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ShelfCompanies24 has been forming Mauritius companies for international clients since 1995. Our Mauritius management-company partners handle every step of company formation in Mauritius on a single consolidated service contract, from picking the right legal form through FSC registration, MRA tax registration, TRC application support and your first Mauritius bank account. Most clients are trading inside 2 to 4 weeks, or in 5 to 10 working days via a ready-made off-the-shelf Mauritius GBC or AC.
Our service covers FSC filings, management company, registered office, TRC application support.
GBC/AC + management company + Mauritius banking + TRC support under one roof.
Standard formation 2 to 4 weeks. English/French-speaking case manager.
No physical presence required.
We file FSC application, register MRA tax, support TRC application, organise substance compliance.
The GBC is the workhorse of Mauritius offshore commerce. Tax-resident, treaty-eligible, substance-required.
Non-resident treatment. No treaty access, no substance requirements. 0% CIT.
| Form | Min. capital | Formation time | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| GBC | US$1 | 2 to 4 weeks | Treaty-driven African/Indian corridors |
| Authorised Company | US$1 | 1 to 2 weeks | Pure offshore holding |
| Mauritius Foundation | None | 2 to 4 weeks | Private wealth |
| Off-the-shelf GBC/AC | US$1 | 5 to 10 days | Need immediate trading |
Registering a company in Mauritius runs through an FSC-licensed management company, which is mandatory for a Global Business Company and is the party that deals with the regulator on your behalf. The sequence is short to describe: choose between the GBC and the Authorised Company, engage the management company, draft the Constitution, file the application with the Financial Services Commission, register with the Mauritius Revenue Authority and, for a GBC, apply for the Tax Residency Certificate that makes the treaty network usable. The FSC typically issues the licence within 2 to 3 weeks, which is why a GBC takes 2 to 4 weeks end to end and an Authorised Company 1 to 2 weeks. Where that does not fit the deadline, an off-the-shelf GBC or AC transfers in 5 to 10 working days. The seven steps below are the same route in detail.
Nothing about Mauritius incorporation requires you to be on the island. Shareholders may be resident anywhere, there is no citizenship requirement, and the file opens on certified and apostilled passport copies, proof of address and a source-of-funds declaration. The one structural point to plan for is the board. A GBC needs at least two Mauritius-resident directors so that management and control genuinely sit in Mauritius, which is what the substance test and the Tax Residency Certificate depend on, and the management company arranges that as part of the engagement. An Authorised Company has no such requirement, but it is non-resident for tax and has no treaty access. Owners in South Africa, the Gulf, the United Kingdom and the United States complete the whole process without travelling.
GBC vs. AC based on treaty-access needs.
FSC-licensed management company (mandatory for GBC) engaged.
Mauritius company Constitution drafted by management company.
Filed with the Financial Services Commission. FSC typically issues licence within 2 to 3 weeks.
Tax registration with Mauritius Revenue Authority.
Tax Residency Certificate application, confirms Mauritius tax residency for treaty access.
Mauritius banking partners: AfrAsia, MCB, SBM, ABSA Mauritius, Bank One, Standard Bank.
Mauritius offers two very different offshore vehicles, and choosing between them is most of the decision. The Global Business Company is Mauritius tax-resident: it pays the 15% headline rate, the 80% Partial Exemption on qualifying foreign-source income brings that to roughly 3% effective, and with a Tax Residency Certificate it can claim the benefit of around 50 double-tax treaties. In exchange it has to be real, with an FSC-licensed management company, at least two Mauritius-resident directors, board meetings held on the island and expenditure incurred there. The Authorised Company is the opposite trade: treated as non-resident, no Mauritius corporate income tax, no substance requirement, and no treaty access whatsoever. Use the GBC when a treaty is doing the work, typically on African, Indian or Middle East corridors where withholding tax on dividends, interest or royalties would otherwise bite. Use the Authorised Company for pure holding where no treaty is needed and simplicity is the point. Converting from one to the other later is a project rather than a form, so the choice is worth an hour of planning before anything is filed.
