Company Formation in Mauritania

General reference only. This skill is general tax/accounting reference material for AI-assisted workflows. It has not been reviewed for any specific person's facts, documents, elections, deadlines, residency, filing status, or local procedures. Do not rely on it to file, pay, amend, or take a tax position without review by a qualified professional in the relevant jurisdiction.

2026 research draft, source baseline only. The computations below reproduce the cited official code/provisions, not a certified complete statement of operative 2026 law. The January 2023 official code lists amendments only through the January 2022 Finance Act. Selected later Finance Acts were read, including the 2024 transfer-pricing replacement, but the complete commencement/publication chain is not closed. The signed/stamped rectifying Finance Act is visibly numbered 2026-035 on physical page 6. It changes material expense, digital-service and compliance rules; the retained comparison-column headings do not establish proposal status, and its upload date does not prove the operative date. [N02] Resolve the amendment file before using these baselines to file, pay or advise. No accountant has signed this revision.

Who this applies to

Founders preparing an ordinary Mauritanian individual enterprise, company, branch or GIE dossier. Use the live APIM process and central-bank explanation of legal forms. These administrative pages are primary guidance; they are not a complete substitute for the Commercial Code and its amendments. Tax computations belong in the sibling Guides.

Rates, bands and thresholds

Item	Rule and conditions	Official source
Entity choice and liability [F01]	APIM offers individuals, companies including SARL/SA, branches and GIE. The central bank’s entrepreneur guide says an individual business has no separate legal personality/unlimited personal responsibility, while SARL liability is limited to contributions and its capital is freely set by members. Do not quote the old unsupported MRU 1,000,000 SARL minimum.	APIM creation page; BCM entrepreneur guide, Types d’entreprises
SARL membership [F02]	The central bank’s entrepreneur guide gives SARL membership from one through fifty, with natural or legal persons. It does not establish a universal SA minimum total share capital; its SA statement concerns an amount per share, so the old MRU 5,000,000 figure remains unconfirmed.	BCM entrepreneur guide, Société à responsabilité limitée
APIM registrations and timing [F03]	APIM’s Guichet Unique handles commercial-register, tax and social-security registrations. Its 48 working hours is conditional on submission of complete documents, not an unconditional end-to-end promise including bank/notarial/regulatory steps.	APIM creation page, Aperçu/enregistrement
Company-specific dossier [F05]	APIM lists one certified copy plus three photocopies of statutes, the court-registry deposit certificate and capital-deposit proof or paid-capital declaration where capital exceeds MRU 10,000. Treat this document trigger as distinct from statutory minimum share capital.	APIM creation page, Documents spécifiques/personne morale
Published registry fees [F07]	The government procedures page, last updated 17 October 2023, describes the service as free except court-registry fees of MRU 200 for individuals and MRU 500 for legal persons. These are the page’s dated published fees, not a verified 2026 full incorporation price or an amount including banking/notary charges.	Government procedure 790, Frais/last update

The base

• Common application dossier [F04]. Prepare the completed/signed single form, valid founder identification/passports, address evidence, activity authorisation where needed, court-registry fee payment through the stated mobile-banking accounts and declared employee IDs where relevant. The site links Khidmaty for online creation and also permits the physical Guichet Unique. Founder domicile evidence, which the checklist permits to be national or foreign, does not replace the company local-address requirement in F09. Foreign applicants using the individual-business checklist also need the specific document in F10. APIM creation page, Préparez votre application.

• Other legal forms [F06]. APIM requires GIE agreement/member registry/statute/manager documents, and for a branch current parent registry extract, certified parent statutes where a legal person, plus certified branch-creation/manager-appointment decision. Obtain the actual form’s current checklist before submission. The separate foreign individual-business applicant condition is stated in F10, not imported into the branch/GIE document list. APIM creation page, Documents spécifiques.

• Completion documents [F08]. The central bank procedure says pay court fees, receive a deposit receipt, then collect the commercial-register registration, tax identification number and CNSS affiliation. Reconcile legal name/address/manager across these documents and retain the submitted dossier and proof of payment. BCM entrepreneur guide, Étapes 2–4.

• Company local address [F09]. APIM’s FAQ requires a local address to register a company. Distinguish that company address from the common checklist’s founder/applicant domicile evidence, which can be national or foreign. Keep the actual current application/address-document checklist before submitting. APIM creation page, common domicile item and local-office FAQ.

• Foreign individual-business applicant document [F10]. For the personne physique dossier, APIM specifies a marriage certificate or equivalent document for foreign nationals. This condition belongs to the individual-business checklist; do not turn it into a marriage-document requirement for every foreign corporate shareholder. APIM creation page, Documents spécifiques/personne physique.

