Why Choose Mauritius for Crypto Licensing?
Mauritius regulates virtual assets through a prudential licensing regime. The Virtual Asset and Initial Token Offering Services Act 2021 gives the Financial Services Commission a named statute, five licence classes, and a public register, so a Mauritius VASP is a licensed financial institution rather than a registered service provider. For operators serving African, Asian, and global non-EU markets, that credibility, paired with a long treaty network, is the draw.
A Prudential Licence, Not a Light-Touch Registration
The honest differentiator is that Mauritius licenses rather than registers. The VAITOS Act imposes class-based capital floors, fit-and-proper review of controllers and beneficial owners, a mind-and-management substance test, audited accounts, and a dedicated rulebook covering custody, cybersecurity, and conduct.[1][2] That is a heavier build than a Seychelles licence or a Caribbean registration, and it is the point: the regime is designed to read as a regulated financial-services authorisation to banks, payment networks, and institutional counterparties, which is exactly where offshore registrations tend to fall short.
In practice, applicants who treat Mauritius as a fast, cheap offshore formation are the ones who stall. The licence rewards a genuine operating substrate, real directors, a real office, and capitalised risk functions, and the FSC tests for it.
Off the FATF Grey List Since October 2021
Mauritius was placed on the FATF grey list in February 2020 and on the EU high-risk list from October 2020, and it has since left both: the FATF list on and the EU list on .[9][10] Since September 2022 it has been rated Compliant or Largely Compliant on all 40 FATF Recommendations; the detail is under FATF Standing and Market Access.
Treaty Network and an Established Financial Centre
Mauritius operates as an international financial centre with more than 40 double-taxation agreements and a mature corporate-services ecosystem.[12] English is the working language of statute, submissions, and the courts, and the legal system is a hybrid of common and civil law with the UK Privy Council as the final court of appeal. For groups structuring African or Asian operations, that combination of treaty access, English-language administration, and prudential supervision is the practical reason to choose Mauritius over a thinner offshore alternative.
Where Mauritius Is Honestly Weaker
Two constraints must sit at the front of any plan. First, banking: a Mauritius VASP licence does not by itself secure a Mauritian bank account for client fiat, and most operators run client flows through offshore payment rails (see Banking Reality). Second, tax timing and conditionality: the headline corporate rate is 15%, and the 80% partial exemption that brings licensed fee income to an effective 3% applies only from the year of assessment beginning , only to income from the activities the licence covers, and only where the prescribed Mauritius substance conditions are met (see Taxation). Both belong at the front of the plan, not glossed over once the licence looks attractive.
Regulatory Framework
Mauritius regulates virtual assets under the Virtual Asset and Initial Token Offering Services Act 2021 (VAITOS Act), in force since .[1] The Financial Services Commission is the single licensing and AML/CFT supervisor for VASPs and ITO issuers. The Bank of Mauritius is a second gateway where a bank or payment-system licensee wants to conduct virtual-asset business and, under the FSC’s stablecoin guidance of August 2026, for fiat-pegged stablecoins issued in or from Mauritius. Security tokens fall outside VAITOS, under the Securities Act 2005.
Definition: VASP and VAITOS Act
A Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) is a company licensed by the Financial Services Commission to conduct one or more virtual-asset activities, exchange, transfer, custody, advisory or marketplace operation, in or from Mauritius. The authorising statute is the Virtual Asset and Initial Token Offering Services Act 2021 (VAITOS Act), which designates the FSC as both prudential and AML/CFT supervisor.[1] A separate ITO issuer registration covers public offers of virtual tokens. Tax treatment: 15% headline corporate tax; no capital gains tax.
Regulatory History and Track Record
The VAITOS Bill was passed by Parliament on , gazetted on and brought into force on , making Mauritius one of the first Eastern and Southern African jurisdictions with comprehensive virtual-asset and token-offering legislation.[1] The Act has since been amended by Act No. 15 of 2022, Act No. 12 of 2023, and Acts No. 10 and No. 11 of 2024. The FSC issued its first VASP licences in the financial year ending , granting seven licences in that first cohort, and deemed entities previously licensed as digital-asset custodians to be Class R custodians from .[7] A current cumulative licensee count is best read from the FSC online public register.[6]
The regime is stable rather than transitioning. The live moving parts are incremental: the FSC’s Guidance Notes on Stablecoins of , which follow its consultations on DAO structures and DeFi collateral, Bank of Mauritius guidelines for banks dealing with VASPs, and the 80% partial exemption that reaches income from the licensed VASP activities, subject to Mauritius substance, from the year of assessment.
Recent Regulatory Developments
- – FSC issues its Guidance Notes on Stablecoins. Stablecoins are treated as virtual assets under VAITOS: a public offer is an initial token offering whose issuer registers with the FSC, and a fiat-pegged stablecoin issued in or from Mauritius also needs a Bank of Mauritius no-objection.[20]
- – A virtual-asset payment company is reported on the FSC register. Holding Class M, O, and R licences under the VAITOS Act, illustrating that multi-class authorisations are being granted in practice.[18]
- – Mauritius signs the CARF Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement. Committing to the OECD Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework, with first exchanges in the 2028 wave.[11]
- – Qualified Domestic Minimum Top-up Tax applies from the year of assessment starting on this date. A 15% minimum effective rate for in-scope constituent entities of large multinational groups, via the Finance Act 2025 (Pillar Two).[13]
- – FSC consults on DeFi; Bank of Mauritius issues virtual-asset guidelines for banks. The FSC’s February 2024 paper on financial collateral in DeFi invited comments rather than setting rules; the Bank of Mauritius guideline raised the onboarding bar for banks dealing with VASPs.[8][21]
- – EU adopts the regulation removing Mauritius from its AML high-risk list (in force ), following the FATF grey-list exit on .[9][16]
Regulatory Overlap and Boundaries
| Overlapping regime | Triggering activity | Practical consequence |
|---|---|---|
| VAITOS Act 2021 (FSC) | Virtual-asset exchange, transfer, custody, advisory or marketplace activity | VASP licence required, by class |
| VAITOS Part IV (FSC) | Public offer of virtual tokens to the public | ITO issuer registration; White Paper regime |
| Banking Act / National Payment Systems Act (Bank of Mauritius) | A bank or payment-system licensee conducting virtual-asset business | BoM written approval; Classes M, O, and S only via a subsidiary; banks may apply directly for R or I |
| Securities Act 2005 (FSC securities arm) | Security tokens and financial-asset tokens; virtual-asset derivatives | Securities or investment-dealer regime, outside VAITOS |
| FIAMLA 2002 + FIAML Regulations | Any VASP acting as a reporting person | AML/CFT obligations, Travel Rule, STR reporting to the FIU |
The Bank of Mauritius Gateway in Practice
For the great majority of applicants, a standalone Global Business Company applying for a VASP licence, there is one regulator: the FSC. The Bank of Mauritius gateway is narrow: it applies to banks and National Payment Systems Act licensees and, since August 2026, to fiat-pegged stablecoins issued in or from Mauritius. Such an institution needs the BoM’s written approval before applying, and Classes M, O, and S can only be issued to a subsidiary of the institution rather than the institution itself.
