Mauritius and the United Kingdom signed yesterday in Port Louis a Protocol to amend the Mauritius-UK Convention for the Avoidance of Double Taxation and the Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with respect to Taxes on Income and Capital Gains between the two countries.
The existing Convention was signed in February 1981. The Protocol will review the exchange of information article contained in the Convention in order to align it with the updated Article 26 of the revised Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Model Convention. The amended Convention will further contribute to encourage mutual trade and investment and reinforce the economic ties between the two countries. It will also confirm the two countries' attachment to the principle of good governance and all transactions will be carried out through greater transparency in the exchange of information on tax matters.
It will be recalled that Mauritius has been engaged in the recent years in reforming its financial system through changes in its legislative and institutional framework to reinforce financial supervision and strengthen the regime to fight terrorist financing, money laundering and other financial crime due to increasing cross border investments and transactions. The importance of exchanging information has also increased in order to levy accurate tax assessments. Mauritius is also internationally recognised by the OECD, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank as an international financial services centre of substance and integrity for having complied with internationally accepted norms and standards and codes of conduct.
As regards taxation on the domestic front, Mauritius has amended the Income Tax Act to enhance the powers of the Mauritius Revenue Authority to request for information from taxpayers for exchange with treaty partners. On the international front, Mauritius has always been an active partner of the OECD in the field of taxation and the country is among the 11 non-OECD countries that formed part of the Global Forum Working Group set up to draft the Agreement on Exchange of Information on Tax Matters. Presently Mauritius is also contributing as a member of the Sub-Group on Level Playing Field Issues in the areas of transparency and exchange of information on tax matters.
To date Mauritius has concluded Double Taxation Avoidance Agreements which contain a section on exchange of information with thirty eight countries.
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