Welcome to the 3^rd edition of the Compass Chronicle, the 2^nd last edition of this year. This year continues to fly by, and what promised to be a busy final 6 months of the year is proving to be just that.

Inter-Ocean Management Limited continues to grow, aided by the new re-engineering as alluded to in the previous edition. To elaborate, Inter-Ocean Management Limited has employed a further 3 staff members into its Legal and Secretarial team and have portfoliorised its client base, the aim being a far more efficient and customer focused service, with an emphasis on the creation of better relationships between clients and the administrators. Please read more about the new members of staff and if not already, they will be in touch shortly to introduce themselves.

In addition to the new staff, a detailed review of all client statutory files is being conducted and as a result we will require your cooperation as we bring files up to date with recent copies of passports, utility bills and bank references as required by the governing legislation. We thank you in advance for your cooperation in this regard.

As mentioned in the previous issue, a number of changes to the Finance Bill have been enacted, and along with this as well as the continued growth of Mauritius as a jurisdiction, has resulted in a number of changes relating to the submission of corporate tax and the new advanced payment system. Please see the respective articles relating to these issues in the Accounting and Infrastructure section of the newsletter.

July also saw the release of the new Mauritius Budget by the Minister of Finance. Again as with previous years, the Budget continues to provide an attractive base for corporates and individuals alike, as well as a number of commitments and initiatives to developing Mauritius’ infrastructure in light of the growth in people moving businesses or immigrating here.

In addition to some of the Fiscal changes, Mauritius also adopted the Summertime Bill of 2008. Essentially this provides for daylight saving in Mauritius, and is effective from the 26^th October 2008 until the 29^th March 2009, putting Mauritius in the GMT +5 time zone, that of Islamabad, Karachi and Tashkent. Please make a note of the change this will have in terms of our office operating hours, although as always all staff are contactable outside of office hours on their respective mobile phones.

November sees our annual billing cycle, for all our companies under management. As usual, we will be issuing our annual management and license fees for the year from 1^st December 2008 until the 30th November 2009, which cover our Company secretarial, registered office and Directorship fees as well as the license fees due by us to the registrar of companies.

We have decided to waive the annual inflationary increase on these fees in good faith and thank you in advance for your cooperation in respect of either settlement of these amounts, or the authority to debit those accounts which have sufficient money in them.

In this edition, you will find articles on:

• Directors Roles and Responsibilities – A position not to be taken lightly.
• Corporate Tax Return and Advance Payment System – A more Sophisticated System.
• Annual Returns for Domestic/IRS Companies – What does it entail?
• Aircraft leasing and finance in Mauritius – A clever structuring alternative.
• General news and updates

We hope you enjoy reading the newsletter, feel free to distribute to friends and colleagues and if you have any comments or feedback, please address them to brendon.jones@inter-oceanmgt.com. Please also note that in the event you missed any of our previous editions, these can be found at the following link: http://www.inter-oceanholdings.com/A08-newsletter-latest.htm

Annual Returns for Mauritian Domestic Companies – What does it entail?

In Mauritius, all Mauritian Domestic companies are incorporated under the Companies Act 2001. Upon incorporation, the Registrar of Companies will issue a certificate of incorporation stating the date of incorporation of the domestic company. Amongst other parts of the legislation the Companies Act 2001 states that every domestic company shall file an annual return with the Registrar of companies.

Directors Responsibilities: A position not to be taken lightly

One of the prerequisites of Global Business Companies, both Global Business Category 1 (GBC 1) and Global Business Category 2 (GBC2), in Mauritius remains the appointment of a Director.  The person called to take up the office of the Director should be of sufficient caliber to exercise independence of mind and judgment for the benefit of the Company. The fact that ALL Directors remain accountable for their own actions, their delegated ones and more importantly the decisions undertaken by individual Director(s) on their own (without having the consent of all the board Directors) are usually not that much highlighted hence this article.

Corporate Tax Return and Advance Payment System – A more Sophisticated System

With the ever increasingly popularity of Mauritius as a jurisdiction from which to operate and as a result the increasing number of companies domiciled here, new legislation was passed, in the form of the Finance Act 2007. The new Act has introduced significant changes pertaining to filing of annual income tax returns and payment of tax by corporates. Below is a brief summary of the changes which have been effected

Aircraft Leasing and Finance in Mauritius - A clever structuring alternative

Historically, Mauritius has not been an ideal location in which to base aircraft-leasing operations, as while the legislation was in place to establish such aviation operations, the regulatory personnel necessary to conduct the required registration certification processes were not readily available.

New Staff                                                                                                            

Readers’ Travel Awards 2008

Condé Nast Traveller, an American magazine specializing in luxury travel and reviews of high-priced hotels, products, and services has asked its readers to vote for their favourite countries, cities and islands, hotels and spas, airlines and cruise lines, tour operators and villa-rental companies from which the former has produced the Readers’ Travel Awards 2008.