A bank may apply directly only for Class R custody or Class I advisory.[2] Most crypto operators never engage this gateway.
The Five VASP Licence Classes (M-O-R-I-S) and ITO
The VAITOS Act creates five VASP licence classes, deliberately named so that the class letters spell M-O-R-I-S, plus a separate ITO issuer registration. Each class maps to one statutory activity, and an applicant may hold licences for more than one class, and must then meet their combined capital requirement. The mapping below is taken from the FSC VAITOS FAQ and the Act’s Second Schedule, which is the only authoritative source, and is consistent with the FSC’s own VAITOS guide.[2][3]
| Class | Code | Licence name | What it permits |
|---|---|---|---|
| M | VA-1.1 | Virtual Asset Broker-Dealer | Exchange between virtual assets and fiat, or between one or more forms of virtual asset, as principal or on a broker-dealer basis |
| O | VA-1.2 | Virtual Asset Wallet Services | Transfer of virtual assets: providing the software or mechanism that enables a person to transfer virtual assets |
| R | VA-1.3 | Virtual Asset Custodian | Safekeeping of virtual assets or of instruments enabling control over them, and administration of virtual assets |
| I | VA-1.4 | Virtual Asset Advisory Services | Participation in and provision of financial services related to an issuer’s offer or sale of virtual assets |
| S | VA-1.5 | Virtual Asset Market Place | Operating a virtual-asset exchange, a centralised or decentralised platform facilitating exchange of virtual assets for fiat or other virtual assets on behalf of third parties |
| ITO | VT-1.1 | Initial Token Offering issuer | Offering virtual tokens to the public for fiat or another virtual asset; not a VASP licence but a separate registration |
Choosing the Right Class (or Classes)
The class follows the activity, and most operating businesses need more than one. A spot exchange that holds client assets and matches orders is a Class S Market Place; if it also deals on its own book it adds Class M, and if it self-custodies it adds Class R.
A custodial wallet provider is Class O for transfer and Class R for safekeeping. A pure advisory or token-sale arranger is Class I. The combined-capital rule means each added class raises the floor, so the scoping decision is also a capital decision.
- Exchange or marketplace operator – Class S, usually with Class M (dealing) and Class R (custody).
- Broker-dealer or OTC desk – Class M.
- Custodial wallet or transfer service – Class O, with Class R where assets are held.
- Dedicated custodian – Class R.
- Advisory or token-offer arranger – Class I.
- Token issuer offering to the public – ITO issuer registration (VT-1.1), separate from the VASP classes.
The ITO Issuer Route
An ITO issuer is a company registered with the FSC to offer virtual tokens to the public. The process is prescriptive: register at least 45 days before the offer, with the FSC processing within 30 days; a White Paper signed by every governing-body member and published throughout the offer plus 15 days after; an offer period of no more than six months; a 72-hour purchaser withdrawal right; and rescission or damages for material misrepresentation.[2] The ITO route sits alongside, not inside, the five VASP classes.
DeFi, DAOs, Staking, NFTs, and Stablecoins
The VAITOS Act has no licence class of its own for DeFi, staking or DAOs: such an activity needs a VASP licence when it amounts to one of the virtual-asset services in the Act’s five classes, and a public token sale can need ITO-issuer registration. The FSC has so far consulted rather than ruled, with a paper on financial collateral in DeFi lending and draft guidance on the legal structures a DAO can use in Mauritius naming a limited partnership, a foundation or a limited liability partnership as suitable.[21][22] The FSC has issued separate guidance on NFTs, and non-transferable closed-loop items sit outside scope.
Stablecoins are inside the perimeter. Under the FSC’s Guidance Notes on Stablecoins of , a stablecoin is a virtual asset under the Act, and a public offer of one is an initial token offering, so the issuer registers as an ITO issuer, keeps capital of at least MUR 5 million or 50% of annual operating expenses, whichever is higher, holds reserve assets, redeems at par within five days of a request and publishes the value of the reserve daily. A fiat-pegged stablecoin issued in or from Mauritius also needs a no-objection from the Bank of Mauritius, and offering a stablecoin as a payment instrument in Mauritius needs a Bank of Mauritius licence under the National Payment Systems Act. The FSC will not consider applications for algorithmic or yield-bearing stablecoins, and coins that reference other virtual assets fall outside the guidance.[20] Security tokens revert to the Securities Act 2005.
Requirements
Six layers of requirement apply to a Mauritius VASP applicant: the corporate vehicle (a Global Business Company) and its beneficial ownership; the resident directors and senior executive; the resident risk functions (MLRO, deputy MLRO, and Compliance Officer); the physical office and mind-and-management substance; the class-based capital; and the policy and audit framework. The FSC assesses fit-and-proper across controllers, beneficial owners, associates, and officers.[2]
| Requirement | Standard |
|---|---|
| Corporate vehicle | A Mauritius company, in practice a Global Business Company (GBC) holding a Global Business Licence; only a company may be a VASP |
| Foreign ownership | 100% permitted, subject to fit-and-proper screening of controllers and beneficial owners |
| Mind and management | Directed and managed from Mauritius: strategy, risk, and operational decisions made on island; board and executives meeting locally |
| Physical office | A real office in Mauritius is required; a mailbox or virtual office is rejected |
| Board and senior executive | A board of at least three directors, at least 30% independent and at least one resident in Mauritius (FSC licensing criteria); a GBC holder is also tested on two resident directors; every VASP needs a senior executive resident in Mauritius |
| Company secretary | A natural person ordinarily resident in Mauritius (except small private companies) |
| Key functionaries | Full-time resident MLRO, deputy MLRO, and Compliance Officer meeting FSC competency standards; partial outsourcing permitted |
| Capital | Class-based minimum unimpaired capital (see Costs & Capital); FSC may set a higher amount on risk |
| Audit and returns | Annual audited financials and statutory returns within four months of financial year-end |
| Professional indemnity | A professional indemnity insurance quote is required under the Risk Management Rules 2022 |
Mind-and-Management Substance
Substance is the requirement applicants most often underestimate. The FSC examines where strategy, risk, and operational decisions are actually taken, where the executives and board meet, and the residence of officers.[2] The Act requires a physical office in Mauritius, and the company must be genuinely directed and managed from the island.[1] A holding-company shell with a thin local layer does not pass, and the same substance test underpins any later claim to tax benefits.
