Mauritius Global Business Company GBC-2 Formation

Thinking about setting up a company in Mauritius but confused by all the licence names? You are not alone. Mauritius company formation changed in 2018, and the old Category 2 structure is gone. Today the offshore option is the Authorised Company — a simple, tax-exempt business entity built for international business. It needs just one director, one shareholder, and no minimum capital. This guide walks you through the incorporation process, costs, filing rules, and what changed in 2026, so you can register your company with confidence.

For more on the advantages of Mauritius as an offshore tax haven, click here.

What Is a Mauritius Authorised Company?

It is the closest thing the Mauritius offshore sector has to a classic offshore company. An Authorised Company is a private Mauritian company limited by shares that does business with people and companies outside Mauritius. It is treated as a non-resident for tax, which means its foreign-source income falls outside the Mauritius tax net.

It was created by the Finance (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2018 and sits under section 71A of the Financial Services Act 2007, with incorporation governed by the Companies Act 2001. The Financial Services Commission (FSC) issues the authorisation. The Registrar of Companies — part of the Corporate and Business Registration Department (CBRD) — handles the incorporation itself.

To qualify for an Authorised Company authorisation, your company has to tick five boxes set out by the Mauritius International Financial Centre:

• It is incorporated under the Mauritius Companies Act
• The majority of shares, voting rights or the legal or beneficial interest is held or controlled by a person who is not a citizen of Mauritius
• It proposes to conduct its business activities principally outside of Mauritius
• Its central management and control — the location of management — is outside Mauritius
• It has a registered agent in Mauritius, which must be a licensed management company

Note the citizenship test. The statutory requirement turns on citizenship, not tax residence. A Mauritius citizen living abroad still counts as a citizen for this purpose. Get this wrong and the authorisation can be refused.

Note on spelling: Mauritius legislation uses the British spelling "Authorised Company." You will also see Authorized Company used by US-based providers. They are the same thing.

What an Authorised Company Cannot Do

This is the section most competitor pages skip, and it is the one that stops applications. An Authorised Company can carry out almost any commercial activity, but the FSC excludes four categories outright:

• Banking
• Financial services
• Investment funds and collective investment schemes
• Nominee services provided to third parties

On top of that, it cannot trade inside Mauritius, cannot hold an account denominated in Mauritian Rupees, and cannot raise capital from the public. If your plan involves any of the four excluded activities, you need a Global Business Licence and the substance that comes with it — not an AC.

Why Register a Company in Mauritius?

Because it is one of the few offshore jurisdictions that is genuinely well-regulated and still cheap to run. Sitting in the Indian Ocean roughly 900km east of Madagascar, the island has spent 25 years building a credible financial centre rather than a mailbox industry.

• No tax on foreign income. An Authorised Company is non-resident for tax purposes and pays no Mauritius income tax on foreign-source income
• Full foreign ownership. No Mauritian shareholders or directors required
• Fast registration in Mauritius. Incorporation typically completes in about a week
• No minimum capital. Share capital can be expressed in any currency except the Mauritian Rupee
• Privacy. Details of directors and shareholders are filed but are not publicly accessible
• English-language legislation and a stable, English- and French-speaking business environment

The island has become a favoured base for entrepreneurs and investors routing investment into Africa and Asia. That said, an Authorised Company is not the right vehicle for everyone — see the comparison further down.

What Happened to the Mauritius GBC2?

The country rebuilt its offshore framework to meet OECD and EU standards. Before 2019, there were two global business licence categories:

1. GBC1 — a tax resident with access to the tax treaties network. This became the Global Business Licence, or global business license (GBL), also called the Global Business Company
2. GBC2 — a tax-exempt, non-resident vehicle with no treaty access. This category was abolished and replaced by the Authorised Company

If you are researching global business companies and keep finding GBC2 information, it is out of date. Any surviving GBC2 has long since converted, migrated, or lapsed.

Read about the Mauritius Global Business Company (formerly GBC1)

Key Corporate Features of a Mauritius Authorised Company

Here is the mauritius corporate profile at a glance.

Types of Companies in Mauritius

Which business entity you pick depends on where you are managed from and who your customers are. There are three main types of companies:

Simple rule: if you need treaty relief, you need a GBL. If you just want a clean offshore holding or trading vehicle, the Authorised Company is cheaper and lighter. The GBL's headline rate is 15%, and an 80% partial exemption can bring the effective rate down to 3% on specified foreign-source income streams — but only on those streams, and only where the substance conditions are met.

