Mauritius lowers the minimum value for deferred import VAT on capital goods to Rs 500,000
This page records one dated change. For the rules in Mauritius as they stand today, see the Mauritius guide →
- Jurisdiction
- Mauritius
- Tax
- VAT
- Change type
- Compliance
- Status
- In force
- Impact
- FYI
- Announced
- 9 August 2025
- Effective
- 1 October 2025
- Instrument
- MU-ACT-Act-No-18-of-2025
- Authority
- National Assembly of Mauritius
- Verified
- Fetched from official source · high confidence
VAT-registered importers of plant and machinery whose consignment has a duty-paid value of Rs 500,000 or more but less than Rs 1 million.
No action — monitoring only.
Finance Act 2025 (Act No. 18 of 2025), s.11(c), lowered the minimum duty-paid value of imported capital goods (plant and machinery) that qualify for deferred payment of import VAT under section 9B of the Customs Act (VAT Act s.9A) from MUR 1,000,000 to MUR 500,000, effective 1 October 2025.
What changed in detail
Section 11 of the Finance Act 2025 (Act No. 18 of 2025), gazetted on 9 August 2025, amends the Customs Act, not the VAT Act. Paragraph (c) amends section 9B(2)(a) by replacing “one million rupees” with “500,000 rupees”.
Section 9B of the Customs Act governs deferred payment of VAT at importation on capital goods, the customs side of the deferral in section 9A of the VAT Act. Paragraph (a) of subsection (2) is a minimum condition. To qualify, the duty-paid value of the capital goods (plant and machinery) must be the stated amount or more. The amendment lowers that floor from Rs 1,000,000 to Rs 500,000.
Section 66(1) of the Act brings section 11(c) into operation on 1 October 2025.
What it means
This is a widening, not a cap. Since 1 October 2025, imports of plant and machinery worth between Rs 500,000 and Rs 1 million can also use the deferral instead of paying VAT at the border. That helps smaller importers’ cash flow. Some descriptions called it a reduced “cap”, which reverses its meaning.
The Rs 500,000 floor still stands in November 2026. The Finance Act 2026 (Act No. 14 of 2026) did not change it, but it tightened the deferral’s discipline from 1 October 2026. Deferred VAT not declared as output tax in the right period now draws a Rs 10,000 penalty under new Customs Act s.9B(2A), and the VAT Act s.9A rule was recast (mu-deferred-import-vat-penalty-2026).
Proof
in section 9B, in subsection (2), in paragraph (a), by deleting the words “one million rupees” and replacing them by the words “500,000 rupees”
Source snapshot of the official page. Open full size ↗Archived from the official distribution · The Finance Act 2025 (Act No. 18 of 2025), s.11(c), Legal Supplement to Government Gazette of Mauritius No. 66 of 9 August 2025 · mauritiusassembly.govmu.org