One-Owner Authorised Company

A single shareholder offshore company in Mauritius is an Authorised Company whose shares are all held by one person. That person can also act as the only director. The law does not ask for a second owner, and it does not ask for a board. What it does ask for is a Mauritian registered agent, a management and control centre outside Mauritius, and a reliable record of who really owns the company.

This page explains how a one person Authorised Company works in practice: what the single-owner format is, what the registered agent does for you, how the beneficial ownership rules apply to a sole owner, and which limits remain. It is general information, not advice. Whether the format suits you depends on where you live and what the company will do, which is a question for a qualified adviser. If you want to discuss a project, use the contact form.

What a one person Authorised Company means

An Authorised Company is the non-resident vehicle created by section 71A of the Financial Services Act 2007. Under that provision, a company incorporated under the Companies Act must apply for authorisation from the Financial Services Commission (FSC) when:

• a majority of its shares or voting rights is held or controlled by a non-citizen of Mauritius;
• it conducts its business mainly outside Mauritius; and
• its central management and control sit outside Mauritius.

Nothing in these conditions requires several owners. A single foreign individual who holds every share satisfies the ownership test on his or her own. For the broader picture, see Authorised Company in Mauritius: definition, features and uses.

Not the same as the Companies Act "one person company"

The Companies Act 2001 also contains a domestic notion of a "one person company": a private company whose only shareholder is also its only director, unless that shareholder is itself a company. Such an application must name the person who will act as secretary and call a meeting of heirs if the sole director dies. That is a feature of ordinary Mauritian private companies.

An Authorised Company is a different regime. It is incorporated under the Companies Act but authorised under the Financial Services Act, and its requirements come from the second text. The practical point is simple: one person may hold all the shares and sit as the only director of an Authorised Company, but you should rely on the Authorised Company rules, not on the domestic one person company provisions, when planning.

The people the law requires

For a sole owner, the question is usually "who else do I need?". The official incorporation page sets out the minimum for each type of company:

Two points follow for the sole owner:

• One director is enough, and need not be resident. The owner can hold that seat. The question of whether a director based in Mauritius adds value is separate; see how many directors an offshore company needs.
• No company secretary is required. The Companies Act exempts an Authorised Company from the rule that most companies must appoint a secretary who is an adult ordinarily resident in Mauritius. A small private company is exempt too, but an ordinary private company is not.

The one compulsory local presence is the registered agent.

The registered agent: your single required local partner

An Authorised Company must have, at all times, a registered agent in Mauritius, and that agent must be an FSC-licensed corporate service provider (Management Licence). The application for authorisation is itself filed through such a provider, on the form and in the manner the FSC determines, together with the information, documents and fees set by the FSC Rules. The authorisation is issued by the Chief Executive in the name of the Commission.

Once the company exists, the registered agent handles, among other things:

• filing the returns and documents required by the Financial Services Act, the Income Tax Act or the Companies Act;
• passing communications between the company and the FSC, the Mauritius Revenue Authority (MRA) and the Registrar of Companies;
• anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) measures; and
• keeping records such as minutes, resolutions and transaction documents.

For a sole owner this matters more than in a larger group, because there is no second shareholder or colleague to notice a missed deadline. If you later wish to replace the agent, the change is made by application and carries a fee set by the FSC Rules. The registered office guide and the questions to ask a service provider help you compare providers before committing.

Beneficial ownership when there is only one owner

A company with a single individual shareholder has an obvious beneficial owner, but the paperwork is still mandatory. Every Mauritian company must identify its beneficial owner at all times and, where relevant, any nominee, and record the details in a separate register. The register covers:

• the full name and residential address;
• the national identity or passport number;
• the nationality; and
• the holding structure that leads to the ultimate beneficial owner.

The Act defines the beneficial owner as the natural person who ultimately owns or controls a company, or for whom a transaction is carried out, through direct or indirect shareholding at a prescribed percentage, voting rights, ownership interest or control by other means. The earlier section 91 wording used a threshold of 25% of voting rights. For a sole shareholder, the question of thresholds rarely arises: the single owner is the beneficial owner. It becomes more delicate if the shareholder is a company or if someone else holds the shares for you, a situation covered separately.

The Registrar of Companies maintains a Beneficial Ownership Register. It is accessible to competent authorities and other prescribed public authorities. The Companies Act does not describe it as a public register. The wider question is explored in whether the owner of an offshore company is private.

