Canary Islands, Mauritania, West Africa
The Canary Islands are the region of the European Union closest to Mauritania. That proximity is not a marketing slogan: it changes the timetable of a project, the cost of logistics and the way a file is handled on both sides.
The Mauritanian framework is in flux: we verify the applicable text, with a correspondent on the ground where appropriate, before any decision is taken.
Geography
Between Las Palmas, Nouadhibou, Nouakchott and Dakar, air and sea links exist and are regular. The map places the corridor’s operating bases; the distances serve as a benchmark.
Great-circle distances (as the crow flies) between urban reference points: they match neither a shipping route nor an actual flight path.
The course of a file
The two directions of travel do not start from the same law, but they cross the same points of passage. What changes from one file to the next is the time spent on each step, not the order they come in.
We look first at what is produced, where and for whom. The legal form and the tax regime are decided afterwards, never the other way round.
Structure, country of establishment, effective management, resources on the ground: access conditions cumulative in the north, set by the regime applied for in the south.
Incorporation, tax and social security registrations, identification numbers: a sequence of steps whose order matters. One missing document holds up those that follow.
A business account is opened on the strength of a file: articles, powers, partners’ documents, source of funds. The decision is not ours to take.
Then comes the application for approval, with its investment and employment conditions, its authorisation limited in time and its fees, checked before any commitment.
Accounting, payroll, then a calendar kept in both countries. The calendar counts as much as the rate, and no treaty reduces the withholding at source between them.
Two directions of travel
The files we handle run from north to south and from south to north. The questions are not symmetrical: one begins with Mauritanian law, the other with Spanish law.
Canary Islands → Mauritania
A Spanish or Canary Islands company looking south must choose a corporate form, decide whether to apply for a privileged regime under the Investment Code, and organise its local tax and social security obligations.
Mauritania → Canary Islands
A Mauritanian company or entrepreneur wanting a European base first incorporates a Spanish company, obtains its tax identification numbers and keeps compliant accounts, before examining the Canary Islands regimes.
Mauritania in figures
Gross domestic product has grown strongly in recent years, driven by mining, fishing and, more recently, gas. Each of the figures below carries its source and its year: they describe a trajectory, they promise nothing.
Mauritania — real GDP growth
Percentage change year on year. 2025 is an estimate, 2026 a projection.
FMI — Islamic Republic of Mauritania, Country Report nº 26/158 (juin 2026) (2026)
| Year | Growth |
|---|---|
| 2020 | -0.4% |
| 2021 | 0.7% |
| 2022 | 6.8% |
| 2023 | 6.8% |
| 2024 | 6.3% |
| 2025 | 4.0% |
| 2026 | 4.7% |
| Item | Rule in force | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Corporate income tax | 25% of net taxable profit | normal and intermediate actual-profit regimes; 15% in the development poles of the 2025 Investment Code |
| Alternative minimum basis for corporate tax | 2% of taxable proceeds · 2.5% under the intermediate regime | the tax due is the higher of the two; minimum collection of MRU 100,000 under the normal regime |
| Tax regimes | normal actual-profit regime above MRU 5,000,000 of turnover | below that: intermediate regime; no lump-sum regime for companies subject to corporate income tax |
| VAT | 16% · 0% on exports | the code knows only these two rates; the 18% on telephony does not appear in it |
| VAT registration threshold | MRU 3,000,000 of annual turnover | importers are liable by law, whatever their turnover |
| Withholding tax on non-residents | 15% of the gross amount | services and royalties, with no permanent establishment; no treaty reduces it for a Spanish provider |
| Dividends and interest (IRCM) | 10% | also applies to the profits of a permanent establishment, deemed distributed; paid quarterly |
| Tax on wages and salaries | 15%, then 25%, then 40% | the first MRU 6,000 a month are exempt, then the first band of the scale is 15%: this is not a scale starting at 0% |
| Registration duty — company formation | 0% | share transfers 2% · transfers of a business as a going concern 10% |
| Spain — Mauritania tax treaty | none | neither signed nor in force: the 15% withholding cannot be reduced by treaty |
| Spain — Mauritania investment protection | in force since 7 March 2016 | agreement of 24 July 2008, BOE no. 74 of 26 March 2016; ten years of residual protection after any denunciation |
| France — Mauritania tax treaty | in force since 1 March 1969 | Mauritania has only four treaties in force: France, Senegal, the Arab Maghreb Union and Tunisia |
| Limited liability company | capital freely set by the articles | a single partner is possible; freely set share value |
| Public limited company | MRU 500,000 | a single shareholder is enough; board of at least three members; no residence requirement for directors |
| Basic incentive regime — SMEs | MRU 2 to 30 M · 5 jobs | 3% entry duty · import VAT exemption · 70% training tax credit, capped at MRU 200,000 |
| Basic incentive regime — intermediate | MRU 30 to 200 M · 15 jobs | 5% entry duty · VAT reduced to 10% · training tax credit up to MRU 400,000 |
| Development poles | from MRU 2 M · 5 jobs | corporate income tax at 15% · full customs duty exemption |
| Structuring investments | over MRU 200 M · 50 jobs | 1.5% entry duty · 10% VAT · 25% accelerated depreciation |
| Nouadhibou free zone | approval up to 15 years · fee of 0.5% of turnover | processing of fishery and mining products only; exemption from customs duties, local taxes and the apprenticeship levy |
The tax rates come from the Mauritanian General Tax Code (law 2019-018, consolidated text from the ministry of finance), confirmed by a local firm's 2026 Livret fiscal; the company forms come from the Commercial Code (law 2015-032) and the approved regimes from the 2025 Investment Code (law 2025-006 and decree 2025-117) and law 2024-030 on the Nouadhibou free zone. Not shown in this table, for lack of concordant sources: CNSS and CNAM social contributions, and the 18% VAT rate on telephony, which is absent from the text of the code. Mining, oil and fishing activities fall under their own regimes, very different from the ordinary rules. Amounts in redenominated ouguiya (1 MRU = 10 old ouguiya); indicative rate of MRU 46.4 to the euro at 16 September 2026. General information, to be confirmed case by case.