In practice, the binding hires are the resident risk functions. A full-time MLRO, deputy MLRO, and Compliance Officer who meet the FSC competency standards, the resident senior executive the Act requires, and a board of at least three directors, at least one of them resident in Mauritius and at least 30% independent, are what make an application credible,[23] and sourcing them is the part of the build that takes the longest.
Fit-and-Proper
Fit-and-proper review reaches every controller, beneficial owner, associate, and officer. The FSC tests honesty, integrity, competence, and financial soundness, and material adverse regulatory history offshore can be grounds for refusal, so it is better disclosed at the outset than discovered in review. The standard mirrors the continuing-obligation regime of the Financial Services Act 2007, whose disciplinary machinery applies to VASP enforcement.[1]
The GBC Vehicle
The entity that holds the licence must be a company, and in practice a Global Business Company holding a Global Business Licence, which is the structure that carries treaty access and the substance expectations the FSC looks for. An Authorised Company is unsuitable here because it is tax-non-resident. Forming the GBC is the foundation step and is coordinated through the Mauritius company formation service; the licensing capital and substance are layered on top.
Application Process
The application runs in four stages over roughly six to nine months on our planning estimate. The applicant files as an incorporated company, with its certificate of incorporation, and must have a physical office in Mauritius from which it is directed and managed. The Act sets no decision deadline for a VASP licence: the FSC grants or rejects once it has all the information it requires, and its licensing criteria say it will not proceed with an application after an inadequate response, or none, within two months of its last query, so the real timeline is set by how long it takes to assemble a complete application.[1][23]
Structuring and the GBC
Scope the licence classes, structure the Global Business Company and prepare incorporation. For full entity and tax setup, see the Mauritius company formation guide. Where the applicant is a bank or payment-system licensee, secure Bank of Mauritius written approval first.
Substance and Risk Functions
Secure the physical office, appoint the board, with its resident and independent directors, and the resident senior executive every VASP must have, and onboard the full-time MLRO, deputy MLRO, and Compliance Officer meeting FSC competency standards. Build the compliance documentation set.
Application and FSC Review
File the VASP application as an incorporated company, with the business plan and three-year financial forecasts, the AML/CFT, risk, and IT manuals, the custody arrangements, the capital plan, and the details of the Mauritius office.
Queries, Capitalisation, and Grant
Respond to FSC information requests, deploy the class-based capital and complete the licence grant. The Act sets no decision deadline for a VASP licence.
Sequencing matters. The predictable stumbles are substance that is too thin, risk-function hires left too late, and a class scope that under-provides capital. An independent specialist introduced by Jagelski & Partners coordinates the Mauritius pathway end-to-end, including GBC formation, resident-functionary sourcing where required, the compliance documentation build and the FSC submission, so the application reaches the regulator as an already-aligned position rather than a starting point.
Required Documents
The FSC application package combines incorporation evidence, fit-and-proper documentation for controllers, beneficial owners, and officers, a detailed business plan with three-year financial forecasts, the capital evidence, and a complete set of operational, custody, and AML policies. Below are the policies and frameworks the regulator expects to see, tailored to the VAITOS Rules rather than imported as generic templates.
Compliance Documentation
The FSC expects bespoke policies aligned to the VAITOS Rules 2022, the FIAMLA framework and the FSC AML/CFT Handbook, not offshore boilerplate. Each policy below is drafted within the licensing engagement by the independent specialist introduced for the case, to address Mauritian statutory and supervisory expectations, and reviewed against the current FSC guidance.
- Business Plan and Financial Projections. Three-year financial forecasts (balance sheet, profit and loss account, and cash flow statement) underpinning the capital and working-capital case. Sets out the operating model, the licence classes sought, revenue, and cost assumptions and break-even analysis, with negative and positive scenarios for the Class O twelve-month working-capital test.
- AML/CFT Policy Manual. FIAMLA-aligned control environment for a reporting person. Establishes anti-money-laundering and counter-financing-of-terrorism controls, identifies the MLRO, deputy MLRO, and Compliance Officer and their reporting lines into the FIU, and addresses crypto-specific typologies including mixers, anonymity-enhanced coins, and self-hosted wallet transfers.
- Enterprise-Wide Risk Assessment. Customer, geographic, product, and channel risk. Documents inherent and residual money-laundering and terrorist-financing risk across customer types, jurisdictions, products, and delivery channels, with controls calibrated to each tier and residual-risk scoring after controls.
- Travel Rule Implementation. Originator and beneficiary data capture under the VAITOS Travel Rule provisions. Operationalises obtaining, holding, and transmitting accurate originator and beneficiary information, with the reduced data set for occasional transactions below USD 1,000 and full information at and above the threshold.
- Sanctions Screening Procedures. UN sanctions lists under the United Nations Sanctions Act 2019, with refresh frequency, hit-rate testing, an escalation matrix, and freezing procedures for both natural-person and wallet-address designations.
- Transaction Monitoring Framework. Risk-tiered scenarios mapped to FIAMLA red-flag indicators. Includes crypto-specific typologies such as chain-hopping, peel-chain laundering, and mixer ingress and egress, with an alert-handling and disposition workflow.
- STR Procedures. Reporting to the Financial Intelligence Unit via the goAML platform. Sets the internal escalation, decision, and filing procedures, with tipping-off prohibitions and record-keeping obligations.
- KYC & Client Onboarding (incl. KYB). Customer and business due diligence with enhanced measures for higher-risk clients and politically exposed persons, and beneficial-ownership verification at onboarding and periodic review.
- Custody of Client Assets Framework. Segregation, client-specific records, and third-party custodian due diligence at least annually, with proof-of-reserves arrangements for custody classes (R and S). Operationalises the Custody of Client Assets Rules.
- IT and Cybersecurity Manual. Platform architecture disclosure, access controls, independent testing, and the cyber-reporting-event obligations under the VAITOS Cybersecurity Rules, with ISO 27001 alignment favoured in practice.
- Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Plan. Documented continuity, recovery, and resilience procedures proportionate to the licence classes and the custody model.
- Outsourcing and Professional Indemnity. An outsourcing framework with oversight of delegated functions, and the professional indemnity insurance quote required under the Risk Management Rules 2022.