The share register and beneficial ownership information must be kept for at least 7 years, and the last directors of a company that ceases business keep the beneficial ownership information for that period.

From idea to operating company

The full procedure is in how to open an offshore company in Mauritius. Since 1 October 2024, the FSC must grant an application within 10 working days from the date on which it is judged complete; that clock starts only when the file is complete, so preparing the documents carefully is what saves time.

What it costs to keep a one-owner company

The FSC fee schedule was replaced by the Financial Services (Consolidated Licensing and Fees) (Amendment) Rules 2026 (Government Notice No. 119 of 2026), in force since 1 July 2026. For an Authorised Company (code FS-4.3, section 71A), the schedule provides:

The 1,400 USD figure excludes the Registrar's fee. The first annual fee is prorated according to the quarter in which the authorisation is granted: 1,400 USD for July to September, 1,050 USD for October to December, 700 USD for January to March and 350 USD for April to June. Late payment is costly: the annual fee rises to 1,750 USD if paid within a month after the due date, 2,100 USD between one and three months late, and 2,800 USD between three and six months late.

For the 2026-27 renewal cycle the FSC extended the payment deadline to 30 September 2026. Payment is made through the FSC One platform, including by direct debit or from the deposit account of the corporate service provider. On the same date, the schedule gives a Global Business Corporation an annual fee of 2,600 USD, which is 1,200 USD more than the Authorised Company's annual fee. The FSC explained in its communiqué of 10 July 2026 that processing fees had not changed since the 2008 rules and annual fees had not been reviewed since 2019, and that the adjustment for Authorised Companies reflects their higher inherent risk profile.

These amounts cover FSC and Registrar charges only. The fees of your service provider are separate and are agreed with the provider. See annual fees to keep an Authorised Company alive for a fuller view.

Running the company alone

A one-owner company is run on a few habits.

• Keep the decisions abroad. Central management and control must be outside Mauritius. A company is tax resident in Mauritius under section 73(1)(b) of the Income Tax Act if it is incorporated there or if its central management and control are there. An Authorised Company is incorporated there, so the safeguard is the place where decisions are actually taken. This is why managing an Authorised Company from abroad deserves a careful read before you travel with the company's decisions in your head.
• Document your decisions. With a single director and a single shareholder, resolutions are easy to pass and easy to forget. Written resolutions, signed and dated, are what the registered agent can file and what a bank or tax authority may ask to see.
• Meet the filing deadlines. The company must lodge a financial summary with the FSC each year, within 6 months of the end of its financial year, in the format of the Ninth Schedule to the Companies Act or other documents specified by the FSC Rules. Separately, every company, taxable or not, must file its income tax return with the Director-General of the MRA within 6 months after the end of the month in which its year ends. Filing and payment are electronic. The annual obligations page and the yearly checklist lay out the calendar.
• Plan for the day the owner is unavailable. A sole director is a single point of failure. Illness, loss of a passport or a bank requiring a second signatory can freeze the company. A power of attorney or a second director is a matter to raise with your adviser; it is not something the law requires.

Limits of the single-owner format

A single owner does not change the limits that apply to every Authorised Company.

• Excluded activities. Unless the FSC Rules allow otherwise, an Authorised Company cannot carry on the activities of the Fourth Schedule: banking; professional management or administration of a collective investment fund or scheme; financial services; corporate services such as registered office, nominee, directorship or secretarial services for companies; and professional trusteeship.
• Activity mainly abroad. The company is treated as operating outside Mauritius even when it carries out certain transactions listed in section 73(1)(c) to (f) of the Financial Services Act, but its business must remain mainly outside Mauritius. Trading inside Mauritius is a separate question.
• Penalty for operating without authorisation. A company that conducts the business in question without the required licence or authorisation commits an offence, punishable by a fine of up to MUR 1,000,000.
• Tax treatment depends on you. The Alternative Minimum Tax of section 44A does not apply to a global business entity, a term that covers both Global Business Licence holders and Authorised Companies. This says nothing about your own tax position. Your home country may tax the company or your dividends, a subject treated in how the owner is taxed at home.

When to add a second shareholder

A one-owner company is a starting point, not a permanent choice. Reasons to change include bringing in a partner, giving equity to a key contributor or placing shares in a holding company. Each case has its own mechanics; see offshore companies with several shareholders and transferring ownership.