Mauritanian taxation
The Mauritanian tax framework is set out in the General Tax Code, supplemented by the Investment Code and by the sectoral regimes for mining, hydrocarbons and hydrogen. It has been thoroughly rewritten in recent years.
A framework in flux. The Investment Code and the regime of the Nouadhibou free zone have both been replaced recently, and many sources online, professional ones included, still describe the repealed texts. The values published here carry their reference date; we verify the applicable text, with a correspondent on the ground where appropriate, before any decision is taken.
Why Las Palmas
The Canary Islands are not only close: they are inside the European Union, with a special status recognised by the Treaty. It is that status which makes the base useful, and it is that status which sets its limits.
The archipelago is an outermost region: Union law applies there, with adaptations reflecting its remoteness. It belongs to the customs territory of the Union but remains outside the VAT territory.
The ports of Las Palmas work as a transit platform: a large share of the goods passing through leaves again by sea. Regular links to Mauritania and Senegal exist, by sea and by air.
A Canary Islands base gives access, subject to conditions, to the measures of the economic and tax regime, and to a European professional environment: banks, courts, standardised accounting, audit.
West Africa
From the Canary Islands, West Africa is within reach. It does not, however, form a single space: access regimes differ from one country to another, and Mauritania has a status of its own.
West Africa does not form a single customs area, and Mauritania does not belong to the regional economic community: presenting the neighbouring market as an internal market accessible from Nouakchott would be inaccurate. The country has, by contrast, ratified the African Continental Free Trade Area agreement and benefits, on importation into the European Union, from the regime reserved for the least developed countries.
For a company, the consequence is practical: every flow must be examined on its own terms, with its origin, its customs regime and its documentary evidence. It is file work, not a matter of principle. We carry it out with identified local correspondents, and we say so when an operation calls for an opinion on the ground that we have not yet obtained.
Regular shipping lines out of Las Palmas
922 regular lines in total, 142 of them to 20 countries in West and Southern Africa.
Autoridad Portuaria de Las Palmas — Líneas regulares (2026) · Autoridad Portuaria de Las Palmas — bulletin statistique, décembre 2025 (2025) · Banque mondiale — World Development Indicators (agrégat CEDEAO) (2025) · Commission européenne — DG MARE, accord de pêche UE-Mauritanie (2026)
| Destination | Regular lines |
|---|---|
| West and Southern Africa | 142 |
| Other destinations | 780 |
Frequently asked questions
No, and it is the first thing we write in our notes. The Canary Islands regimes require an activity genuinely carried on in the archipelago. A Canary Islands base serves to operate southwards within a European framework, not to shift the taxation of income produced elsewhere.
No. A founding member of the Economic Community of West African States, it left, and the association agreement signed afterwards was ratified without ever entering into force. The regional market is therefore reachable from Mauritania without being an internal market: duties remain payable and formalities apply country by country.
On paper, registration goes through a one-stop shop and takes a few days. In practice, the timetable depends on the file: the partners’ documents, opening a bank account, obtaining the tax number, any approval required. We give a realistic timetable once we have seen the documents.
The law does not require a local partner for ordinary activities, and a foreign investor may run the company. Priority must, however, be given to local hiring, with a skills transfer plan. A local correspondent remains useful when dealing with the authorities.
The convertibility of profits, dividends and capital is guaranteed by the legislation, and the Investment Code restates it. The availability of hard currency may nonetheless come under strain and involve delays. This is prepared in the cash-flow plan, not at the moment of transfer.
Sources and references
Every figure published on this site carries its source and its reference year. The data are reviewed periodically and may change.
First conversation
Describe your situation and your timetable to us. We will tell you what is possible, on what conditions, and what has to be checked before any commitment is made.