Through an FSC-licensed management company, which is mandatory for a Global Business Company. You confirm the vehicle and the business purpose, the management company drafts the Constitution and files the application with the Financial Services Commission, the FSC typically issues the licence within 2 to 3 weeks, and the company is then registered with the Mauritius Revenue Authority. For a GBC the Tax Residency Certificate application follows. A GBC takes 2 to 4 weeks end to end, an Authorised Company 1 to 2 weeks.
The vehicle, mostly. An Authorised Company is the lighter structure: non-resident treatment, no substance, no Tax Residency Certificate. A GBC carries the FSC-licensed management company, at least two Mauritius-resident directors, board meetings and expenditure on the island and the annual filings the FSC requires of a licensee, which is work that recurs every year rather than once at setup. The other drivers are how many beneficial owners need KYC, whether VAT registration applies, and whether the activity needs a sector licence. Your consultant scopes all of it before anything is filed.
If the business will trade inside Mauritius and sell to Mauritian customers, that is a domestic company registered with the Registrar of Companies, with local licensing and VAT registration at 15% once turnover requires it. It is a different route from the one on this page. The GBC and the Authorised Company are FSC-licensed vehicles built for business done outside Mauritius, and that is the work we do. If your plan is local trade, we will tell you so rather than sell you a global business structure.
A GBC takes 2 to 4 weeks from complete KYC to a usable company, with the FSC typically issuing the licence within 2 to 3 weeks of the application and the Mauritius Revenue Authority registration and Tax Residency Certificate work running behind it. An Authorised Company is lighter and takes 1 to 2 weeks. A reserved name holds for about 30 days while the documentation is finalised. If the deadline is tighter than that, an off-the-shelf GBC or AC transfers in 5 to 10 working days.
80% deduction on qualifying foreign-source income (foreign dividends from non-Mauritius companies, foreign interest, foreign collective-investment income), bringing GBC effective CIT to ~3%.
Treaty access. Mauritius has ~50 DTTs particularly strong for African and Indian corridors; BVI/Seychelles IBCs are excluded from most DTTs.
Four things, in this order. Registration with the Mauritius Revenue Authority for tax. The Tax Residency Certificate application, for a GBC that intends to rely on the treaty network. The corporate bank account, which is a separate approval running on the bank’s own timetable rather than part of the licence. And the annual cycle the management company runs from then on: FSC filings, beneficial-ownership updates, accounting and the corporate tax return.
Ready to register your Mauritius GBC or AC? Contact our Mauritius desk.
Forming a Mauritian GBC through ShelfCompanies24 follows a defined sequence. Knowing what happens at each stage helps you prepare documentation and avoid surprises:
Modern offshore practice has shifted substantially since 2019. Mauritius, like most international financial centres, requires entities engaged in ‘relevant activities’ (banking, insurance, fund management, financing & leasing, headquarters, distribution & service centre, holding-company business, IP, shipping) to demonstrate economic substance, adequate staff, premises, and management presence in Mauritius commensurate with the activity carried on. Pure passive holding companies face a reduced substance test; active income-generating activities face the full test.
Mauritius-resident corporates are also subject to FATCA and Common Reporting Standard (CRS) automatic exchange of financial-account information with US IRS and OECD partner jurisdictions respectively. We brief every client on these obligations during scoping; they are not deal-breakers but they materially shape how the GBC should be structured and where the beneficial owner sits for tax-residency purposes. Our consultant helps you build a structure that is both efficient and demonstrably compliant, Google’s E-E-A-T standards, OECD pressure, and your home jurisdiction’s controlled-foreign-company rules all push in the same direction: substance matters more than ever.
Headline Mauritius corporate tax in 2026: 15% / 3% effective GBC.
15% standard / Partial Exemption about 3% effective for GBC; treaty network with India, Africa; AC vs GBC choice.
Annual obligations after incorporation typically include FSC confirmation/return filings, beneficial-owner-register updates whenever ownership changes, and corporate-tax filings on the company’s financial year. Where VAT/sales-tax registration applies, periodic VAT returns are filed on calendar-quarter or monthly cadence depending on turnover. Our retainer-based bookkeeping and tax-compliance service handles the entire annual cycle for a service, for a non-trading GBC and for an actively trading one.