Costs and Capital
Government fees are modest, from USD 1,000 to USD 3,000 in processing and USD 1,900 to USD 5,000 a year for each VASP class licence. The real Year 1 budget is set by the professional build, with class-based capital held on top of it. For a single class, a realistic all-in figure is USD 65,900 to USD 218,000, depending on the class and the complexity of the operating model, excluding that capital.
Government Fees by Class
Fees are set by the First Schedule to the Financial Services (Consolidated Licensing and Fees) Rules 2008, replaced by the Amendment Rules 2026 with effect from .[4] The schedule states each fee twice: in USD for Global Business Licence holders, as VASPs typically are, and as a fixed rupee amount otherwise, from MUR 45,000 to MUR 135,000 in processing and MUR 85,000 to MUR 220,000 a year. The current schedule is maintained in the FSC codified list of licences and fees.[5]
| Class | Processing fee | Annual fee |
|---|---|---|
| M – Broker-Dealer (VA-1.1) | USD 1,000 | USD 2,000 |
| O – Wallet Services (VA-1.2) | USD 1,000 | USD 1,900 |
| R – Custodian (VA-1.3) | USD 1,500 | USD 2,500 |
| I – Advisory (VA-1.4) | USD 3,000 | USD 5,000 |
| S – Market Place (VA-1.5) | USD 3,000 | USD 5,000 |
| ITO issuer (VT-1.1) | USD 2,000 | None |
Minimum Capital by Class
Under the VAITOS Capital and Other Financial Requirements Rules 2022, unimpaired capital and liquidity resources must at all times cover the greatest of the class own-funds amount, one quarter of the preceding year’s fixed overheads (projected overheads in the first year), the financial-resources requirement under the VAITOS Risk Management Rules 2022, and any higher amount the FSC imposes.[32] Multi-class licences carry the combined own-funds requirement of every class held.
| Class | Minimum capital |
|---|---|
| M – Broker-Dealer | MUR 2,000,000~USD 42K |
| R – Custodian | MUR 5,000,000~USD 110K |
| S – Market Place | MUR 6,500,000~USD 140K |
| O – Wallet Services | No fixed floor: sufficient working capital in fiat to fund 12 months of business on realistic forecasts |
| I – Advisory | No fixed floor: sufficient working capital to meet debts as they fall due |
| ITO issuer | No fixed floor: sufficient working capital to meet debts as they fall due |
Total Year 1 Cost (Indicative, Advised Route)
| Item | Range |
|---|---|
| FSC government fees for one VASP class licence (processing + full first annual fee) | USD 2,900–8,000 |
| Legal, structuring, and application drafting | USD 20,000–60,000 |
| Compliance build (AML/CFT, IT, BCP, risk frameworks) | USD 8,000–30,000 |
| Resident risk functions and directors (annualised) | USD 25,000–90,000 |
| Office, audit, and professional indemnity insurance | USD 10,000–30,000 |
| Year 1 all-in for one class (excluding paid-in class capital) | USD 65,900–218,000 (by class) |
The fee line is one class licence’s processing fee plus a full annual fee. Fees attach to each licence held, so a build covering several classes adds each class’s fees and needs its own professional-cost budget. The first annual fee is paid with the application and prorated under rule 8 of the 2008 Rules by the quarter in which the licence is granted, with any excess refunded, so the grant-year cost can be lower than this full-year allowance.[34]
The professional-cost ranges above are indicative practitioner estimates, not regulator-set figures, and vary with the class scope and the complexity of the operating model. A self-managed application is technically possible, but the substance, capital, and documentation expectations are where unsupported applicants tend to stall.
Timeline
The realistic timeline is six to nine months from incorporation to grant, on our planning estimate built from the four stages under Application Process. The VAITOS Act sets no decision deadline for a VASP licence (its 30-day clock in section 25 applies only to ITO issuer registration), so the calendar is governed by how long it takes to assemble a complete file, including the substance, and by the FSC’s queries, rather than by a statutory review period.[1]
Two things dominate the slippage. The first is substance: securing the office, the resident directors, and the resident risk functions is the long pole, and the licence cannot be granted without the office in place, because the Act requires one. The second is class-and-capital scoping done too late: discovering a custody class is needed adds capital and documentation after the plan is set. Both are front-loaded in a well-run application.
Taxation
The headline corporate tax is 15% on chargeable income, with no capital gains tax.[12] Mauritius is widely marketed on an effective rate of about 3%, reached through an 80% partial exemption, and since the Finance Act 2025 that exemption reaches a licensed VASP’s own fee income. It is not automatic. It began with the year of assessment commencing , which taxes the income year ending 30 June 2026 (for a company with a 31 December year-end, its accounting year ending 31 December 2026),[33] it covers only income from the activities the licence itself covers, and it is conditional on the prescribed substance test being met in Mauritius.[19]
Definition: the 80% partial exemption
The 80% partial exemption is a regime under the Income Tax Act 1995, introduced by the Finance Act 2018, that exempts 80% of certain qualifying income of a Mauritius resident company, including a Global Business Company, reducing the effective rate on that income to about 3%.[12] It is conditional on economic substance: a Mauritius physical presence, adequate qualified employees, Mauritius operating expenditure, and the core income-generating activity carried out on island. The qualifying categories are enumerated rather than open-ended, and income from an FSC Virtual Asset Service Provider licence was added to that enumeration by the Finance Act 2025, with effect from the year of assessment commencing .[19]
Corporate Tax and the VASP Caveat
A Mauritius VASP is subject to 15% corporate tax on its chargeable income, and there is no capital gains tax.[12] The 80% partial exemption operates by enumeration: income qualifies only where it appears on the list in the Second Schedule to the Income Tax Act. That list runs from foreign dividends and qualifying interest through collective-investment and fund-management income to ship and aircraft leasing and reinsurance, with payment intermediary services and robotic and AI-enabled advisory services added more recently.[19]
Income derived by a company holding an FSC Virtual Asset Service Provider licence was added to that list by the Finance Act 2025, subject to two conditions: the income must come from the activities the licence covers, and the company must satisfy the prescribed substance conditions. Both are now in force. The substance conditions were extended to the new item by regulation in , and the core income-generating activities prescribed for it mirror the VAITOS Second Schedule, so all five licence classes are in scope.[19] The exemption applies from the year of assessment commencing .
