With its attractive tax system and physical location, Mauritius has attracted its fair share of people attracted to relocate there for both the fiscal and physical attributes. In order to attract HNW’s to make it their home, Mauritius has offered several property investments, which lead to a right to live in Mauritius as a permanent resident.
These schemes include the Integrated Resort Scheme (IRS), the Real Estate Scheme (RES), the Property Development Scheme (PDS) and the Smart City Scheme (SCS). All of them are projects designed to facilitate the acquisition of residential and non-residential property by non-citizens in Mauritius.
The IRS automatically entitles the purchaser to a residence permit which will remain valid for so long as the purchaser owns the property. The residence permit gives the purchaser the option to benefit from a particularly favorable fiscal policy if he stays in Mauritius for over 183 days per year.
RES villas have a minimum selling price of USD 500,000. In respect to this scheme, a residence permit is only issued to a foreigner during his acquisition of an RES property should the value be over USD 500 000.
The PDS is an amalgamation of the IRS and RES schemes. From a residence point of view the purchaser can emigrate or retire in Mauritius with a permanent residence permit, through an investment of a minimum amount of USD 500 000.
SCS is a new scheme whereby investors will have the option to invest in a diversity of activities such a commercial, leisure and residential properties, a combination of office and many others.
The incentives for investors are rather striking and comprise several exemptions amongst which there is the exemption from Income Tax for a period of 8 years, from VAT on capital goods, from customs duty on import or purchase of any dutiable goods.
Most importantly, any foreign person or entity may acquire residential units in a SCS and should those be above USD 500,000 the foreign person is eligible to a residence permit. If a non-citizen has been residing in the country under a residence permit for a minimum period of 2 years and if he has invested over USD 5 million, he may apply for Mauritian citizenship.
On 20th December 2016, the law has changed to enable non-citizens to purchase apartments in condominium developments of at least two levels above ground (G+2) with the prior approval of the Board of Investment. The amount payable for the acquisition of an apartment must not be less than MUR 6 million.
We have considerable experience in assisting with these schemes. This includes the following:
Sourcing the property required;
Arranging to purchase and finance the property;
Assisting in obtaining the necessary residence permits;
Assisting with any tax and exchange control planning with regards to both the country being exited as well as with planning for arrival in Mauritius.
We would be delighted to assist you in making your investment and hopefully ultimate relocation into Mauritius.
Read more about our Property Services here.