Deadlines and filing

• Accounting year [C10]. Close accounts at 31 December, except for a transfer or cessation of activity during the year under art. 50(3). A new enterprise can close its first balance sheet at the following year-end, but must prepare a provisional operating account at the first 31 December, tax it immediately and deduct that tax from the first balance-sheet assessment. These ordinary year-end examples assume no midyear transfer or cessation. CGI art. 50(3)–(5).
• Return and payment calendar [C11]. Declare the previous 31 December result by 31 March. For ordinary normal/intermediate IS, pay 40% by 31 March, 30% by 30 June and the balance by 30 September of the following year, using the prescribed return and financial statements. CGI arts. 58(1), 59(1).
• Return attachments [C12]. Normal-regime attachments include prescribed annual financial statements and annexes, annual salary declaration, third-party fee declaration, partner/distribution declaration, depreciation/provision table and detailed rent schedule. Intermediate companies attach simplified prescribed financial statements and annexes. Both provide constitutional amendments where relevant and statutory-body minutes within seven months of closing. CGI arts. 61(1)–(2), 62.

Penalties and interest

No verified general formation/routing penalty or interest percentage is supplied here. Obtain the applicable legal provision for the actual filing or breach; use the tax-specific destination Guide.

Cross-border points

For a foreign parent, distinguish a branch without separate legal personality from a local company. Registration alone does not settle the tax PE/treaty result; use cross-border. Obtain regulated-activity authorisations before treating an APIM file as ready.

Two worked examples that recompute

1. Document copies, not an invented minimum capital

APIM asks for one certified statutes copy plus three photocopies. For one company, prepare four copies, including the one certified copy. For two companies, prepare eight. This checks the dossier quantity; it does not assert a statutory capital amount.

name: Document copies, not an invented minimum capital
inputs:
  companies: 2
  certified_each: 1
  photocopies_each: 3
steps:
  - one_dossier: certified_each + photocopies_each
  - two_dossiers: companies * one_dossier
expected:
  one_dossier: 4
  two_dossiers: 8

2. Capital proof document trigger versus minimum

Compare chosen capital MRU 8,000 and MRU 12,000 against APIM’s document trigger greater than 10,000. The first is 2,000 below, the second 2,000 above; prepare deposit proof/paid-capital declaration for the latter under the published checklist. The trigger does not decide whether the chosen legal form/capital complies with all company law.

name: Capital proof document trigger versus minimum
inputs:
  low_capital: 8000
  high_capital: 12000
  document_trigger: 10000
steps:
  - below: document_trigger - low_capital
  - above: high_capital - document_trigger
expected:
  below: 2000
  above: 2000

Ask the client first

• Founder/member identities, number, residence and proposed manager?
• Limited-liability company, individual enterprise, branch or GIE, and why?
• Registered address, title/lease, actual business and required licences?
• Statutes, capital choice/deposit evidence and foreign parent documents?
• Employee list and tax/social registrations already obtained?

Sources

Source and exact scope read	URL	Read on
bcm-enterprise: Full entrepreneur guide: entity types/capital/liability and four registration steps. Primary administrative explanation; underlying Commercial Code not read.	https://education-financiere.bcm.mr/fr/espace-entreprise/guide-entrepreneur/	2026-11-01
apim: Full creation page: legal forms, common/specific documents, complete-file timing and FAQ/online link. No private Khidmaty account or live submission.	https://apim.gov.mr/fr/services-aux-investisseurs/creation-dentreprise/	2026-11-01
creation-procedure: Full procedure 790 including page update 17 October 2023, dated published fees, 48-hour process and legal references. 2026 fee continuation not established.	https://www.procedures.gov.mr/fr/procedure/790	2026-11-01
cgi2023: Official version cover/amendment list and selected CGI arts. 1–14, 23–24, 40–48, 49–67, 68–98, 99–118, 119–137, 150–157, 209–215 (exemption list introductory categories only), 216–221, 227–250, 253–254, LPF L.131–L.139. Not the entire 168-page code or full sector/special regimes.	https://finances.gov.mr/sites/default/files/2023-03/CGI-Fr-2023.pdf	2026-11-01
Amendment hold: signed/stamped law 2026-035 identity on physical page 6 and art. 3.1 printed pp. 6–18 read; operative date not established	https://www.finances.gov.mr/sites/default/files/2026-08/LFR%202026%20FR.pdf	2026-11-01

Not yet confirmed: current Commercial Code and every applicable amendment, SA total minimum capital and statutory subscription/payment rules; universal compulsory name-reservation/notarisation/bank-deposit sequence asserted in the old Guide; current full incorporation cost and registry fees; the cited government fee page is dated 2023; APIM/Khidmaty form field numbers, filing confirmation/payment-reference screens and post-incorporation company-law accounts/audit deadlines; actual 2026 tax commencement chain; monthly VAT/payroll and social calendars must follow their own applicable rules.