Mauritania

Mauritanian and foreign individuals are considered to be tax residents if they meet with the following:

• They maintain a home in Mauritania as owner or leaseholder.
• They have their primary residence or vital interest in Mauritania.
• They perform a professional activity in Mauritania, excluding accessory activities (if they are not the principal income source).

The criteria above are used to define the tax domicile. Indeed, with regard to the concept of a primary, permanent home, it is considered that the residence of an individual person is located where it has possession (owner) or enjoyment of a dwelling-house, provided that the dwelling-house is permanent (i.e. the person has arranged and reserved it for his or her use in a permanent manner, as opposed to a temporary one).

It should be noted that any form of dwelling can be taken into account in the concept of a dwelling-house (house or apartment owned or rented; furnished room rented). However, the permanence of the dwelling is essential, which means that the person concerned makes the necessary arrangements to have the dwelling at one’s disposal at all times, on a continuous basis, and not occasionally for a stay that, given the reasons that motivated it, is necessarily linked to a short duration (pleasure trip, travel, business trip, study trip, internship in a school, etc.).

The centre of vital interests corresponds to the closest personal and economic ties.

This definition of tax domicile in terms of wages and salaries cannot prevail, where applicable, over a definition provided for in an applicable international convention related to a double taxation treaty (DTT).