1. Mauritius Authorised Companies (AC)
Mauritius Authorised Companies are tax exempt, flexible business entities that are regularly utilised for international investment holding, international property holding, international trade and international management and consultancy.
2. Global Business Companies (GBC)
A Global Business Company (“GBC”) 1 is a company incorporated under the Companies Act 2001 and is licensed by the Financial Services Commission to carry out business outside Mauritius. However, the GBC is allowed to carry out minimal business activity in Mauritius. A GBC is held or controlled by a person who is not a citizen of Mauritius, and it can be a private or public and limited or unlimited liability company.
A GBC is a tax resident in Mauritius and is eligible to take advantage of the network of Double Taxation Avoidance Agreements Mauritius has signed to benefit from nil or low withholding tax rates on interest, dividends, and royalties.
A GBC is subject to a flat corporate tax of 15% but is eligible to avail itself to relief under the new Partial Exemption Regime.
GBC conducts its transactions in foreign currency and may undertake any of the following non-exhaustive list of activities:
- Investment Holding
Trading - Asset Management
- Investment Advisory
- Consultancy Services
- Asset Holding
- Marketing
- IT services
- Financial services
3. Protected Cell Companies (PCC)
Protected Cell Companies are governed mainly by the Protected Cell Companies Act 1999. It is a single entity with different cells having segregated assets and liabilities from one another.
It is liable to tax as a single entity. A GBC may be structured as a PCC. Being a qualified global business company, the PCC would therefore be taxed at a rate of 15% but application of the “partial exemption regime” could reduce the tax liability.
NB// PCC set up is allowed for the following activities:
- Asset holding
Collective investment schemes - Insurance business
Specialized collective investment schemes - Structured finance businesses
