How Mauritius Recognises Foreign Trusts

Many families hold a trust that was set up elsewhere, for instance an English trust created years ago, and later acquire a bank account, shares or a house in Mauritius. The practical question is whether the trust is simply accepted here, or whether a Mauritian court may refuse to give it effect. The recognition of foreign trusts in Mauritius is dealt with in the Trusts Act 2001, which came into force on 1 December 2001.

This page is general information, not advice. The outcome for a particular trust depends on its terms, on the asset concerned and on the facts, and should be reviewed by a qualified adviser.

The starting point: a foreign trust follows its own terms and law

Under section 60 of the Trusts Act 2001, a foreign trust is governed by its terms and by its own law. Mauritius does not require a trust created abroad to be rebuilt as a Mauritian trust before it can exist or operate. A family holding an English trust in Mauritius terms is therefore not forced to re-document it simply because an asset sits on the island.

Two points follow from that rule:

• the trustee's powers, the beneficiaries' interests and the way the trust is administered are read from the trust instrument and from the law that governs it, not from the Mauritian statute;
• the Mauritian rules on matters such as the maximum duration of a trust, the number of trustees or the role of a qualified trustee are rules for trusts created under Mauritian law. They do not automatically reshape a foreign trust.

How the governing law of a trust is selected in the first place is a separate subject, covered on the page about choosing the governing law of a trust.

The three limits in section 60

Recognition is not unconditional. Section 60 states that a foreign trust is not enforceable in Mauritius to the extent that it would:

1. constitute an offence, meaning that giving effect to it would involve conduct that Mauritian law treats as criminal;
2. be contrary to public policy; or
3. apply directly to immovable property situated in Mauritius.

The third limit matters most for families. A foreign trust can own shares, cash or a business interest located in Mauritius, but it cannot rely on its foreign law alone to operate directly on land or buildings here. For land and buildings the position is dealt with under the law of the place where the property lies. The page on whether a trust can own property in Mauritius looks at how this works in practice.

How the limits sit together

The limits are exceptions, not the rule. A court asked to decide whether a foreign trust may be enforced would, in simple terms, run through the following questions.

What this means for different kinds of assets in Mauritius

The effect of recognition depends heavily on what the trust holds. The table below summarises the general position under section 60; it is a guide to the reasoning, not a prediction for any one case.

A recurring practical solution is for the trustee to hold local property through a company, so that the trust owns shares rather than the building itself. Whether that is suitable depends on tax and legal advice; the comparison between a trust and a holding company sets out the trade-offs.

Foreign trusts and Mauritian family law

Recognition of the trust does not switch off the rest of Mauritian law. Two areas deserve a mention.

Forced heirship

Mauritius has civil-law inheritance rules that reserve part of an estate for certain heirs. A foreign trust used to move assets away from the family can raise the question of whether those rules, or the public policy limit in section 60, are engaged. The answer is fact-specific and depends on the assets, the heirs and the connecting factors. The background is explained on the page about forced heirship and trusts.

Sham and challenge arguments

A foreign trust can be attacked on the same grounds as any other, for example that it was never intended to be a genuine trust. Courts look at how the structure works in practice, including whether the settlor kept control of everything. See sham trusts and the page on how much control a settlor can keep.

Foreign trust or Mauritian trust: practical differences

Recognition is only one part of the picture. A Mauritian trust and a recognised foreign trust differ in how they are administered locally.

Under section 2 of the Trusts Act 2001, a qualified trustee is an FSC-licensed corporate service provider (Management Licence), or another person resident in Mauritius whom the Financial Services Commission has authorised to provide trustee services. Section 28 requires a Mauritian trust to have at least one qualified trustee at any time, with a maximum of four trustees. These requirements attach to trusts governed by the Act, not to every trust that owns something here.

Transparency and reporting when a foreign trust deals with Mauritius

A trust that is accepted under section 60 will still meet compliance requirements once it uses a Mauritian bank or a licensed service provider.

• Under section 29 of the Financial Services Act 2007, each licence holder must keep a register of the beneficial owners of each of its clients. Each qualified trustee must also keep a register of every trust it administers, which can be handed to the FSC on request.
• In the Financial Intelligence and Anti-Money Laundering Act (FIAMLA) 2002, the beneficial owner of a trust-type legal arrangement includes the settlor, the trustee, any protector, each beneficiary (or the class of beneficiaries and the objects of a power) and any other individual who ultimately exercises effective control, including through a chain of control.

For a foreign trust, this means an institution in Mauritius will normally ask who stands behind the structure. Expect questions about the settlor, the trustee, any protector and the beneficiaries. The question of what is publicly visible is a different one, discussed in the page on trust registers and in the page on trust confidentiality.

Tax: recognition is not an exemption

Being recognised as a trust does not decide its tax treatment. The Finance Act 2021 repealed section 46(3) of the Income Tax Act, which had given a non-resident trust an exemption on filing a non-residence declaration within three months of the end of the income year. The repeal took effect, by deemed date, on 1 July 2021, and the exemption does not appear in the consolidated Act up to the Finance Act 2026.

A family should therefore not assume that a foreign trust with Mauritian assets is outside the Mauritian tax net. Whether and how it is taxed depends on residence, the nature of the income and the beneficiaries. See how trusts are taxed in Mauritius and the page on tax for non-resident beneficiaries.

Steps to take if you hold a foreign trust and Mauritian assets

• Obtain the full trust deed, any supplemental deeds and the current list of trustees.
• Identify each Mauritian asset and the name in which it is registered.
• Separate land and buildings from movable assets and company shares.
• Check whether any activity linked to the trust could be an offence or contrary to public policy.
• Prepare beneficial ownership details for the bank or service provider.
• Ask an adviser to review the tax position in each country involved.

If you want a licensed provider to look at your situation, you can send a request through the contact form.