Mauritius personal tax: residence, remittances and the 2026 changes

Residence is more than a 183-day test

Income Tax Act section 73 has three alternative individual tests: domicile in Mauritius unless a permanent place of abode is abroad; at least 183 days in the income year; or at least 270 days across that year and its two predecessors. The individual income year runs from 1 July to 30 June. A residence permit does not replace these tests, and spending fewer than 183 days does not necessarily make someone nonresident.

Prepare a dated record of arrivals, departures, homes, family and work. If the former country also regards you as resident, examine the actual treaty and its tie-breaker. A Mauritius tax-residence certificate is evidence of the local position; it does not itself release you from foreign residence, source taxes or citizenship-based obligations.

What remittance taxation does and does not cover

Residents are within the worldwide-income framework, but section 5(3) treats an individual’s foreign-source income as derived when received in Mauritius by or on their behalf, or dealt with in Mauritius for their benefit. The map therefore describes the ordinary individual position as remittance-based for foreign income, rather than calling Mauritius a territorial zero-tax jurisdiction.

Source comes first. Section 74 treats employment duties performed wholly or mainly in Mauritius, business carried on wholly or partly here, and contracts wholly or partly performed here as Mauritius-source categories. Invoicing a foreign customer or receiving money into an overseas account does not by itself turn a service delivered from Mauritius into foreign-source income. Separate capital, dividends, interest, rent and services in the records.

Finance Act 2026 also adds Mauritius-supplied ICT services to section 74, including software, licences, applications, maintenance and certain remote maintenance. Cross-border suppliers should review source, withholding and treaty consequences together, rather than relying on the customer’s billing currency.

Current rates: income from 1 July 2026

Finance Act 2026 section 7(v), commenced by section 28(12), introduces a fourth marginal band for the income year starting 1 July 2026. The bands apply to chargeable income after applicable deductions, not automatically to gross salary or every remittance. The first MUR 500,000 is taxed at 0%, the next MUR 500,000 at 10%, the next MUR 11m at 20%, and income above MUR 12m at 35%.

For example, MUR 2m of chargeable income produces MUR 250,000 of ordinary income tax: zero on the first 500,000,50,000 on the next 500,000 and 200,000 on the remaining 1m. This is a chargeable-income illustration, excluding social contributions and any source-specific adjustments; it is not a gross-to-net quote.

The return due 15 October 2026 concerns the earlier income year ended 30 June 2026. That year used the 0/10/20% bands plus a separate 15% fair-share contribution on qualifying leviable income above MUR 12m, including relevant local dividends. Section 7(b) of the 2026 Act removes the two subsequent income years from the FSC provision. Do not add that expired personal contribution to the new 35% bracket.

Asset cost basis on arrival

The current Income Tax Act exempts gains or profits from selling units, securities and debt obligations. For an individual's ordinary securities portfolio, this exemption—not a residence-date step-up—is the relevant starting point.

Consolidation read with enacted Finance Act 2026; its Second Schedule amendments do not change the cited items 7 and 7B.

• Second Schedule, Part II, Sub-Part C, item 7 is the operative securities exemption. Do not import the old six-month securities holding condition from superseded commentary.
• The separate item 7B six-month condition applies to gold, silver and platinum, held by a person other than a bank.
• For this exemption, section 2 expressly includes virtual assets and virtual tokens in securities, but excludes Treasury Bills and Bank of Mauritius Bills. Other receipts and activities need separate analysis.
• No automatic relief for another country's departure tax is established here.

Investments, dividends and the records to bring

The Second Schedule, Part II, Sub-part C, item 7 exempts gains or profits from sales of units, securities and debt obligations. This is stronger and more precise than an unsourced statement that every capital receipt is untaxed. Interest, dividends, rental income and trading or service income are separate categories. Property dealing can fall within business income under section 10 even though a private investment disposal may be different.

Anyone receiving a pension or similar payment should check the current exemption list, treaty and source of that specific payment. Retired immigration status does not create a universal foreign-pension exemption. Local dividends, foreign dividends and securities-sale proceeds also require separate classification: a distribution is not the same transaction as selling the investment.

Bring acquisition records, historic account statements and evidence distinguishing pre-arrival capital from later income. No general arrival-date market-value uplift has been established in this research. An exemption for a particular disposal is not a tax-basis step-up, and no broad reset should be assumed for assets that remain taxable.

Premium Visa and Golden Visa: a specific remote-work rule

Section 73 B overrides ordinary residence/source provisions for qualifying remote-work income of a Premium Visa holder; Finance Act 2026 extends it to Golden Visa holders. The income is treated as derived locally when remitted. Spending with a foreign debit or credit card is expressly treated as not remitted. A deposit into a Mauritius bank account is taxable unless the prescribed declaration establishes that the required tax was paid in the country of origin or residence.

These rules concern the statutory visa and income conditions. They are not a general exemption for every occupation-permit holder, and a declaration is not permission to describe untaxed income as already taxed. Retain income-year, source, foreign tax and transfer evidence. Changing from one permission to another can change the analysis.

Employee contributions and the cap that actually applies

For an ordinary participating private-sector employee, CSG is 1.5% employee plus 3% employer when monthly basic salary is at most MUR 50,000, or 3% plus 6% when it exceeds that threshold. This is a rate switch on the relevant base, not a marginal band or the NSF ceiling. Prescribed year-end bonus is treated separately. Non-citizen employees who are not tax-resident are among the statutory exclusions; nationality alone is not an exemption.

NSF is separately 1% employee and 2.5% employer. From 1 July 2026 the monthly contribution base for ordinary employees has a minimum of MUR 4,580 and maximum of MUR 29,710; the household minimum differs. The 1.5% employer training levy applies to the full relevant basic wage without that ceiling, subject to its own exclusions. Age and employment category change coverage.

Self-employed CSG has its own graduated formula. A full employer-cost calculation must also examine statutory bonus, leave, overtime, portable retirement gratuity, termination exposure and contractual benefits. Those costs are not treated as zero because they are absent from the simple contribution table.

Returns, credits and a move that can be evidenced

PAYE is collection through payroll, not the complete liability where an individual has several income streams. Review return-filing triggers, foreign tax credits, remitted foreign income, business instalments and tax withheld by payers. Relief for foreign tax depends on the category and applicable treaty or statutory credit; a second country’s assessment must be retained.

Before moving, build a schedule of income types and payment dates, foreign entities, contracts, investment accounts, home-country departure consequences and planned Mauritius spending. We can coordinate that analysis with residence, banking and implementation, and document the unresolved points for your existing advisers.