On February 19, the Seychelles Secretary of State for Finance announced that the new legislation would provide adequate tax relief for foreign income and large companies.
The Islands' first step towards bringing national legislation in line with international OECD and UN standards was to update the definition of "permanent establishment". Foreign passive income will be exempt from tax in accordance with the territorial regime under which a company in the Seychelles receiving passive income has an adequate economic presence in the jurisdiction.
Seychelles was blacklisted by the EU in February last year because it has a harmful preferential tax regime and did not implement the tax reforms that they pledged to carry out within the agreed deadline - until December 2019.
One of the criteria used by the EU for listing countries is the exchange on request rating by the OECD Global Forum. Countries rated “partially compliant” or below are automatically included or remain on the list of jurisdictions that do not cooperate with the EU.
As soon as the new legislation enters into force, Seychelles will ask the OECD for a further review to revise its status in April this year.
We will also remind that the Seychelles from January 14 decided to let foreign tourists who received both doses of the coronavirus vaccine into the country without quarantine. To do this, you will need to present a certificate of vaccination and a negative PCR test. Russia previously allowed the resumption of flights with the Seychelles, but the islands have not yet allowed Russian tourists.
