Mauritius enacts its foreign digital-services VAT easing — on two different dates

What changed in detail

The Finance Act 2026 (Act No. 14 of 2026), gazetted 13 August 2026, enacts the foreign digital-services VAT easing proposed in the 2026-2027 Budget — but its two operative provisions commence on different dates, and the Act is explicit about which is which.

Section 25(f) repeals subsections (2) and (5) of VAT Act section 14A and replaces “The tax representative appointed under subsection (2)” in subsection (3) with “The foreign supplier”, removing the requirement for a foreign digital-services supplier to appoint a local tax representative. Section 25(g) amends section 15(2)(a)(iii) so that a foreign supplier registers once turnover exceeds the amount specified in the Sixth Schedule — replacing the previous “irrespective of his turnover of taxable supplies” rule — and adds a new paragraph (c) under which that registration trigger does not apply where the services are supplied exclusively to VAT-registered persons.

Section 28(2) of the Act lists sections 25(b), (c), (e), (g), (h), (i) and (r)(xiii) as commencing on 1 October 2026. Section 25(g) is on that list. Section 25(f) is not, and section 1 of the Act is a “Short title” clause only — there is no general commencement provision — so anything not listed in section 28 takes effect on publication, 13 August 2026.

What it means

The two halves of this easing do not arrive together. The local tax-representative repeal (25(f)) is already in force: a foreign digital-services supplier can stand down its Mauritian representative now. The turnover threshold and the B2B carve-out (25(g)) do not apply until 1 October 2026 — until then, the pre-amendment section 15(2)(a)(iii) registration trigger still governs who must register, regardless of turnover or counterparty. Treating both changes as live from 13 August, or both as deferred to October, will misstate a supplier’s registration position for six weeks either way.