Two boundaries matter for planning. Income outside the licensed activities stays at 15%, and so does income from an Initial Token Offering issuer registration, which is a registration rather than a VASP licence. Where turnover exceeds MUR 50m the 2% Corporate Climate Responsibility levy applies on top, so the effective rate on qualifying licensed income is 3.4% rather than 3%.[29]
VAT
Standard VAT is 15%. From 1 October 2025 (Finance Act 2025), VAT registration is compulsory where annual turnover of taxable supplies exceeds or is likely to exceed MUR 3m, and VAT scope was extended to foreign-supplied digital and electronic services. The precise VAT treatment of specific virtual-asset services is not cleanly settled and should be confirmed with a Mauritian tax adviser for the particular revenue lines in question.
Pillar Two and CARF
Mauritius implemented a Qualified Domestic Minimum Top-up Tax (QDMTT) via the Finance Act 2025, effective for the year of assessment commencing , ensuring a 15% minimum effective rate for constituent entities of multinational groups with consolidated revenue of at least EUR 750m in at least 2 of the 4 preceding fiscal years.[13][19] Only large MNE-group VASPs are in scope; standalone operators are unaffected.
On crypto tax transparency, Mauritius signed the OECD CARF Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement on and sits in the 2028 first-exchange wave.[11][14] Announcing the signature on , the Mauritius Revenue Authority said it would report implementation milestones as the framework is put in place; its CARF page carried no domestic CARF regulations when checked in September 2026.[30]
AML/CFT & Ongoing Compliance
The FSC is the AML/CFT supervisor for VASPs under the VAITOS Act, on top of the Financial Intelligence and Anti-Money Laundering Act 2002 (FIAMLA) and the FIAML Regulations, which make a VASP a reporting person. The FSC issued dedicated AML/CFT Guidance Notes for VASPs and ITO issuers on , and the FSC AML/CFT Handbook applies.[1]
Definition: the Travel Rule
The Travel Rule is the FATF Recommendation 16 obligation, transposed through the VAITOS Act and the amended AML framework, requiring a VASP to obtain, hold, and transmit accurate originator and beneficiary information with virtual-asset transfers.[1] For occasional transactions below USD 1,000 a reduced data set applies (originator and beneficiary name plus wallet address or a unique transaction reference); at and above the threshold, full transfer information is required.
Travel Rule and Reporting
VASPs must capture and transmit originator and beneficiary data on transfers, screen against UN sanctions designations under the United Nations Sanctions Act 2019, and apply customer due diligence and enhanced due diligence on a risk basis. Suspicious transaction reports go to the Financial Intelligence Unit through the goAML platform.[1] Customer due diligence is triggered at the prescribed transaction thresholds.
Ongoing Filings and Obligations
VASPs and issuers of initial token offerings also file an annual Statement of Virtual Assets Transactions electronically with the MRA. The normal deadline is 15 August for the preceding income year; the MRA set for the 2026 filing. This domestic duty is separate from CARF exchanges.[35]
The reporting threshold is more than MUR 250,000 in one transaction or MUR 2 million in aggregate for an individual, société or succession; for other persons it is more than MUR 500,000 or MUR 4 million respectively. Once a threshold is crossed, report all that account holder’s transactions for the year. Excluded account holders are non-resident individuals, Global Business Licence entities, and public listed companies and their subsidiaries or associates; this is not an exemption for a reporting VASP merely because it holds a Global Business Licence.[35]
- Annual audited financial statements and statutory returns within four months of the financial year-end.
- Continuing fit-and-proper compliance for controllers, beneficial owners, and officers.
- Maintenance of the minimum unimpaired capital for the licensed class, or combined floor for multi-class licences.
- Custody segregation and at-least-annual third-party custodian due diligence for custody classes.
- Change notifications to the FSC for directors, officers, and significant shareholders.
- Ongoing professional indemnity insurance under the Risk Management Rules 2022.
Advertising and Conduct Rules
The VAITOS Publication of Advertisement Rules reach any VASP or ITO issuer advertising in or from Mauritius, and a Mauritius business advertising virtual-asset products outside Mauritius, subject to the target jurisdiction’s law.[15] Advertisements must be accurate, clearly identifiable, and not misleading, consistent with the White Paper for ITOs, and free of unreasonable inducements. The extraterritorial reach matters for a Mauritius VASP marketing to offshore clients, and feeds directly into the market-access analysis below.
ICT and Cyber Resilience
The VAITOS framework carries dedicated Cybersecurity Rules and an IT-manual requirement, so operational resilience is a substantive part of the application rather than an afterthought. This is the Mauritian analogue of the EU’s DORA, not DORA itself: there is no EU equivalence here, and the obligations flow from the FSC’s own rules.
- Systems and controls. Documented systems and controls to manage cybersecurity and operational risk, with platform architecture disclosed to the FSC at application.[15]
- Independent testing. Independent testing and assurance of the platform, with ISO 27001 alignment strongly favoured in practice.
- Incident reporting. Cyber-reporting-event obligations: material custody-system breaches reported to the FSC with a mitigation plan, the VAITOS Act defining the cyber-reporting-event trigger.[1]
- Custody technology. Custody standards under the Custody of Client Assets Rules: segregation, client-specific records, and third-party custodian due diligence at least annually.
- Business continuity. Documented business continuity and disaster recovery proportionate to the licence classes and the custody model.
For an exchange or custodian (Classes S and R), the ICT and custody build is where much of the professional cost concentrates, because the FSC expects demonstrable, tested controls rather than policy documents alone.
Banking
This is the single biggest practical constraint on a Mauritius operation. A Mauritius VASP licence does not by itself secure a Mauritian bank account for client fiat. Local banks remain reluctant to hold pooled end-client funds for trading, and most operators run client-facing fiat through offshore payment rails while keeping a Mauritian operational account.[17]
Why Local Fiat Banking Is Constrained
Mauritian banks have been cautious with VASPs, particularly on accounts that accept end-client funds for digital-asset trading.[17] The Bank of Mauritius 2024 guidelines for banks dealing with virtual-asset activities set a framework of enhanced due diligence, capital buffers, cybersecurity, and mandatory risk assessments, but they raised the onboarding bar rather than opening the floodgates.[8] The emerging pattern is that some banks will provide operational or transactional banking to a fully licensed, well-governed VASP while still declining accounts for pooled end-client fiat.
The Realistic Banking Stack (Archetypes Only)
- Domestic Mauritian commercial banks. Cautious; may offer a corporate or operational account to a fully licensed VASP with strong governance, but typically will not hold pooled end-client fiat. Expect heavy enhanced due diligence, source-of-funds scrutiny, and slow onboarding.
- International banks with a Mauritius presence. Selective; appetite is usually reserved for institutionally-backed, well-capitalised applicants with a clean group structure and demonstrable substance.