How Do You Register a Company in Mauritius?

You cannot file directly — every application must go through a Mauritius-licensed management company acting as your registered agent. Here is the registration process step by step:

1. Name check. Your agent confirms the proposed name is available with the Registrar of Companies
2. Due diligence. You submit KYC documents for every director, shareholder and beneficial owner
3. Filing with the Registrar. The application for incorporation is lodged by the registered agent, together with the Constitution, a certificate from the agent confirming the statutory requirements are met, and a legal certificate from a Mauritius law practitioner
4. Incorporation. The Registrar issues the Certificate of Incorporation
5. Authorisation. The application for the Authorised Company authorisation goes to the FSC, supported by the ownership structure and a brief business plan
6. Corporate documents. Share certificates, registers and resolutions are prepared and sent to you for signing

Because everything runs through your agent, this works as a fully remote online incorporation — you never need to travel to Mauritius. Incorporation itself is usually done inside a week once clean documents are in hand; allow a further week or two for the full corporate document set.

What Documents Do You Need for Business Registration?

The regulator runs thorough AML checks, so prepare these before you start. For each individual director and shareholder, you will need identification documents and proof of address:

• A certified true copy of a valid passport (at least 6 months' validity)
• Proof of residential address issued within the last 3 months — utility bill, bank statement or driver's licence. PO Box addresses are not accepted
• A bank reference letter covering a relationship of at least two years, dated within the last 3 months
• A CV, résumé or LinkedIn profile
• Evidence of source of funds and wealth

Corporate shareholders also need the Certificate of Incorporation, Constitution, registers of directors and shareholders, and a certificate of good standing or incumbency.

You will also be asked for a short business plan covering your proposed activities, target markets, the countries where you will operate, and the amount and source of your initial funds. Documents not in English must be accompanied by a certified English translation.

What Does Company Formation in Mauritius Cost?

Company formation in Mauritius splits into two cost buckets: government fees, which are fixed and published, and service fees paid to your registered agent.

The registration fees charged by the Mauritius Financial Services Commission are set out in the Financial Services (Consolidated Licensing and Fees) Rules 2008, as amended by GN No. 119 of 2026:

• Licence processing fee: US$600 (one-off)
• Annual licence fee: US$1,400, payable each 1 July
• Registrar of Companies annual fee: US$65 on top of the FSC fee
• Pro-rated first year: US$1,400 (Jul–Sep), US$1,050 (Oct–Dec), US$700 (Jan–Mar) or US$350 (Apr–Jun) depending on when your authorisation is issued

Miss the deadline and the fee escalates on a published scale. Under the Third Schedule to GN No. 119 of 2026, an Authorised Company pays US$1,400 on the due date, US$1,750 within one month of it, US$2,100 between one and three months late, and US$2,800 between three and six months late. Past six months, the authorisation can lapse altogether.

On top of the government fees sit agent charges for incorporation, the registered office in Mauritius, and registered agent services. These vary with what is bundled in — nominee services, apostilles, courier, bank introduction — so the sensible approach is a written quote against your actual structure rather than a headline number.

How Is Mauritius Company Formation Changing in 2026?

The cost of holding an offshore company in Mauritius just went up sharply — and most people have not caught up yet.

The stat: On 29 June 2026, the Financial Services Commission made the Financial Services (Consolidated Licensing and Fees) (Amendment) Rules 2026 (GN No. 119 of 2026). With effect from 1 July 2026, the Authorised Company annual licence fee rose from US$350 to US$1,400 — a fourfold increase — while the processing fee went from US$150 to US$600. The Global Business Licence was hit too, though less severely: its annual fee moved from US$1,950 to US$2,600. The FSC pushed the payment deadline for the current cycle back to 30 September 2026 to give holders time to adjust.

A second change most pages have missed: Mauritius also tightened its beneficial ownership rules. The Companies (Beneficial Owner) (Percentage of Shares) Regulations, as revised by Act 3 of 2026 with effect from 18 April 2026, fix a prescribed threshold of 20% direct or indirect shareholding for identifying a beneficial owner. If you hold through layered structures or nominee arrangements, review who now crosses that line — the register has to be accurate and supported by declarations.

