Seychelles taxes resident and non-resident companies at the same rates, with resident companies established in Seychelles subject to business tax on their Seychelles-sourced income; the standard business tax rate is 15% on the first SCR 1,000,000 of taxable income and 25% above that (25%/33% for telecom, banking, insurance, and alcohol/tobacco manufacturing sectors), administered under the Business Tax Act. Seychelles operates a territorial system in which foreign-source income generally sits outside the Seychelles tax net.
The fiscal year is the calendar year; companies must submit tax returns by March 31 of the year following the reporting year, with no provision for consolidated group reporting.
15% on the first SCR 1,000,000 of taxable income, 25% above that (25%/33% for telecom, banking, insurance, and alcohol/tobacco manufacturing sectors) - see Tax System above; 33% is not the general standard rate but the special-sector top marginal rate.
Flat 15%.
15% standard rate.
An individual is a Seychelles tax resident if they spend at least 183 days in the country during a tax year. A company is resident if established in Seychelles, has its main management carried out in Seychelles, or if voting rights belong to Seychelles-resident shareholders. Seychelles operates a territorial system: both companies and individual residents are taxed only on Seychelles-source income, while foreign-source income remains exempt from local taxation. This isn't automatic for every entity, however - since 2019, economic substance requirements (embedded in the Business Tax Act framework) apply to International Business Companies (IBCs) conducting "relevant activities" (banking, insurance, fund management, finance/leasing, headquarters, shipping, holding, IP, distribution/service centers): such entities must demonstrate genuine Seychelles-based core income-generating activity, adequately qualified staff, operating expenditure, and physical premises to retain favorable tax treatment on relevant foreign income - pure equity-holding IBCs face a reduced substance test.
Profits earned by Seychelles companies through a permanent establishment located overseas are not subject to Seychelles taxation, while profits earned through foreign activities that do not establish a permanent presence abroad remain taxable in Seychelles. A foreign company with a permanent establishment in Seychelles is taxed on the profits attributable to that establishment at the same rates that apply to domestic companies.
No CFC regime was identified in available sources for Seychelles, consistent with its territorial tax base (foreign-source income generally sits outside the Seychelles tax net regardless of any CFC-style attribution mechanism, subject to the economic substance carve-out above for certain IBC activities).
No thin capitalization or fixed debt-to-equity/EBITDA interest limitation rules were identified in available sources for Seychelles.
Seychelles classifies entities under its own domestic Business Tax Act rather than offering an elective check-the-box system, and no ATAD2-style anti-hybrid mismatch regime addressing double-deduction or deduction-without-inclusion outcomes has been identified, consistent with Seychelles having no Controlled Foreign Company regime. Since 2019, Seychelles has instead applied economic substance requirements to International Business Companies conducting defined relevant activities (banking, insurance, fund management, finance/leasing, headquarters, shipping, holding, IP, and distribution/service centers), requiring genuine local core income-generating activity, staff, expenditure, and premises to retain favorable tax treatment on relevant foreign income; this substance-based test functions as Seychelles' primary anti-avoidance backstop in place of a CFC or anti-hybrid regime.
No domestic FBAR-equivalent regime requires Seychelles residents to separately disclose foreign financial accounts. Seychelles is a CRS participating jurisdiction, having signed the CRS Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement in May 2015 with exchange beginning September 2017, and also participates in Country-by-Country Report exchange. US persons remain independently subject to FinCEN Form 114 (FBAR) and potentially Form 8938 regardless of Seychelles' own rules.
If a Seychelles company has sufficient economic substance in the country, it can receive a tax exemption on passive income sourced from foreign countries; income generated from IP rights originating from foreign sources remains taxable in Seychelles regardless, except for income derived from patents or similar rights linked to research and development conducted in Seychelles.
A dedicated unilateral foreign tax credit provision is not confirmed in available primary sources; given Seychelles' territorial structure (foreign-source income generally exempt outright rather than taxed and then credited), relief from double taxation for the more limited categories of foreign income that are taxable in Seychelles depends primarily on Seychelles' network of 28 double tax treaties.
Seychelles has concluded 28 double tax treaties (Bahrain, Barbados, Belgium, Bermuda, Botswana, China, Cyprus, Ethiopia, Guernsey, Indonesia, Isle of Man, Jersey, Kenya, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mauritius, Monaco, Oman, Qatar, San Marino, Singapore, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Eswatini, Thailand, the UAE, Vietnam, and Zambia) plus 11 separate Tax Information Exchange Agreements (Denmark, Faroe Islands, Finland, Greenland, Guernsey, Iceland, India, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland).