Offshore Company for US Citizens and Residents

The short answer for a US citizen

A US citizen offshore company in Mauritius is legal to set up, but it is not an exit from the US tax system. The United States taxes its citizens and residents on income from anywhere in the world. A company incorporated in Mauritius, however it is classified locally, does not remove the owner from that net.

What the structure can do is organise a business that serves international clients, hold assets in a neutral jurisdiction, or give a foreign partner a familiar vehicle. What it cannot do is hide income from the Internal Revenue Service. The Mauritian side is transparent enough that concealment would not work anyway, as shown below.

This page covers the Mauritian facts and the main US reporting themes. It is general information, not US tax advice. Whether the structure helps depends on your residence, your business and your wider affairs, and a US-qualified tax adviser must confirm it before you commit.

Two tax systems, one owner

Think of the structure as two separate legal layers that both apply to you.

In Mauritius, the company is governed by the Financial Services Act 2007 and the Income Tax Act. In the United States, the owner's own filing obligations are triggered by ownership and control, regardless of where the company is incorporated. The two regimes do not cancel each other, and neither one replaces the other.

What the Mauritian side looks like

An Authorised Company is a Mauritius company whose central management and control sit outside Mauritius, whose majority of shares or voting rights is held by a non-citizen of Mauritius, and which operates mainly outside the island (section 71A of the Financial Services Act). A US owner fits that profile on the ownership side. The management side is your responsibility: where decisions are really taken matters, as explained in managing an Authorised Company from abroad.

Key Mauritian points for a US owner:

• Local tax residence. Under section 73A of the Income Tax Act, a Mauritius-incorporated company managed and controlled from outside Mauritius is treated as non-resident. It must still file an income tax return under section 116. See Authorised Company taxation.
• Registered agent. The company must always have a registered agent in Mauritius, which must be an FSC-licensed corporate service provider (Management Licence). The application itself is filed through that provider.
• Prohibited activities. An Authorised Company cannot carry on the Fourth Schedule activities, such as banking, financial services or professional trusteeship. Crypto-related and regulated activities need separate analysis.
• Beneficial owner records. Every Mauritian company must identify its beneficial owner and record the full name, residential address, passport or national ID number and nationality, together with the holding structure (Companies Act 2001, section 91(3A)). The Registrar of Companies keeps a Beneficial Ownership Register accessible to competent authorities; the Companies Act does not describe it as public.

That last point matters for US persons: the information held in Mauritius is available to authorities, so the structure should be built on the assumption that it is fully disclosed to the tax administrations concerned. For the privacy question in more detail, see whether the owner is private.

Reporting themes for a US person

The following topics are the ones US owners of foreign companies most often need to examine. Names are given so you can raise them with your adviser; the thresholds, deadlines and penalties are US rules that this site does not state.

Searches such as "us person foreign corporation reporting" and "fbar offshore company owner" usually lead to these themes. The right combination depends on how much you own, who else owns shares, and what the company earns. A filing missed through ignorance can be costly in the United States, so the reporting analysis comes before incorporation, not after.

The FBAR question for the company's bank account

An account held in the company's name at a bank in Mauritius or elsewhere is a foreign account from the US point of view. Depending on your ownership level and your signing authority, you may have to report it. This is one reason to decide early who signs on the account and who holds the shares. Banking practice is covered in banking options for an offshore company and why banks refuse offshore accounts.

Information flowing the other way

Mauritian financial institutions report accounts held by non-residents to the Mauritius Revenue Authority each year under the Common Reporting Standard, for exchange with treaty partners. The reporting that concerns financial institutions themselves, including FATCA, is a separate topic and is not covered here. The practical point is simple: an account opened in your company's name will be visible to the authorities that need to see it.

Is an Authorised Company worth it for a US taxpayer?

The honest answer is that the usual reasons for using an offshore company weaken considerably for a US person. When the same income is taxed in the United States whether it passes through the company or not, the Mauritian layer mainly adds cost, filings and complexity.

The structure may still be reasonable when:

• the real driver is commercial rather than fiscal, for example a non-US business partner, non-US customers who prefer a non-US supplier, or a regional base;
• the owner already has a US adviser who will integrate the company into the personal return;
• the business is genuinely run from outside Mauritius and outside the United States in a way that can be documented;
• the owner accepts a compliance load that is higher than for a simple US entity.

It is a poor fit when the aim is to reduce US tax, when the owner will run the business from the United States, or when the owner has no capacity to keep records. Comparable alternatives are discussed in Offshore Company or US LLC for online business.

The management and control point

Many US owners run their business from the United States and then discover a second problem. If the real decision-making takes place on US soil, the company may be taxed there as a US-managed business, and the "offshore" label has little meaning. The risk of creating a taxable presence abroad is explained in permanent establishment risk.

Equally, Mauritius expects an Authorised Company to have its central management and control outside Mauritius. This means a company managed from Mauritius would be in the wrong category; a Global Business Licence regime exists for that, covered elsewhere. Directors, meetings and signatures should reflect the place you claim. See how many directors an offshore company needs for the practical side.

Costs you should weigh

Mauritian fees are published by the FSC. Under the schedule in force from 1 July 2026 (Government Notice No. 119 of 2026), an Authorised Company pays 600 USD for processing and then 1,400 USD per year, excluding the 65 USD payable to the Registrar. Registered agent charges, accounting and US advisory fees come on top. Changing the registered agent later also attracts a fee set by the FSC Rules, since 1 August 2024.

A company with no commercial substance still carries these costs every year. Compare them to the benefit you expect before you start. The annual picture is detailed in annual fees to keep an Authorised Company alive.

Checklist before a US person incorporates

• Write down the commercial reason for the company, separate from tax
• Obtain advice from a US-qualified tax adviser on the reporting forms that apply
• Decide who will own the shares and who will sign on bank accounts
• Confirm that real management and control will be outside Mauritius
• Check that the registered agent is an FSC-licensed corporate service provider, using the FSC licence checklist
• Plan accounting records and bookkeeping from day one
• Understand the annual Mauritian return duty even for a non-resident company
• Review the general steps in how to open an offshore company

What to do next

Start with the Mauritian basics in Authorised Company in Mauritius and the limits of an Authorised Company. If you are unsure how your own situation fits, use the contact form to describe it; the request is passed on to an FSC-licensed corporate service provider, which can explain the Mauritian side but does not replace US tax advice.