I truly appreciate all the insights in this thread, very informative indeed! Thanks for sharing guys. I haven't seen Mauritius mentioned yet and wondered if anyone has more knowledge and/or experience with this jurisdiction? There are no capital gains tax and no withholding tax on interest and dividends: http://www.mra.mu/index.php/individuals-employees/exemption http://www.investmauritius.com/doing-business/paying-taxes.aspx Setting up a company (either on or offshore) seems quite easy, the country is politically stable and the cost of living reasonable. Permanent residency is granted to investors of property valued at 500K USD or greater as part of their Real Estate Scheme (RES), Integrated Resort Scheme (IRS) and other qualifying domestic sectors of investment: http://www.investmauritius.com/faqs/pr-permit.aspx On the flipside, there's the occasional tropical cyclone and it's sort of in the middle of nowhere in the Indian Ocean, albeit with good flight connections to Africa, Asia and Europe... Is there anything else I'm missing about Mauritius?
watchout.. i think its Mauritius that's estimated to get completely immersed in water in a few years (or maybe a couple of decades). ps: did a quick search but couldnt find any reference to it. So maybe it was some other island.
@z3bra It's way too small with its 1.2 million population since it does not have anything modern nearby, Madagascar definitely doesn't cut it. It's a long flight to Europe and Middle East. I think you need to also pay small island prices which makes things much more expensive and many items hard to get.
Mauritius' geography should be much less sensitive to sea level rise than the Maldives but any significant change will impact coastal regions throughout the planet anyway, including many of the aforementioned havens. CPI is comparable to developed nations on average. Other perceived issues with Mauritius include its remote location and dependence on tourism. Some might argue these are favorable attributes and that its economy is more diversified than other countries in the same category. It is about 6.5hrs from Dubai, 7hrs from Kuala Lumpur, 12hrs from London and is pitching itself as Africa's financial epicenter, emulating Hong Kong's position within East Asia. It seems to have continued to attract investment in recent decades against an unfavourable macroeconomic climate and occasionally turbulent weather. What other arguments are there for/against Mauritius?
Réunion is 45mns away and has world class doctors and medical facilities, I reside here currently. It's a French department with all of its advantages and disadvantages, including tax inefficiency. Mauritius itself is emerging as a medical tourism destination and is continuing to attract highly qualified doctors from India, China, France, UK, etc.
Dutch prime minister Rutten today: the tax level of 1.2% will be replaced: 1.65% taxes for those who have more than 1 million euro (imaginary return 5.5% in which 30% taxes) 1.41% taxes for those who have more between 100.000 and 1 million euro (imaginary return 4.7% in which 30% taxes) 0.87% taxes for those who have less than 100.000 euro (imaginary return 2.9% in which 30% taxes) The imaginary return will be recalculated on a yearly basis. For the 5.5% the 5 yearly rate of intrest will be used in combination with the evolution of a basket of stocks.