Do I have to file at home while living in Mauritius?
It depends on residence, not on address — except for US citizens and green-card holders, for whom the answer is yes regardless of where they live. We settle the residence question first, because every other answer follows from it.
Is there a treaty between my country and Mauritius?
That is verified rather than assumed: we confirm which treaty text governs Mauritius and your home country for the year in question, because a protocol can move a rate or an article between years. If there is no treaty, unilateral credit rules are what prevent double taxation.
I own property in Mauritius. Where is the rent taxed?
Where the property is. That is close to universal, and it usually arrives as withholding on the gross rent rather than as a return on the profit — which is why the election onto a net basis, where Mauritius offers one, is normally the first thing to check. Your home country taxes the same rent and credits what was paid.
Does my Mauritius company actually qualify for treaty benefits?
Treaty entitlement is not settled by the certificate in the file. Revenue authorities look at where the people who make the company's decisions actually are, how those decisions are recorded, and whether the entity carries any real function beyond holding a name. A Mauritius entity is examined closely on exactly those points, so the position you can defend depends on the people, the decisions and the records behind them rather than on the structure diagram. We start by reading what the company can evidence, then set out in writing which position the documents support and which they do not.
What actually counts as substance for a Mauritius entity?
Substance is a question of fact rather than a checklist you can satisfy on paper. The questions that matter are who decided, where they were when they decided, what they considered, and what record survives. Minutes that arrive already drafted, directors who never meet, and files held entirely by an administrator all weaken the answer. So does a company whose bank mandates and correspondence point somewhere other than its stated seat. We review what exists, identify the gaps that would be tested first, and set out what the entity would need to do differently going forward.
I moved to Mauritius for a finance job — do I still file at home?
Usually yes, at least for a period, and residence rather than your address decides for how long. Most of the people who ask us about Mauritius still have a live filing footprint in Canada, the United States or India when they arrive, and that obligation does not close simply because a new employment contract has started. Citizenship-based systems keep the return open regardless. Residence-based systems look at where your home, your family and your habitual life sit. We work out the date your home obligation actually changes, if it changes at all, and file the year on that basis.
Can board minutes prove where my Mauritius company is managed?
They help, but only when they record a real meeting. Minutes are evidence of a decision, not a substitute for one, and a reviewer reads them alongside travel records, the dates documents were signed, the correspondence that preceded the meeting and who actually drafted the papers. Where the minutes describe deliberation that the surrounding record does not support, they weaken the position instead of supporting it. The safer approach is to take the decision properly and let the minute describe it accurately. We review a company's minute book with that test in mind before anyone else applies it.
Will my home country tax dividends from my Mauritius holding company?
Possibly, and the answer turns on your own residence rather than the company's. If you are still resident at home, distributions generally fall within your home tax base whatever their source, with relief depending on the treaty in force for your year and on tax actually paid. Separately, many home systems attribute certain undistributed income of a foreign holding company to its resident shareholders, so tax can arise before any dividend is paid at all. Both questions need the company's accounts and your residence position together. We look at them as one file rather than two.
Do I need to keep records if my Mauritius entity is dormant?
Yes. A dormant entity is still an entity you may have to report at home, and the year you want to wind it up or claim a treaty position is the year the records are asked for. Registers, minutes, accounts and bank statements are far easier to assemble while the administrator still holds them than several years after that relationship ends. Dormancy also does not switch off shareholder-level reporting in the systems that require it. We keep a file for entities in this state so the position can be evidenced when it is eventually needed.
Does California allow the foreign earned income exclusion?
No. California does not conform to it, so foreign salary a resident excludes on the federal return is still in the California base — and California does not give a credit for foreign tax in the way it does for tax paid to other states. The result is the same income taxed federally at zero and by California in full. Whether it applies at all comes back to whether you are still a California resident, which is the question worth answering first. See state residency and domicile.
Does my child born abroad need a US identification number before I can claim them?
Yes, and which number it is decides which benefits you get. The child credit requires a Social Security number issued in time for the return — an individual taxpayer identification number does not unlock it, though it does let a dependant be claimed for other purposes. For a child born overseas that means starting the consular birth registration and number application early, because the sequence takes longer than a filing season. See ITIN applications.