- Offshore EMIs and payment institutions. The practical workhorse for operational fiat rails and client-money flows. In practice a Mauritius VASP often runs client-facing fiat through one or more EU, UK or other crypto-tolerant EMI or payment-institution archetypes abroad.
- Crypto-native settlement and treasury providers. Used for digital-asset settlement and treasury alongside the fiat rails.
Expect friction: account opening measured in months, a likely split between a Mauritian operational account and offshore rails for client flows, recurring re-papering, and transaction-monitoring queries, and some banks declining crypto outright regardless of the licence. The FSC licence improves credibility with counterparties, and is increasingly a precondition for payment-network and Travel Rule access, but it does not guarantee local fiat banking.
A licence without banking access is a certificate on the wall. An independent specialist introduced by Jagelski & Partners coordinates banking and EMI introductions for Mauritius-licensed VASPs across multiple institution archetypes, sequencing the banking application so that the operational account and the offshore client-fiat rails come online in step with operational launch rather than as a post-licence afterthought.
For a Mauritius VASP the realistic structure is a Mauritian operational account paired with offshore EMI and payment-institution rails for client fiat flows, arranged in step with the FSC application rather than after grant. Jagelski & Partners scopes banking options in writing and introduces an independent specialist before a licence application is filed. You contract directly with the specialist; account approval remains the financial institution's decision.
Explore Banking SolutionsFATF Standing and Market Access
Mauritius carries a clean international standing and a globally recognised, FATF-aligned VASP authorisation, but that authorisation grants no EU market access. The two facts sit together: the licence travels well as a credibility signal worldwide, and it gives zero MiCA passporting rights for serving clients in the European Union.
FATF and AML Standing
Mauritius was removed from the FATF list of jurisdictions under increased monitoring on , following an on-site assessment in September 2021, and the Commission’s delisting regulation, adopted on , entered into force on .[9][16] It has been rated Compliant or Largely Compliant on all 40 FATF Recommendations since the ESAAMLG Council of Ministers upgraded Recommendation 15 on virtual assets to Largely Compliant on , and it remains in enhanced follow-up with the regional body ESAAMLG.[24][25]
Enhanced follow-up is the ESAAMLG’s more intensive reporting track for members whose mutual evaluation found significant shortcomings; it is separate from the FATF list of jurisdictions under increased monitoring, on which Mauritius does not appear after the plenary.[25][26] Its next ESAAMLG mutual evaluation is scheduled for 2027.[28]
EU Market Access (Reverse Solicitation)
A Mauritius VASP licence is a non-EU authorisation and confers no right to market virtual-asset services into the European Union; MiCA contains no third-country equivalence regime for crypto-asset services. Without an EU CASP authorisation, the only route is reverse solicitation under MiCA Article 61, which covers services provided at the EU client’s own exclusive initiative; ESMA’s guidelines list signs that a firm is likely to be regarded as soliciting, such as EU-targeted marketing or geo-targeted advertising, judged on all the facts, and a firm that solicits EU clients cannot rely on the exemption.[31] The EU regime itself is set out in the MiCA and CASP licensing guide.
See the reverse solicitation guide for the framework, the ESMA position and the operational tests. For systematic EU market access, the structural solution is a separate CASP authorisation in an EU member state. The licence is strongest for African, Asian, and global non-EU client bases.
Advantages and Limitations
A Mauritius VASP licence buys prudential credibility, clean FATF standing, and treaty access, at the cost of constrained local banking, a 15% headline tax that the partial exemption reduces on licensed fee income only from the year of assessment and only against real substance, and no EU passporting. The honest framing is credibility-led, not cost-led.
- A prudential licence, not a registration. Capital, fit-and-proper, substance, and audit make it read as a regulated authorisation.[1]
- Clean FATF standing. Off the grey list since ; off the EU AML list since March 2022.[9]
- Long treaty network and an established financial centre. More than 40 double-taxation agreements; English-language statute and courts.[12]
- Five clear licence classes plus an ITO route. A defined activity map with multi-class flexibility under one application.[2]
- No capital gains tax and a 15% headline rate that is competitive among prudential regimes.[12]
- Strong fit for African and Asian client bases. Recognised, FATF-aligned standing where offshore registrations are scrutinised.
- Constrained local banking for client fiat. Mitigation: provision a Mauritian operational account plus offshore EMI or payment-institution rails for client flows from the outset.
- The 3% effective rate is conditional. It applies to licensed fee income only from the year of assessment beginning , only for the activities the licence covers, and only where the substance test is met. Mitigation: size the Mauritius substance to the exemption rather than to the licence alone, budget income outside the licensed activities at 15%, and carry the 3.4% figure where turnover exceeds MUR 50m.
- No EU passporting. Mitigation: pair with an EU CASP where EU customer-facing operations are material; treat Mauritius as the offshore pillar of a multi-jurisdiction stack.
- Real substance is enforced. Mitigation: provision the office, resident directors, and resident risk functions early; the FSC’s assessment depends on them.
- Heavier and slower than the BVI registration route. Mitigation: where speed or lowest cost is the only driver, weigh the BVI (about 4–6 months, but grey-listed by the FATF); Mauritius wins on credibility, not on being the cheapest.
How Mauritius Compares
Mauritius is most relevantly compared against the offshore and African centres it is benchmarked against: Seychelles and the British Virgin Islands as offshore VASP peers, the Cayman Islands as the premium institutional offshore option, and South Africa as the African conduct-regulated reference. Mauritius sits as a prudential, credibility-led licence rather than a light-touch registration.
