Mauritius – VAT Accountability for Non-Resident Digital Service Providers

The reform of the Mauritius VAT framework for non-resident digital service providers, led in the first place by the Mauritius Revenue Authority(MRA), is ready to move into the production environment. The MRA shared only a few days ago detailed instructions concerning registration and filing procedures for foreign digital service providers.  

From this detailed Guide, the following insights(at least) could be obtained:

• Effective from January 1, 2026, non-resident digital services providers are obligated to account for VAT for their B2C transactions where the recipient is domiciled in Mauritius 
• There is no threshold for VAT registration 
• Registration should be done electronically(the first step is the certification of the applicant; the second step is online simplified VAT registration)
• Returns shall be filed monthly or quarterly(depending on turnover)
• A Tax agent is mandatory if the annual taxable turnover surpasses circa USD 65,000
• No input tax credit for foreign digital service providers 

Given that, from January 1, 2026, foreign providers of digital services will be responsible for accounting for VAT on their supplies to local customers, the time to act is now. 

The Mauritius Revenue Authority states that late VAT registration, late submission of returns, and late remittance constitute grounds for penalties and interest under the VAT Act.