What 25 years of formation work tells us: fee rises like this are never really about revenue. They are a filter. The jurisdiction has spent seven years moving from a volume regime to a substance one, and a US$1,400 annual floor quietly prices out the dormant shell companies that were never going to file properly anyway. We have watched the same pattern play out in the BVI and Seychelles. The clients who stay are the ones with real trading activity — and their banking applications get easier as a result, because the jurisdiction's reputation improves.

Our read on what comes next: if the current direction holds, we would expect the FSC to keep tightening on the administrative side rather than the fee side over the next two years — more scrutiny of registered agents, faster deregistration of non-filers, and closer alignment between FSC and Registrar records. Fees may well settle at this level for a while. That is a reading of the trend rather than a forecast, so budget on the assumption that compliance effort rises even if the invoice does not.

Taxation of a Mauritius Authorised Company

An Authorised Company is treated as non-resident for Mauritius tax purposes. In practice that means:

• No Mauritius income or corporate tax on foreign-source income
• No capital gains tax
• No withholding tax on dividends paid out
• But: an Authorised Company is liable to Mauritius income tax on any Mauritius-source income it does earn

That last point is the one competitor pages routinely get wrong. PwC's Worldwide Tax Summaries is explicit that Authorised Companies are liable to income tax on income derived from Mauritius. For a properly structured AC trading entirely offshore there should be no Mauritius-source income at all — which is exactly why the structure has to be kept clean.

An Authorised Company must still file a return of income with the Mauritius Revenue Authority within six months of its year end, whether or not any tax is payable. It gets no access to the network of tax treaties. If treaty relief is central to your structure, you need a Global Business Licence instead.

One important caveat: being tax-exempt here does not make you tax-exempt at home. The location of your central management and control has to be disclosed to the MRA on the annual return, and that same location may well give another country a taxing right. You still have reporting obligations wherever you are tax resident, and controlled foreign company rules may pull the profits back. Take advice in your own country before you incorporate.

Annual Compliance and Filing Requirements

Light, but not zero. Every Mauritius company holding an AC authorisation company must keep up with the following:

• Annual financial summary filed with the Financial Services Commission within six months of the financial year end
• Annual return of income filed with the Mauritius Revenue Authority within six months of year end, even where no tax is payable
• Annual licence fee paid to the FSC by the due date, plus the Registrar's annual fee
• Registered agent and registered office maintained continuously in Mauritius
• Beneficial ownership register kept accurate against the 20% threshold, with supporting declarations
• Notification of changes to directors, shareholders or beneficial owners, filed with the Registrar and notified to the FSC

No statutory audit is required for an Authorised Company — the financial summary is a condensed report, not full IFRS financial statements. That is one of the structure's real cost advantages over a GBL.

Let these slip and the consequences are real. Late fees escalate on the published scale, authorisations do lapse for prolonged non-payment, and a lapsed authorisation is far more expensive to fix than it ever was to maintain.

Bank Account Opening for Your Mauritius Company

Unlike the old GBC rules, an Authorised Company is not required to hold its principal bank account in Mauritius. You can bank wherever your agent's network reaches.

If you do open a bank account locally, note that an AC cannot operate an account denominated in Mauritian Rupees — foreign-currency accounts only. The Bank of Mauritius licenses fewer than twenty commercial banks, several of which handle non-resident and global business applications remotely.

Opening a corporate bank account is usually the slowest part of the process, not the incorporation. Budget several weeks after your Certificate of Incorporation is issued, and expect the bank to ask for the same source-of-funds evidence the registered agent already collected. Banking is quoted separately from formation — ask for it in writing up front.

Mauritius Company Formation with Offshore Protection

Our offshore company registration package includes:

1. Government registration and FSC licence processing fee (first year)
2. Registered office address (first year)
3. Registered agent services (first year)
4. Name availability check
5. Certificate of Incorporation
6. Constitution
7. Appointment of first directors
8. Consent actions of the board
9. Share certificates
10. Register of directors
11. Register of officers
12. Register of shareholders
13. Free phone and email consultations

Join thousands of clients who have used the Offshore Protection advantage since 1996. When you purchase any company formation product, you get free support from our lawyers on day-to-day management questions.

Start your company registration today. Order a Mauritius Authorised Company with or without a bank account.

Mauritius FAQs

• Can a foreigner start a business in Mauritius?