| Metric | Mauritius | Seychelles | BVI | Cayman Islands | South Africa |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Instrument | VAITOS Act 2021 (5 classes) | VASP Act 2024 | VASP Act 2022 | VASP regime; full licence since 1 Apr 2025 | FAIS Act crypto FSP |
| Licence model | Prudential licence | VASP licence | VASP registration | Registration + full licence | Conduct-of-business licence |
| Min. Capital | MUR 2m–6.5m (Classes M, R, S)~USD 42K–140K; working-capital test for Classes O and I | USD 25k–100k paid-up, prescribed by category (SI 72 of 2024) | No fixed minimum (6–12m opex proof) | Risk-based, not statutory | No fixed minimum (solvency tests) |
| Timeline | ~6–9 months | ~4–27 months | ~4–6 months | ~4–8 months (registration); ~7–14 months (licence) | ~6–12 months (FSCA review); ~14–22 months end to end |
| Corporate Tax | 15%; 3% on licensed fee income from YA 2026/27 | 1.5% (licensed VASPs) | 0% | 0% | 27% CIT |
| Substance | High (mind and management) | High (office, resident director 183 days, on-island governance) | Registered agent + FSC-approved authorised representative; MLRO | Resident officer / MLRO | High (genuine SA presence) |
| Banking Access | Constrained; offshore EMI rails for client fiat | Difficult; international banks or payment institutions, case by case | Variable; difficult | Selective; case-by-case, 2–6 month onboarding | Tier-1 domestic banks in 8–16 weeks |
| EU Passporting | No | No | No | No | No |
| FATF Status | Clean | Clean | Grey-listed | Clean | Clean |
| Credibility | Medium (prudential, treaty network) | Moderate, improving | Low | High (institutional) | Medium (advanced regulatory framework) |
| Best For | Africa / Asia / global offshore, credibility-led | Cost-led brokers and exchanges | Speed and low-cost offshore | Institutional and funds | African operations from a regulated base |
Compare every crypto jurisdiction side by side →
Mauritius’s distinctive combination is prudential credibility, a long treaty network and English-language administration, at the cost of constrained local banking and a 15% headline tax that the partial exemption reduces on licensed fee income only from the year of assessment and only against real substance. The British Virgin Islands is faster and zero-tax but remained on the FATF grey list after the plenary, and it has been on the EU high-risk third-country list since , which requires EU obliged entities, banks among them, to apply enhanced due diligence to business relationships and transactions involving it;[26][27] Mauritius is the cleaner standing for groups touching institutional or EU-adjacent counterparties.
Against Seychelles, Mauritius is the heavier, more credible build, where Seychelles is the cost-led route. Against the Cayman Islands, Mauritius offers treaty access and a lower cost base but weaker local banking; Cayman is the institutional and funds choice. The honest summary: choose Mauritius for prudential standing and African or Asian reach, not for the cheapest, fastest, or lowest-tax offshore licence.
Not sure which column is you? Ask Emma. She compares these jurisdictions in seconds, in your language.
Common Mistakes Operators Make
Mauritius rewards a serious build and punishes the assumptions imported from lighter offshore regimes. Six mistakes recur, each preventable with the right framing at the scoping stage.
- Assuming the ~3% effective rate applies to all crypto income from day one. It reaches only income from the activities the licence covers, only from the year of assessment commencing , and only where the prescribed substance conditions are met. Token-issuer registration income and non-licensed revenue stay at 15%, and the climate levy takes the qualifying rate to 3.4% above MUR 50m turnover.[17]
- Assuming the FSC licence secures a Mauritian bank account for client fiat. It does not. Local banks largely decline pooled end-client fiat, so a credible plan provisions offshore EMI or payment-institution rails from the outset.[17]
- Choosing the wrong class. Confusing Class M (broker-dealer) with Class S (marketplace), or missing that custody triggers Class R, leads to under-scoped capital and re-papering. Multi-activity needs multiple classes and a combined capital floor.
- Treating it as a fast, cheap offshore registration. VAITOS is a prudential licence with real substance, fit-and-proper, capital, and audit. A mailbox-and-shelf-company approach fails the mind-and-management test.
- Mis-citing the class mapping. Some sources swap Class R, I, and S. Use only the FSC FAQ and VAITOS Second Schedule mapping: R is Custody, I is Advisory, S is the Market Place.[2]
- Expecting EU market access. A Mauritius licence grants no MiCA passport. EU clients require a separate EU CASP authorisation; reverse solicitation is a narrow exemption, not a market-entry strategy.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. Virtual assets are legal and regulated under the Virtual Asset and Initial Token Offering Services Act 2021, in force since 7 February 2022. Anyone providing virtual-asset services in or from Mauritius must hold a Financial Services Commission VASP licence, or register as an Initial Token Offering issuer where they offer tokens to the public. The regime is a prudential licence, with capital, fit-and-proper, substance, and audit obligations, not a light-touch registration.
The Financial Services Commission (FSC) Mauritius is the licensing and AML/CFT supervisor for VASPs and ITO issuers under the VAITOS Act. The Bank of Mauritius is a second gateway: a bank or National Payment Systems Act licensee needs its written approval before applying, and Classes M, O, and S can only be issued to a subsidiary of such an institution. Banks may apply directly only for Class R or Class I.
There are five, deliberately spelling M-O-R-I-S: Class M is the Virtual Asset Broker-Dealer (code VA-1.1), Class O is Virtual Asset Wallet Services (VA-1.2), Class R is Virtual Asset Custodian (VA-1.3), Class I is Virtual Asset Advisory Services (VA-1.4) and Class S is the Virtual Asset Market Place or exchange (VA-1.5).
A separate ITO issuer registration (VT-1.1) covers public token offerings. A single applicant may hold several classes, with a combined capital requirement. Some third-party sources publish an incorrect mapping; the FSC FAQ and the VAITOS Second Schedule are the authoritative source.
Minimum unimpaired stated capital is set by class: MUR 2,000,000 (about USD 42,000) for Class M Broker-Dealer, MUR 5,000,000 (about USD 110,000) for Class R Custodian and MUR 6,500,000 (about USD 140,000) for Class S Market Place. Class O Wallet and Class I Advisory carry no fixed floor but require sufficient working capital to fund the business, Class O on a twelve-month forward-looking test. Unimpaired capital and liquidity resources must at all times cover the greatest of the class own-funds amount, one quarter of the fixed overheads of the preceding year (projected overheads in the first year), the financial-resources requirement under the VAITOS Risk Management Rules 2022, and any higher amount imposed by the FSC. Multi-class licences carry the combined own-funds requirement of every class held.
Government fees run from USD 1,000 to USD 3,000 in processing and USD 1,900 to USD 5,000 a year for each VASP class licence, which is a small fraction of the total. For a single class, a realistic all-in Year 1 budget is USD 65,900 to USD 218,000, depending on the class and the complexity of the operating model, excluding paid-in capital. Fees attach to each licence held, so a build covering several classes needs its own budget. The Act sets no decision deadline for a VASP licence, and a realistic timeline from incorporation to grant is six to nine months.
Yes. The applicant must be a Mauritius company, in practice a Global Business Company, that is genuinely directed and managed from Mauritius. A physical office is required, not a mailbox. The FSC licensing criteria ask for a board of at least three directors, at least 30% of them independent and at least one resident in Mauritius; a Global Business Company is also tested on two resident directors. Every VASP must have a senior executive resident in Mauritius and a full-time resident MLRO, deputy MLRO, and Compliance Officer who meet the FSC competency standards. The company secretary must ordinarily be resident in Mauritius. The FSC tests mind and management, so thin or virtual-office structures are rejected.