The right bank for a Mauritian GBC depends on what you’ll actually do with the company. Operating-account-only with low transaction volume is straightforward. International EUR/USD multi-currency with high-volume B2B transfers requires a different banking partner. E-commerce processing has yet another set of requirements.
For Mauritius entities specifically, we work with relationship managers at international banks that accept mauritius-domiciled corporate structures, a noticeably narrower set than for onshore EU companies. The banks that do accept offshore entities focus on substance evidence, beneficial-owner CV, and source-of-funds documentation rather than just incorporation paperwork. Our consultant pre-positions your application against the bank’s specific scoring model so the application clears on first submission.
Operators evaluating Mauritius for a formation project frequently also look at:
Each of those jurisdictions has its own trade-off matrix on tax, banking, substance, and operational practicalities. If you’re early in your evaluation, your consultant will walk you through the comparison in the first call, we are deliberately jurisdiction-agnostic about which structure fits your business best.
Yes. A Global Business Company must have at least two Mauritius-resident directors, because the substance test and the Tax Residency Certificate both rest on management and control sitting on the island, alongside the FSC-licensed management company every GBC engages. Shareholders, by contrast, may be resident anywhere. An Authorised Company is the exception: it is treated as non-resident, so it carries no resident-director requirement, and no treaty access either. Your consultant confirms the board composition before the FSC application goes in.
A Mauritian GBC is wound up voluntarily through an FSC dissolution procedure, typically 6-12 months including the statutory creditor-notice period, with the management company filing and the Mauritius Revenue Authority position settled before the licence is surrendered. Selling is the alternative: the share-purchase mechanism is the one we use to transfer shelf companies, running in reverse. We handle both routes, and clients often resell a company they no longer need as a shelf entity rather than dissolve it.
Some activities require sector-specific licences in Mauritius, banking, insurance, investment services, crypto-asset services, gambling, and others depending on your business model. The standard GBC we form is suitable for non-regulated commercial activity; licensing is layered on afterwards where needed. Your consultant confirms the licence position for your specific activity during the initial scoping call.
A Mauritian GBC can hold subsidiaries, branches, or contractual relationships in other jurisdictions. The optimal multi-country structure depends on tax-residency rules, treaty access, transfer pricing, and beneficial-owner reporting in each country. ShelfCompanies24 covers 56 jurisdictions across our network, so we can implement a multi-country structure end-to-end without you needing separate providers in each country.
Send us a short message with your country preference (or that you’re undecided), the activity you have in mind, and whether you’d prefer a pre-formed shelf GBC ready in 48 hours or a fresh formation taking 5 days. We respond within one working day with a service tailored to your situation. The first consultation carries no obligation and covers structure, tax, banking, and timelines, no obligation.
Our retainer-based ongoing service covers the full annual lifecycle of a Mauritian GBC: registered office and mail handling, accounting and bookkeeping, periodic VAT/sales-tax filings (where applicable), payroll for any employed staff, beneficial-owner-register maintenance, FSC confirmation/return filings, and the year-end financial statements plus corporate-tax return. We also provide a dedicated point of contact who knows your file and signs off every filing, no rotating-account-manager experience. Specialised work (transfer-pricing studies, restructurings, M&A on the GBC, or sector-specific licensing) is quoted separately. Most clients find the predictable service far easier to budget than buying piecemeal services from local accountants and lawyers, especially when starting out in Mauritius.
You have three practical options. Voluntary dissolution through a FSC winding-up is the cleanest route, handled by us end to end, typically completed inside 6-12 months including the statutory creditor-notice period. Sale of the GBC as a shelf entity to another buyer is sometimes possible, especially if it has clean trading history and a recognisable name; we evaluate this on a case-by-case basis. Mothballing via reduced-cost dormant filings keeps the GBC alive at a light annual compliance load (registered office plus nil filings) for the day you might want to use it again. Your consultant walks you through trade-offs before you commit either way.