Senegal cancels tax treaty with Mauritius

By Moïse Gnakouri, Doctoral Researcher, Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium

The government of Senegal canceled its tax treaty with Mauritius earlier this year, after publicly denouncing it for several years, according to an ICIJ report published on May 26.

According to the Senegalese government, the Senegal-Mauritius tax treaty, signed in 2002, has been responsible for the loss of approximately USD 257 million over 17 years.

This decision of the Senegalese government comes under article 29 of the tax treaty. According to this article, each State party can end the treaty before June 30 of each calendar year after the fifth year of its entry into force.

However, despite this decision, the tax treaty will not end immediately. It will continue to be applied until June 30, 2021, for Mauritius and December 31, 2021, for Senegal.

This decision of the Senegalese government comes at an inconvenient time for Mauritius. One year ago, the Mauritius-Kenya tax treaty was invalidated by the Kenya High Court for failing to follow parliamentary procedure during the ratification process.

The Indian Ocean state was also in the headlines recently because of the  « Mauritius Leaks». Several African countries are considering renegotiating their tax treaty with Mauritius.

However, in 2015, both South Africa and Rwanda began talks to renegotiate their tax treaties with Mauritius.

• Bio
• LinkedIn
• Latest Posts
• Contact

Moïse Gnakouri

Ph.D. Researcher in Tax Law at Catholic University of Louvain

Moïse Gnakouri is a Ph.D. Researcher at Catholic University of Louvain. His Research is focused on tax and development, fiscal federalism, and international tax law.

Moïse holds a law degree from University Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne and a master in tax law and wealth management.

Latest posts by Moïse Gnakouri (see all)

• Niger finance bill amends article on taxation of income from transferable securities - February 3, 2022
• Belgian court rules on application of tax general anti-abuse provision - January 18, 2022
• Belgium and France sign new tax treaty - December 13, 2021
• Belgian tax authority clarifies new rule on deduction of foreign business losses - November 22, 2021
• Côte d’Ivoire finance bill 2022 will adjust tax on related party transactions - November 8, 2021

Telephone: +32 465 32 93 48 (Belgium) ; +225 70500536 (Côte d’Ivoire)