Moving to Mauritius in 2026: Low Taxes, Residence and Quality of Life

Mauritius applies a short progressive scale, and its readability is one of its selling points. The first band, up to MUR 500,000³ of taxable income, is taxed at 0%⁴.

The next band, of the same width, is taxed at 10%⁵, followed by a band of MUR 11,000,000⁶ to 20%⁷. The Finance Act 2026 adds, from the income year starting on 1 July 2026, a top band taxed at 35%⁸ above these three bands, and in return abolishes the Fair Share Contribution that applied to high-income individuals. The top marginal rate remains lower than that of most Western European countries, and it targets only high incomes.

Corporate income tax is set at a standard rate, with a very favourable regime for the export of goods: 3%⁹ for companies that export goods. It is this differential, more than the personal income tax scale, that explains why structures are set up on the island.

We do not publish rates on capital gains or inheritances. The absence of taxation is frequently put forward for Mauritius; as of the date of consultation, we did not find an official page establishing it explicitly and with a date, and we prefer to assert nothing rather than repeat a brochure formula.

Tax residence, bank domiciliation and the residence permit are three distinct questions in Mauritius as elsewhere. A residence permit does not, in itself, entail a transfer of tax residence within the meaning of the applicable convention.

This is the point most often mishandled in Mauritian cases. The permit is issued by an economic promotion body whose mission is to attract investors, not to settle a question of tax domicile. Obtaining it proves that one meets the conditions of a welcome scheme; it does not prove that one has ceased to meet the French domicile criteria, which are assessed independently.

Three questions deserve to be put to an adviser before any commitment, and the answers depend on the individual situation more than on the country. Where is the household located, within the meaning of French law, once the family has settled? Where does the income come from after departure, and does it remain tied to a French activity? Finally, does the convention between France and Mauritius lead, for the income concerned, to the hoped-for result, or does it leave a right to tax at source?

A favourable answer to all three is what turns a move into a transfer of tax residence. None of the three is settled by obtaining a permit.

The country organises the reception of foreigners through a series of occupation and residence permits, administered by the Economic Development Board. Three routes dominate.

The investor

The occupation permit for investment is available under two options: a contribution of $100,000¹⁰ for the first, and a separate amount for the second, subject to its own conditions. The amount for the second option changed with the revision of the Economic Development Board guidelines of 30 July 2024; we have not re-read it in the official source and it must be confirmed with the EDB.

The property purchaser

A non-citizen who acquires a residential property in one of the approved schemes (integrated resort, real estate scheme, property development) obtains a residence permit from a purchase price of at least from $375,000¹¹, or its equivalent in convertible currency.

The retiree

The non-citizen retiree status is open to people aged at least more than 50 years¹², subject to regular financial transfers to Mauritius.

The exact amount of the transfers required from the non-citizen retiree, whether monthly or cumulative annual, does not emerge clearly from the source extract available to us. Two values appear in our data without it being established which applies to what: we therefore do not publish them, and this point must be confirmed with the Economic Development Board.

Acquisition by a non-citizen is not free: it goes through approved schemes, which determine both what can be bought and what rights the purchase opens. This is the structural difference from an open European market.

The threshold of from $375,000¹¹ is the one that links the purchase to the residence permit. Below it, purchase remains possible in some schemes but does not confer the same right.

Two practical consequences follow. The market accessible to foreigners is a sub-market, with its own liquidity and its own buyers, resale taking place largely between non-citizens. And the entry price is denominated in a hard currency, which shifts the exchange rate risk onto the buyer.

We do not publish the registration duties or the land transfer tax applicable to non-citizens. An increase was announced as part of the budget framework; we did not find it in the official documents we were able to read, and we therefore give no figures.

Mauritius is an importing island: a large share of everyday consumer goods arrives by ship, and freight is reflected in prices. The gap with Europe is therefore less favourable on imported food and household appliances than it is on services and labour.

We do not publish a typical monthly budget: we did not find an official Mauritian series measuring a basket of expenses comparable to that of an expatriate.

A tax benchmark nonetheless gives the scale of the local economy: the first band of the scale, which is exempt, runs up to MUR 500,000³ of annual taxable income. This is the threshold that the legislator deemed appropriate for exemption, and it indicates the level of local incomes.

Two items weigh heavily in an expatriate budget: private schooling, almost obligatory for an international curriculum, and private health insurance, as the public system is little used by foreign residents.

1. Choose the route first (investor, property buyer or retiree), because it determines the documents required, the timeline and the rights obtained;
2. for the property route, check that the project concerned falls under an approved scheme: it is the scheme, not the price alone, that confers the right;
3. submit the application to the Economic Development Board, the one-stop shop for occupation and residence permits;
4. open a Mauritian bank account, which is needed for the required transfers and for the payment of local taxes;
5. deal with the departure from France separately: the criteria of article 4 B of the Code général des impôts and the applicable tax treaty are not settled by obtaining a Mauritian permit.

We do not publish processing times: we have no dated, quantified official source for permits issued by the Economic Development Board.

• Access to the property market is conditional on approved schemes: for a non-citizen, freely choosing a property on the local market is not the rule.
• The purchase threshold is expressed in a convertible currency, not in rupees: exchange-rate movements change the amount to be raised between the promise to sell and the deed.
• The non-citizen retiree status requires regular financial transfers, the amount of which must be confirmed before committing; this is a condition for keeping the status, not only for obtaining it.
• The Mauritian passport gives visa-free access to about 150¹³, noticeably fewer than a European Union passport.
• The absence of tax on certain income is a widespread sales argument: it must be checked against the sources themselves before being built into an estate plan.

Finally, being an island carries a logistical and medical cost that appears in no tax comparison: distance from specialised care centres, dependence on air transport, the cyclone season. These are project parameters, just like a tax rate.

One last point concerns the country's trajectory. Mauritius built its appeal on a tax differential with its partners and on a dense network of tax treaties. This balance is regularly reviewed, both domestically and as a result of international work on corporate taxation and information exchange. The schemes that exist today have already been reworked in the past.

The practical consequence is the same as for any country whose appeal rests on a special regime: you must distinguish what is an acquired right for the duration of a permit from what is a policy that may be revised in the next finance act. This distinction must be checked against the text, scheme by scheme, before building a ten-year plan.