 above when the emigrant arrives in Mauritius. For instance, if a South African resident decides to relocate to Mauritius with his family and has purchased a house in Mauritius, it does not mean that condition 1 will be met automatically. The Mauritius Revenue Authority (“MRA”) usually applies this condition for individuals staying in the country more permanently. Although this has not been mentioned in the law, it is the case in practice.

To be considered tax resident in Mauritius, a non-citizen would thus generally need to meet either condition 2 or 3. It is important to understand how the fiscal/income year works in Mauritius to determine how the tax residency criteria is met. In Mauritius, the income year runs from 1 July to 30 June to the following year and the 183 day and 270-day criteria will be based on these periods. For instance, if a South African resident comes into the country on 1 February 2023 and spends more than 183 days in aggregate in the calendar year 2023, he will be considered tax resident for the income year 2023-2024 and not income year 2022-2023. This is because from 1 February 2023 to 30 June 2023, he spent less than 183 days in Mauritius.

For condition 3, if for some reason an individual has spent only 90 days in each of the previous two income years, including the current one, he will be considered tax resident in Mauritius in the current income year only. For example, if an individual spends 90 days on average in income years 2022-2023, 2023-2024 and 2024-2025, he will have met condition 3 as his stay in Mauritius is at least 270 days in aggregate in all in the income years. Therefore, he will only be deemed tax resident in Mauritius as from income year 2024-2025, and not income years 2022-2023 and 2023-2024. It is not as simple as one may think. In order to ascertain whether an individual has spent the required amount of days to be tax resident in Mauritius for any particular income year, the MRA may gather information from the Passport and Immigration office in Mauritius.

Other Key Considerations

Of course, you should also consider your tax residency status in the country you are leaving, and whether you will trigger any exit charges upon departure. For instance, the South African Revenue Service (“SARS”) often requests a Tax Residency Certificate (“TRC”) stamped by the MRA to confirm the person is exclusively resident in Mauritius before they agree to give up their taxation rights. And this process can take a while, as in order for the MRA to issue a TRC, the individual will need to at least meet the 183 days criteria to trigger the tax residency in Mauritius. Once all of this is sorted and you are officially a tax resident in Mauritius, you will need to apply for a Tax Account Number (“TAN”) to enable you to file your individual tax returns in Mauritius. The deadline for filing an individual tax return electronically in Mauritius is 15 October every year.

If you are concerned about how your tax residency status reflects in your home country, why not get in contact with us to be on the right side of err? We’re available via email or visit our Contact Us page today.

Meet the author: Jayesh Ramloll

Jayesh is our Manager in the Mauritius office and specialises in Mauritian domestic and international tax. He can be contacted via email at?[email protected] .