  Yes. Non-residents can own 100% of a Mauritius Authorised Company, and no Mauritian directors or shareholders are needed. In fact the authorisation requires that the majority of shares, voting rights or beneficial interest be held by someone who is not a citizen of Mauritius, and that the company is managed and controlled from outside the country. You will need a licensed management company to act as your registered agent, but you never have to visit Mauritius.

• How much does it cost to form and renew a Mauritius Authorised Company?

  The government side is fixed and published: US$600 to process the authorisation, then US$1,400 a year to the FSC from 1 July 2026, plus a US$65 annual fee to the Registrar of Companies. The first annual fee is pro-rated by the quarter in which your authorisation is issued. Agent fees sit on top and depend on what you bundle in — registered office, nominee services, apostilles, bank introduction. Ask us for a written all-in quote against your actual structure.

• Can I still register a Mauritius GBC2 company?

  No. The Category 2 Global Business Licence was abolished under the Finance (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2018. No new GBC2 has been issued since 1 January 2019, and grandfathering for existing holders ended on 30 June 2021. The Authorised Company replaced it and offers substantially the same benefits — tax exemption on foreign income, one director, one shareholder, full foreign ownership.

• How long does incorporation in Mauritius take?

  Incorporation is normally completed within about a week of clean, complete documents reaching the registered agent, with the FSC authorisation following. Allow a further week or two for the full corporate document set. Bank account opening runs separately and is usually the slowest step — budget several weeks for it. Delays almost always come from incomplete KYC rather than from the registry.

• Does an Authorised Company pay tax in Mauritius?

  Not on foreign income. An Authorised Company is treated as non-resident, so its foreign-source income falls outside Mauritius income, corporate and capital gains tax. It is, however, liable to Mauritius income tax on any Mauritius-source income it earns — which for a correctly structured AC trading wholly offshore should be nil. It must still file a return of income with the Mauritius Revenue Authority within six months of its year end, and a financial summary with the FSC on the same timetable. It has no access to Mauritius double taxation treaties.

• Can an Authorised Company do business inside Mauritius?

  No. The authorisation is specifically for companies that carry on business principally outside Mauritius. It cannot trade with Mauritius residents, cannot hold a Rupee-denominated bank account, and cannot raise capital from the public. If you need to operate locally, you need a domestic company or a Global Business Licence.

• What activities is an Authorised Company not allowed to carry out?

  Four categories are excluded outright: banking, financial services, investment funds and collective investment schemes, and nominee services provided to third parties. An AC can carry on essentially any other commercial activity — international trading, holding, consultancy, IP and royalty collection, property acquisition abroad — provided it is conducted outside Mauritius. If your plan touches any of the four excluded categories, you need a Global Business Licence and the additional licensing that goes with it.

• What are the annual filing deadlines, and what happens if I miss them?

  Two filings, both due within six months of your financial year end: a financial summary to the FSC and a return of income to the Mauritius Revenue Authority. The annual licence fee is due on 1 July. Late payment escalates on a published scale — US$1,400 on the due date, US$1,750 within one month, US$2,100 between one and three months late, and US$2,800 between three and six months late. Beyond six months of non-payment the authorisation can lapse, at which point restoring the company costs far more than maintaining it would have.

• Is my ownership information public in Mauritius?

  No. Details of directors, shareholders and beneficial owners are filed with the Registrar and the FSC, but they are not on a public register. What has changed is the threshold for identifying a beneficial owner: from 18 April 2026, any natural person holding 20% or more of the shares, directly or indirectly, is a beneficial owner under Mauritian law and must be identified and recorded. That is a record-keeping and disclosure-to-regulator obligation, not public disclosure — but layered and nominee structures need reviewing against the new line.

• What is the difference between an Authorised Company and a Global Business Company?

  An Authorised Company is non-resident, exempt from Mauritius tax on foreign income, needs no resident directors, requires no audit, and gets no treaty access. A Global Business Company (formerly GBC1) is a Mauritius tax resident, requires two resident directors and real substance in Mauritius, files audited accounts, is taxed at a 15% headline rate that an 80% partial exemption can reduce to an effective 3% on specified foreign-source income, and does get treaty access. Choose the AC for simple holding and trading; choose the GBL if treaty relief drives your structure.

• Do I need a company secretary?

  No. An Authorised Company is not required to appoint a company secretary. It must, however, have a registered agent that is a licensed management company operating in Mauritius, and that agent provides the registered office and handles filings with the FSC and the Registrar.