The objective of this communique is to remind you of what the economic substance in Mauritius requires, what
regulators and revenue authorities actually look at when substance is assessed, and the implications for your
structure if the position cannot be defended. None of this is new law. Often the authorities in various related
jurisdictions are eager to look behind the paperwork.
Substance is the single issue on which most Mauritius structures are now tested and is also the issue on which
structures most often fail. It is rarely a question of whether a company was properly set up. It is a question of
whether the company has continued to behave, month after month, like a business that is genuinely run from
Mauritius.
The point we want to leave you with is simple: substance cannot be created after the fact. It is proved by
contemporaneous evidence, or it is not proved at all.