Checklist Before Creating an Offshore Company

An offshore company checklist is only useful if it forces decisions in the right order. Most disappointments with a non-resident structure do not come from the incorporation itself, which is a short administrative step. They come from questions left unanswered beforehand: what the company will actually do, where its owner is taxed, who will open the bank account, and who will keep the structure in good standing year after year.

This page is written for the Authorised Company, the non-resident vehicle governed by section 71A of the Financial Services Act (FSA). It lists what to settle before forming an offshore company, in the order that avoids rework. It is general information, not advice: several answers depend on your residence, your activity and your clients, and need review by a qualified adviser.

The five decisions, in order

The sequence matters because each answer constrains the next. A purpose that a bank will not finance makes the budget irrelevant; a home-country tax position that defeats the purpose makes the provider choice premature.

1. Purpose: what the company is for

Write the purpose in two or three sentences before talking to anyone. A provider, a bank and a payment processor will all ask for it, and vague answers are the most common reason for delays.

Define the activity precisely

State the product or service, the typical customer, the countries where customers are located, and who performs the work. An Authorised Company cannot carry on the activities listed in the Fourth Schedule of the FSA unless the FSC Rules allow an exception. These cover five categories:

• banking;
• professional management or administration of a collective investment fund or scheme;
• financial services;
• head-office, nominee, directorship or secretarial services for companies;
• professional trusteeship.

If your plan touches any of these, the Authorised Company is probably not the right vehicle. What business an Authorised Company can run goes through the practical boundaries.

Confirm the company will be non-resident in substance

An Authorised Company must have its central management and control outside Mauritius. Under section 73A of the Income Tax Act, a company incorporated in Mauritius is treated as non-resident if it is centrally managed and controlled from abroad. Section 73 makes the opposite case explicit: incorporation in Mauritius, or central management and control there, makes a company tax resident.

In practice, this means decisions about the business are taken by the owner or directors outside Mauritius. If you intend to live in Mauritius, run the company from here, or hold board meetings here, the structure changes character. Managing an Authorised Company from abroad explains what that requirement implies day to day.

Do not confuse it with the licensed alternative

The law draws a clear line. The Global Business Licence (GBL) holder must be managed and controlled from Mauritius, carry out its core income generating activities here and be administered by a FSC-licensed corporate service provider (Management Licence). The Authorised Company is the reverse: central management abroad, a Mauritian registered agent, and the Fourth Schedule restrictions. If you are unsure which one you need, settle that question first with an adviser.

2. Tax at home: the question that decides the outcome

The tax treatment of the company in Mauritius is only half the picture. For most owners, the larger exposure is in the country where they live.

Questions about your own residence

• Are you tax resident in a country that taxes worldwide income?
• Does that country tax profits of a foreign company that you control, even if they are not distributed?
• Does it treat a company managed from its territory as resident there, whatever its country of incorporation?
• How will dividends or fees paid to you be taxed on arrival?

Controlled foreign company rules and place-of-management tests are widespread, and they can reduce or remove the advantage a non-resident structure was meant to give. Read how the owner of an offshore company is taxed at home and the page on controlled foreign company rules before committing to anything.

What the Mauritian side looks like

Keep Mauritian rules in proportion. The standard corporate income tax rate under Part IV of the First Schedule to the Income Tax Act is 15% of chargeable income, applied to any company subject to the special regimes in sections 44B and 44C. The Income Tax Act defines a "global business entity" to include both a GBL holder and an Authorised Company, and the Alternative Minimum Tax of section 44A does not apply to a global business entity. The Corporate Climate Responsibility Levy under section 50O is 2% of chargeable income for the tax year beginning on 1 July 2024 and each later year.

Which of these rules reaches your particular company, and how partial exemptions on foreign dividends or interest interact with substance conditions, depends on facts that a general page cannot assess. Treat the figures above as a map of the questions to ask, not as a forecast of what you will pay.

Filing is required even for a non-resident company

A company treated as non-resident under section 73A must still file an income tax return under section 116. The Income Tax Act requires every company, taxable or not, to file its return within 6 months after the end of the month in which its financial year closes. Filing and payment are electronic. Plan for this from the first year.

3. Banking route: decide before you incorporate

Many owners treat the bank account as a detail to sort out after formation. It is often the hardest step, and it should shape the earlier decisions.

Work out what you need from an account

• The currencies in which clients will pay you.
• Whether you will take card or marketplace payments, which brings payment processors into the picture.
• Whether you need to pay contractors or suppliers abroad.
• Who will be the signatories, and where they live.

Prepare the documents a bank will ask for

Banks ask for more than the incorporation documents. Expect to prepare:

• a short, coherent business plan matching your stated purpose;
• proof of identity and proof of address for each owner and director;
• evidence of the source of funds and source of wealth;
• sample contracts, invoices or a client list showing that the activity is real;
• the register of beneficial owners.

Every Mauritian company must permanently identify its beneficial owner and any nominee, and record them in a separate register: full name and residential address, national identity or passport number, nationality, and the holding structure leading to the ultimate beneficial owner (Companies Act 2001, section 91(3A)). Prepare these details early, because banks will request the same information.

Understand why applications fail

Refusals usually come from an unclear activity, a high-risk jurisdiction among your customers, or an owner whose profile does not fit the business. The pages on why banks refuse offshore company accounts and on banking options set out the usual patterns. Having a fallback route before you apply is wiser than having to improvise after a rejection.

