The Mauritius Government announced its new budget on Jun 11, 2021. Below are some highlights of importance to Foreign Nationals wishing to invest, work or retire in Mauritius.
Welcoming International Travellers as from July 15, 2021.
Phase 1: Mauritius will welcome vaccinated international travellers in Resort Destination only, where they will be able to enjoy the facilities of the resort, and not be confined to their rooms.
Phase 2 (Oct): Vaccinated International travellers will be able to enter Mauritius as normal as long as their PCR tests are negative.
Download the Official Press Release below
Budget Highlights
No changes in the taxation, i.e 15% for Personal Income tax and Corporate Tax.
The EDB (Economic Development Board) will be streamlining 16 different incentive schemes into 3 Certificates, namely:
Investment Certificate
Export Development Certificate
Premium Investor Certificate
Occupation Permit
Occupation Permit (OP), which is a combined work and residence permit, for Professionals is now extended from 3 to 10 years.
Spouses and holders wishing to invest or work in Mauritius will be exempted from applying for a separate occupation Permit or work Permit.
The maximum age limit of 24 years for dependents will be waived.
A new 10 Year Family Occupation Permit has been introduced, for those contributing to USD 250,000 to the Covid-19 Projects Development Fund.
A Young Professional Occupation Permit (10 Years Permit) has been introduced, for foreign students who have attended university education in Mauritius.
The Work Permit will be extended allowing Mauritians and non-citizen residents to bring foreign carers and maids to work in Mauritius.
Investors
The Premium Investor Certificate will allow companies investing at least Rs. 500 million to benefit from negotiable incentives, upon recommendation of a Technical Committee and Approval by the Minister. The latter is to support Preferential Free-Trade Agreements with China and India, as well as Turkey and the African Trade Continental Agreements.
All companies engaged in the manufacture of pharmaceutical and medical devices will be eligible to a premium investor certificate.
Biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies will be allowed a full tax credit on the costs of acquisition of patents. They will also be taxed at 3% instead of 15%.
Seed Capital of Rs 1 Billion has been earmarked by Government to setup a plant for the production of vaccines; International Platers will be invited to participate in this initiative.
Green Energy
Government is planning to phase out the use of Coal Energy by 2030.
Further Investment in Solar Farms, Wind Farms and the use of BioMass.
Concessionary loans at 2% interest will be provided for purchase of Solar Kits.
Allow owners of Electric vehicles to install photo voltaic system not exceeding 10Kw to charge their vehicles, and export surplus to the grid.
Diesel buses are being phased out.
Financial Services
Government is strongly committed to adhere of the AML/CFT regulations by:
Amending relevant legislation to meet requirements of FATF.
Recruitment and Training of new personnel to strengthen compliance capacity.
Setup of Financial Crimes Division at the Supreme Court.
In addition:
A Securitisation Bill will be introduced.
The tax holiday for Family Offices as well as Fund and Asset Managers will be extended from 5 to 10 years.
A new Securities Bill will be introduced;
A new legislation for virtual assets will be enacted;
Roll-out a Central Bank Digital Currency – The Digital Rupee - on a pilot basis;
Introduce a dedicated QR Code at national level to facilitate digital payments;
Guidelines allowing the setting up of regional offices by international banks will be revamped in line with latest international trends;
FinTech Innovation Lab: an Open-Lab for banking and payment Solutions to encourage an entrepreneurship culture;
Digital Centralised Information Exchange System to facilitate motor insurance claim recoveries.
Stock Exchange of Mauritius will introduce rules for the setting up of Special Purpose Acquisition Companies.
Asset Management and Other Tax Regimes
A 5-Year tax holiday will be grated on emoluments of an asset manager, a fund manager or asset and fund manager, who manages an asset base of not less than USD 100 million and who has been issued with a certificate on or after 1 September 2016.
New Certificate Holders will be eligible for a 10-Year tax holiday.
The Threshold of USD 100 M in respect of an asset being managed by Asset/Fund Manager will be reduced to USD 50 M.
Requirement for Family Offices to have a Global Licence will be eliminated
Partial exemption tax regime will be extended to cover investment dealers and other type of leasing activities.
Foundation and Trust will benefitting from preferential tax regime to comply to OCED standards, including substantial activity.
Download the Budget Speech
Download the Budget Annex
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