GSL / Foreign Companies Audit / Audit Seychelles

Seychelles company audit, financial statements, accounting, consulting in Seychelles

The Seychelles is one of the classic offshore countries; it is situated in the Indian Ocean. Offshore companies are completely exempt from any taxes. Filing and publishing financial statements or tax returns is not required, nor is appointing an auditor. The main legislative requirement is to keep accounting records for 7 years.

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Service packages Legislation Tax System Audit Services
Preparation and submission of accounts
from 2 700 USD
Preparation and submission of dormant accounts (for a dormant company)
from 1 800 USD
Apostille of financial statements (if necessary)
from 650 USD

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General requirements

The accounting records of Seychelles offshore companies are not subject to public disclosure, however, such companies must maintain their accounting records.

The International Business Companies Act sets out the following minimum obligations:

- an international business company is required to maintain accounting records that must:

  • be sufficient to show and correctly explain the company's transactions;
  • enable the financial position of the company to be determined at any time with reasonable accuracy;
  • enable the company's financial statements to be prepared (if necessary);
  • be reliable and objective.

- accounting records include documents confirming the assets and liabilities of a company, records of sales and purchases and other documents confirming relevant transactions;

- accounting records must be kept at the company’s registered office address or at such other address as decided by the directors (when accounting records are kept at an address other than the registered office, the company must inform the registered agent in writing about such physical address; if the records keeping address changes, the company notifies the registered agent in writing about the change of the physical address within 14 days);

- accounting records must be kept for 7 years.

Preparing or filing annual accounts is not mandatory for Seychelles companies (with some exceptions), nor is appointing an auditor.

Companies are required to comply with the director’s request for accounting records within two weeks of the request. Failure to comply may result in fines, and if the company refuses to disclose this information, a formal request may be lodged with the court for such disclosure.

Starting from 2022, all Seychelles companies must:

  • submit accounting records to its registered office at least twice a year;
  • large companies (with a turnover of more than USD 3 500 000) – submit an annual financial summary.

If a company operates within Seychelles, it must obtain a tax number and register with the Seychelles Revenue Commission.

The requirements in relation to controlled foreign companies are set out in Chapter 25 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation.

Basic services

  • Basic services
  • Accounting services
  • Preparing management accounts (for banks)
  • Preparing audited financial statements (for licensed companies and for CFC purposes)
  • Consulting services

Audit of financial statements

According to the International Business Companies Act, appointing an auditor or conducting an audit is not mandatory for offshore companies incorporated in Seychelles.

For the purposes of Russian CFC legislation, one needs to have financial statements prepared by IFRS standards and an unqualified report by an independent auditor.

Period for preparing and filing financial statements

From February 2022, large companies (and other companies that do not qualify as “non-large”) must, within 6 months of the end of the company’s financial year, prepare an annual financial summary which must be kept at their registered office in Seychelles.

All companies are required to submit accounting records to their registered office in Seychelles by 6 February 2022, including historical records for 7 years up to 31 December 2021, i.e. all accounting records starting from 1 January 2015.

  1. Records for the first half of the year (January to June) must be submitted by July of the current year.
  2. Records for the second half of the year (July to December) must be submitted by January of the following year.

The deadline for submitting financial statements to the Russian tax office for the purposes of CFC legislation is 30 April.

Penalty for late compliance

Any non-compliance with accounting records requirements in Seychelles may result in a fine between USD 2 000 and USD 10 000.

From February 2022, the Seychelles Registrar will initiate on-site compliance inspections to ensure that Seychelles entities maintain proper accounting records; if violations are detected, appropriate sanctions will be applied, including:

  • a fine of up to USD 10 000; and
  • if the director deliberately commits a violation, he also faces a fine of up to USD 10 000.

Even if a legal entity is struck off, dissolved (liquidated) or deregistered, the director must ensure that all accounting records are lodged at the entity’s registered office in Seychelles.

Failure to submit financial statements for the purposes of CFC legislation leads to a fine of RUB 500 000 imposed on the controlling person.

Consolidated financial statements

There is no requirement to prepare a consolidated report.

Frequency Asked Questions

What is the new accounting requirement in Seychelles?
As of 1 January 2021, Seychelles has adopted a new Companies (General Accounting Principles) Regulations which requires all Seychelles companies to prepare their financial statements in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) or Seychelles Financial Reporting Standards (SFRS) for financial years commencing on or after 1 January 2021. This is a significant change from the previous requirements where companies were permitted to use other generally accepted accounting principles.
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