Amazon Sellers and Offshore Companies

An Amazon seller offshore company is a company, incorporated outside the seller's home country, that holds the marketplace account, receives the sales proceeds and signs the supplier and logistics contracts. In Mauritius, the vehicle usually considered for this is the Authorised Company. Setting it up is the easy part. The harder questions come afterwards: will the marketplace accept it, where is VAT due, what happens to stock held abroad, and will a bank open and keep an account?

This page covers those four points for sellers on large online marketplaces. It gives general information, not advice: the answers depend on where you live, where your stock sits and which customers you serve. For the wider picture of online selling, see the offshore company for an online business guide.

Is an Authorised Company a good fit for a marketplace seller?

An Authorised Company is a Mauritius company that the Financial Services Commission (FSC) authorises under section 71A of the Financial Services Act 2007. By law its central management and control must be outside Mauritius, it must have a Mauritius registered agent that is an FSC-licensed corporate service provider (Management Licence), and it cannot carry on the activities listed in the Fourth Schedule of the Act. Those excluded activities cover five categories: banking; professional fund management or administration; financial services; corporate, nominee, director or secretarial services for other companies; and professional trusteeship.

Selling physical or digital goods on a marketplace is not on that list. The legal structure therefore allows it. Whether it makes commercial sense is a different question, and it depends on four checks that are largely outside Mauritius.

If you want the definition first, read what an Authorised Company is and the limits of an Authorised Company.

How marketplaces verify an offshore company

Large marketplaces run identity and business verification before they release funds. They typically ask for the following, and the exact list changes from one platform to another:

• Company registration documents and proof that the company exists.
• Identification of the directors and of the people who own or control the company.
• A proof of address for the business and for the individuals.
• A bank account or payment instrument in the company's name.
• Sometimes a video call or a live document check.

Mauritius makes the second item straightforward on paper. Every Mauritius company must identify its beneficial owner at all times and keep a separate register with the full name and residential address, national identity or passport number, nationality and the holding structure up to the ultimate beneficial owner (Companies Act 2001, section 91). The company also keeps a record of how it identified the owner, including a written declaration from the owner, who must tell the company about any change. The Registrar of Companies keeps a Beneficial Ownership Register that is open to competent authorities; the Companies Act does not describe it as public. Read ownership privacy for the practical meaning.

The result is that the person behind the account cannot stay anonymous to the marketplace. A seller who hopes an offshore company will hide their identity from the platform is misreading the process. The platform will normally ask for the individual's passport and address, and mismatches between the company file, the account holder and the bank are a common reason for suspensions.

Practical points that avoid account problems

• Use the same legal name, address and director details everywhere: company file, marketplace account, bank, tax registrations.
• Keep the constitution, certificate and registered office evidence in a form you can upload quickly. The constitution and registered office pages explain what exists.
• Do not open the marketplace account before the bank account is ready if the platform requires matching details.
• Expect the platform to ask again whenever ownership, directors or the registered address change.

VAT and sales tax: the largest exposure for sellers

For most marketplace sellers, VAT matters more than Mauritius corporate tax. The rule of thumb is that VAT follows the goods and the customer, not the place of incorporation. A company registered in Mauritius that stores inventory in a warehouse in another country, or sells to consumers in the European Union, may have to register and account for VAT there.

Points that commonly catch sellers out:

• Stock location. Holding goods in a fulfilment centre in a given country generally means local VAT obligations in that country, even if the company is incorporated elsewhere.
• Cross-border stock transfers. Moving inventory between countries inside a fulfilment network can itself be treated as a taxable event in some systems.
• Marketplace collection. Some countries make the platform collect VAT on certain sales, which changes who reports what, but not always who holds the underlying obligation.
• Importer of record. Whoever clears goods through customs may carry import VAT and duty obligations.

None of this is specific to Mauritius, and the rules differ by country, so they need checking in each place you hold stock or sell. The guide on VAT when selling to EU customers goes further, and the online seller compliance checklist lists the registrations to confirm.

