Seychelles

SYNOPSIS:

Seychelles is an archipelago located northeast of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean. The archipelago is approximately 2.5 times the size of Washington, DC. It comprises of over one hundred islands. The total population of Seychelles is approximately 79,000. The weather ranges from humid to tropical marine. The government type is a republic. The capital city of Seychelles is Victoria.

Seychelles is one of the newer offshore center in the world and benefits from it's extensive offshore legislation.

A Seychelles IBC has the following characteristics:

Shareholders:

A minimum of one shareholder is required and can issue shares in registered form. No details of the shareholders appear on the public file but a register of shareholders must be kept at the registered office address of the company in Seychelles. Corporate shareholders are permitted.

Directors:

A minimum of one director is required and corporate directors are permitted. Details of the directors do not appear on the public file.

Officers/Secretary:

The secretary may be a natural person or body corporate, be of any nationality and need not be resident in the Seychelles.

Restrictions on Name and Activity:

Names must end with one of the following words or abbreviations thereof – Limited, Corporation, Incorporated, Societe Anonyme or Sociedad Anonima. A wide variety of other suffixes such as BV, GmbH, and SARL may also be used if desired.

The following words and their associated activities cannot be used: Assurance, Bank, Building Society, Chamber of Commerce, Chartered, Co-operative, Fund, Imperial, Insurance, Municipal, Mutual Fund, Royal and Trust or it can not have any word which implies that a licensable activity is being undertaken.

IBC cannot carry on business in Seychelles, may not own real estate in Seychelles and cannot undertake banking, insurance & registered agent business without special license.

Local Requirement:

As a matter of company law the IBC MUST maintain a registered office address within Seychelles and must also appoint a Seychelles resident as registered agent. We would generally provide these services as part of the domiciliary service fee.

The details of where the accounting records must be maintained via Board of Resolution, otherwise the Company will be subjected to penalties. Any change in this address must be notified within 14 days.

Timescale:

Incorporation can be achieved within 24 hours. However, it does take approximately 1 week for documents to arrive from Seychelles. We do keep ready-made companies in stock available for immediate purchase.

Annual Reporting:

No accounts need to be filed but annual returns are required to be filed. It should be noted that penalty fees will be incurred if the license fee is not paid when due.

Taxation:

An IBC is exempted from local taxation.

Confidentiality:

The Republic of Seychelles is an independent country. As such it is not sharing or reporting information to any overseas "principal" or organization. Seychelles is not subject to the EU Savings Tax Directive, unlike some other offshore tax havens related to the EU member states (primarily to the UK and its overseas territories).

Seychelles has avoided entering any information-sharing agreements with foreign countries or organizations for exchange of financial aid. Client confidentiality is robustly enshrined in the Seychelles corporate and business legislation.

Company Renewal:

Renewal for Seychelles Offshore Companies falls every anniversary date of incorporation. Late payment of the Government duties in Seychelles will result in a 10% penalty fee if the payment is up to 90 days late and 50% late penalty fee if the payment is over 90 days late. After that time, the Registrar of Companies will proceed to strike-off the company from the Registry for non-payment of fees.

Declaration of annual returns, Latest valid passport copy and recent utility bill for address proof of shareholder/director are required to be submitted at every renewal as a part of enhanced due diligence. If shareholder is a corporate entity, then latest certificate of incumbency and above stated docs of directors would be required.

Required Documents:

KYC Documents for individual Director/Shareholder

• Passport copy
• Proof of address (dated less than 3 months)
• Bank reference (dated less than 3 months with satisfactory record clearly mentioned and also the time period the client has been dealing with the bank: minimum of 2 yrs)
• Detailed CV
• Professional reference

KYC for Corporate Director/Shareholder

• Certificate of Incorporation
• Registered address and place of business
• Certificate of Current Standing if incorporated more than 1 year
• Register of Directors
• Register of Shareholders
• Memorandum & Articles of Association