4. Budget: count the recurring costs, not only the setup

The setup price attracts attention. The recurring costs are what keep the company alive, and they continue whether or not it earns anything.

Costs to list

• the provider's fee for incorporation and for acting as registered agent;
• the annual fee payable to the FSC for the Authorised Company;
• accounting and bookkeeping, plus the filing of the financial summary;
• banking and payment fees;
• advice in your home country, which is often the largest professional cost;
• any fee charged on a change of registered agent.

What you can and cannot say about amounts

The FSC announced a review of fees in its communiqué of 10 July 2026. It stated that processing fees had not changed since the 2008 rules and that annual fees had not been reviewed since 2019. It presented the reform as the implementation of a 2025/26 budget measure, and justified the adjustment of Authorised Company fees by their higher inherent risk profile. Since the Financial Services Consolidated Licensing and Fees (Amendment) Rules 2026 apply from 1 July 2026, do not rely on any older fee table. Ask the provider for a current, itemised quote, and check it against the FSC's published rules.

For the 2026-27 renewal cycle, the FSC moved the deadline for annual fees to 30 September 2026, payable through the FSC One platform. Dates and amounts change from year to year, so ask for the calendar as well as the price. Annual fees to keep an Authorised Company alive covers the mechanics.

A related point: since 1 August 2024, a request to change registered agent must be accompanied by the fee set by the FSC Rules (section 71A(7)(b) FSA). Switching provider later is possible, but it is not free.

5. Provider: the only route to authorisation

An application for authorisation as an Authorised Company is filed through a FSC-licensed corporate service provider (Management Licence), in the form and manner determined by the FSC, with the information, documents and fees set by the FSC Rules. The Chief Executive grants authorisation on behalf of the Commission (section 71A(2)-(3) FSA). You cannot apply on your own.

The Authorised Company must have a registered agent in Mauritius at all times, and that agent must itself be a FSC-licensed corporate service provider (Management Licence) (section 71A(7)(a)). Its functions include filing the returns and documents required under the FSA, the Income Tax Act or the Companies Act, passing on communications from the FSC, the MRA and the Registrar, carrying out anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) measures, and keeping the records, such as minutes, resolutions and transaction documents (section 71A(8)).

Check the provider before you pay

• Confirm the licence on the regulator's own register; how to check a service provider is licensed by the FSC shows the steps.
• Ask how it handles onboarding. A Company Service Provider is a reporting person under FIAMLA, so expect identity checks and questions about your funds.
• Ask what happens if you want to leave. A good provider answers plainly.
• Use the prepared list of questions to ask an offshore management provider.

The checklist

Tick each item before you instruct a provider. Anything you cannot tick is a question for your adviser or for the provider.

Purpose

• Write the activity, customers and countries served in two or three sentences
• Confirm the activity is outside the Fourth Schedule categories
• Decide who will perform the work, and where they will be located
• Confirm central management and control will stay outside Mauritius
• Settle whether an Authorised Company or a licensed alternative is the intended route

Tax at home

• Identify your country of tax residence and the residence of any co-owner
• Check whether your country has controlled foreign company or place-of-management rules
• Find out how dividends, fees or salary from the company would be taxed for you
• Ask whether any reporting duty exists in your country for foreign companies you own
• Obtain written advice from an adviser qualified in your home country

Banking

• Choose the currencies and the payment methods you need
• List signatories and their places of residence
• Gather identity, address, source-of-funds and source-of-wealth evidence
• Prepare the business plan and sample contracts or invoices
• Identify a second banking or payment option in case the first is refused

Budget

• Obtain an itemised, current quote from the provider
• List recurring costs separately from the setup costs
• Add accounting, bank and home-country advice costs
• Note renewal dates and payment deadlines
• Decide how long you will fund the company if it earns nothing

Provider

• Verify the FSC licence of the provider
• Confirm the provider will act as registered agent
• Ask about onboarding, record keeping and the exit process
• Compare at least two quotes on the same scope of services
• Keep copies of every document the provider holds for the company

Deadlines to put in the calendar from day one

Two filings recur every year, and both depend on the financial year-end you choose.

• Financial summary to the FSC. An Authorised Company files each year, no later than 6 months after the end of its financial year, a financial summary in the form of the Ninth Schedule to the Companies Act, or other documents specified by the FSC Rules (section 71A(10) FSA).
• Income tax return to the MRA. Due within 6 months after the end of the month in which the year closes. For a year ending in June, the deadline is 2 working days before the end of December; for a year ending in December, 2 working days before the end of June.

Annual obligations of an Authorised Company goes further, and the step-by-step page on opening an offshore company shows where these dates fit in the sequence.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Choosing the provider on price alone. The cheapest quote often leaves out recurring charges.
• Treating the bank as a formality. Start the banking conversation at the same time as the incorporation.
• Assuming the home country does not care. Residence rules apply to you personally, whatever the company's status in Mauritius.
• Buying a structure for an activity it cannot carry on. Check the Fourth Schedule categories first.
• Moving the management to Mauritius without reviewing the consequences. The company's tax and licensing status depends on where it is managed.

If you want to put your questions to a licensed provider, use the contact form.