Mauritius tax position of the company

A company incorporated in Mauritius is tax resident there if it is incorporated there or if its central management and control is there (Income Tax Act, section 73). A Mauritius company that is centrally managed and controlled outside Mauritius is treated as non-resident (section 73A) but must still file an income tax return under section 116.

The Income Tax Act sets the standard corporate rate at 15% of chargeable income for income years starting on or after 1 July 2010. Separately, a Corporate Climate Responsibility Levy of 2% of chargeable income applies from the income year starting on 1 July 2024 (section 50O), with no levy when turnover for the year does not exceed MUR 50 million. How these rules apply to a non-resident Authorised Company's trading profits is a point to take to an adviser before incorporation, and the Authorised Company taxation page sets out the framework.

Two further points matter for an Amazon seller:

• Home-country rules. Your country of residence may tax the profits of a company you control, whatever Mauritius does. See controlled foreign company rules and how the owner is taxed at home.
• Permanent establishment. If you run the business from your home country, the tax authority there may argue the company is managed locally. The permanent establishment guide covers this risk, and managing from abroad explains how central management is judged.

Stock, FBA and where the goods sit

Fulfilment by a marketplace logistics network (often called FBA for Amazon sellers) means your goods sit in someone else's warehouse in a particular country. For an Amazon FBA offshore company in Mauritius, that has three consequences.

1. Taxable presence. The warehouse location can create VAT or sales-tax registration duties, and in some cases a corporate tax question for that country.
2. Customs. Your company, not the platform, is typically responsible for the import declarations, unless you appoint someone else. Mistakes here surface as held shipments.
3. Substance. An Authorised Company must have its central management outside Mauritius. Stock in a foreign warehouse does not change that, but it makes the decision-making location more visible: the directors who sign purchase orders and approve suppliers are the ones whose location matters.

Mauritius itself plays almost no physical role in this model. The company's registered agent keeps the statutory records at the registered office; the commercial flow runs between suppliers, the logistics network and customers elsewhere.

Banking for a marketplace seller

A marketplace pays out to a bank or payment account in the company's name. Banks look closely at newly formed offshore companies selling online: they ask about the business model, suppliers, expected volumes and the owner's background. Refusals are common when the file is thin or the story is inconsistent. The bank rejection guide lists the usual causes, and banking options compares routes.

Mauritius-licensed financial institutions also report accounts held by non-residents under the Common Reporting Standard to the Mauritius Revenue Authority each year, for exchange with treaty partners. Your account information can therefore reach your home tax authority. For multi-currency receipts, see multi-currency accounts.

Payout mechanics and card processing belong to a separate page, taking online payments.

What it costs to keep the company in good standing

The FSC fee schedule in force from 1 July 2026 (Government Notice No. 119 of 2026) sets an Authorised Company processing fee of USD 600 and an annual fee of USD 1,400, excluding USD 65 payable to the Registrar. The annual fee rises to USD 1,750 if paid within the month after the due date, USD 2,100 between one and three months late, and USD 2,800 between three and six months late. For the 2026-27 renewal cycle the FSC moved the payment deadline to 30 September 2026.

A corporate service provider's own charges come on top and vary. The annual fees page explains what is usually included, and the annual obligations page covers filings and records.

Marketplace checks at a glance

Choosing a route: a quick decision guide

If you plan to run the business from Mauritius itself, you are outside the Authorised Company model. That is a different regime, covered in beyond the Authorised Company. The Financial Services Act also requires a Mauritius company majority-owned by a non-citizen and operating mainly abroad to hold either an Authorised Company authorisation or a Global Business Licence; trading without the right one is an offence punishable by a fine of up to MUR 1,000,000.

Checklist before opening a marketplace seller account

• Confirm the marketplace accepts companies registered in Mauritius for your category.
• Check your home country's rules on controlled foreign companies and on directing a foreign company.
• Decide where stock will sit and map the VAT registrations that follow.
• Prepare passports, proofs of address and the beneficial ownership details for every owner.
• Choose an FSC-licensed corporate service provider (Management Licence) and verify its licence.
• Open the company bank account and confirm the name matches the marketplace file.
• Set up bookkeeping from the first sale, as described in bookkeeping for an offshore company.
• Diarise the annual fee, the income tax return and the annual return.

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