Nigerian Businesses Like Mauritius Tax Friendly Jurisdiction

Many countries, especially Nigeria, like Mauritius’ tax friendly jurisdiction option for strategic business opportunities.

“People refer to [Mauritius] as a tax haven, whereas actually it is a low tax jurisdiction, and its popularity is [that it] offers treaty benefits to countries without actually having a treaty with the island,” Richard Ndungu, head of tax at KPMG East Africa, told CNBC Africa.

“These treaties are about taxes because what you’re finding in the world today [is] there’s a lot of competition for taxes by the revenue authorities, and we must find a way of arbitrating that competition. That is normally done by tax treaties between countries, and we’re finding that Mauritius offers tax credits which other countries sometimes do not offer, and that’s why [the island] has become very popular as a place to have a holding company.”

“With tax-friendly jurisdiction, they are open and they’ve spelt out what the advantages of having a holding company in their jurisdiction offers you,” Tayo Ogungbnero from KPMG Nigeria explained.

“From a Nigerian perspective, if you have a holding company that is registered in Mauritius or similar to any other country aside from Nigeria, there are various benefits that the Nigerian government provides.”