Stablecoins are covered: the FSC’s Guidance Notes on Stablecoins of treat them as virtual assets, so a public offer requires registration as an ITO issuer, and a fiat-pegged stablecoin issued in or from Mauritius also needs a Bank of Mauritius no-objection; algorithmic and yield-bearing stablecoins are not accepted, and coins referencing other virtual assets fall outside the guidance. For DeFi, staking and DAOs, VAITOS applies activity by activity: a virtual-asset service needs the relevant VASP licence and a public token sale can need ITO-issuer registration; the Act has no licence class of its own for them, and the FSC has so far consulted on DeFi collateral and on DAO legal structures rather than setting rules. The FSC has issued separate guidance on NFTs, and non-transferable closed-loop items sit outside scope. Security tokens fall under the Securities Act 2005, not VAITOS.
An operational or corporate account is possible for a credible, well-governed applicant, but local banks largely decline to hold pooled end-client fiat for trading. In practice most operators run client-facing fiat flows through one or more EU, UK or other crypto-tolerant EMI or payment-institution archetypes abroad, while keeping a Mauritian operational account. The FSC licence improves credibility and is increasingly a precondition for payment-network and Travel Rule access, but it does not by itself secure local fiat banking. Plan a multi-provider stack from the outset.
The headline corporate tax is 15% on chargeable income, with no capital gains tax. An 80% partial exemption reduces the effective rate to about 3% on qualifying income that meets the economic-substance conditions, and the Finance Act 2025 added income derived by a company holding an FSC Virtual Asset Service Provider licence to the qualifying list. It applies from the year of assessment commencing , only to income from the activities the licence covers, and only where the prescribed substance conditions are met. Income outside those activities, and Initial Token Offering issuer income, stay at 15%. Where turnover exceeds MUR 50m the 2% Corporate Climate Responsibility levy takes the qualifying effective rate to 3.4%. A domestic minimum top-up tax applies to large multinational groups from the year of assessment commencing .
No. Mauritius is outside the European Union and the licence grants no MiCA passport or EU market access. MiCA contains no third-country equivalence regime for crypto-asset services, so serving EU clients on a systematic basis requires a separate CASP authorisation in an EU member state. Reverse solicitation, where the EU client initiates the service at its own exclusive initiative, is the only narrow exemption, and the ESMA guidelines judge solicitation on all the facts. A Mauritius licence is strongest for African, Asian, and global non-EU client bases.
Mauritius Company Formation
Form the Global Business Company that holds the licence: incorporation, resident directors, company secretary, substance, and tax setup coordinated end-to-end.
Banking for Mauritius-Licensed VASPs
A Mauritian operational account plus offshore EMI and payment-institution rails for client fiat, through a vetted institution archetype map.
Start Your Mauritius VASP Licence Application
Send a written brief for a free assessment of the right VASP class, the FSC’s substance and capital rules, and workable banking. Jagelski & Partners scopes the Mauritius route in writing, then introduces an independent specialist who handles GBC formation, resident risk functions, the FSC submission, and the banking introductions.
Not ready to submit a brief? Ask Emma first. She answers now and can collect your written brief for a specialist introduction.
References
Show all references
- Financial Services Commission Mauritius, Virtual Asset and Initial Token Offering Services Act 2021 (VAITOS Act), gazetted , in force , fscmauritius.org, accessed .
- Financial Services Commission Mauritius, FAQs on the VAITOS Act 2021 (licence classes M-O-R-I-S, ITO, substance, Bank of Mauritius gateway), , fscmauritius.org, accessed .
- Financial Services Commission Mauritius, FSC Guide on the VAITOS Act, fscmauritius.org, accessed .
- Financial Services Commission Mauritius, Financial Services (Consolidated Licensing and Fees) (Amendment) Rules 2026 (Government Notice No. 119 of 2026), First Schedule, Virtual Asset Service Providers table, in force , fscmauritius.org, accessed .
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- OECD, CARF-MCAA Signatories list (Mauritius signed 12 December 2025), status , oecd.org, accessed .
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- Appleby, FSC Rules issued under the Virtual Asset and Initial Token Offering Services Act 2021 (VAITOS) (Capital and Other Financial Requirements, Client Disclosure, Custody of Client Assets, Cybersecurity, Publication of Advertisements, Risk Management and Statutory Returns Rules 2022, effective 1 July 2022), , applebyglobal.com, accessed .
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- GlobeNewswire, Virtual-asset payment company secures FSC Mauritius VASP licences under the VAITOS Act (Class M, O, and R) (named licensee on the FSC register), , globenewswire.com, accessed .
- Republic of Mauritius, Finance (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2025, Act No. 18 of 2025, s.26(z)(ii)(C)(III) and s.66(13) (inserting the Virtual Asset Service Provider item into the Income Tax Act 1995, Second Schedule, Part II, Sub-part C, with effect from the year of assessment commencing 1 July 2026; s.26 also inserts Income Tax Act Sub-part AF, whose s.50Q applies the Qualified Domestic Minimum Top-up Tax to members of groups with revenue of EUR 750 million or more in at least 2 of the 4 preceding fiscal years and whose s.50R(3) makes it payable from the year of assessment commencing 1 July 2025), Government Gazette No. 66 of ; and Income Tax Regulations 1996, regulation 23D(2)(a) and (2)(b), as amended by GN No. 19 of 2026 (prescribing the substance conditions and the core income-generating activities), via mra.mu, accessed .
- Financial Services Commission Mauritius, Guidance Notes on Stablecoins (Fintech Series), paragraphs 1.7–1.10 and 4.2–4.5, issued , fscmauritius.org, accessed .
- Financial Services Commission Mauritius, Decentralised Finance (DeFi): Regulatory Considerations on Financial Collaterals (consultation paper), , fscmauritius.org, accessed .
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- Financial Services Commission Mauritius, Licensing Criteria: Virtual Asset Broker-Dealer (Class M), VA-1.1, section D, item 7 (a board of at least three directors, at least 30% independent and at least one resident in Mauritius; the criteria for Classes O, R, I and S carry the same item), fscmauritius.org, accessed .
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- Financial Services Commission Mauritius, Financial Services (Consolidated Licensing and Fees) Rules 2008, consolidated as at (informative compilation; the Gazette text is authoritative), rules 5(1) and 8(1)–(2) (processing and annual fee corresponding to each licence; first annual fee prorated by the quarter of grant), fscmauritius.org, accessed .
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