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· The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) will review later this year the effectiveness of financial services laws amended in Seychelles in 2021
· This review will ensure that the island nation’s financial sector is complying with international standards for the exchange of information on tax matters relating to corporate products
· This was revealed by the Financial Services Authority (FSA), Seychelles
The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) will review later this year the effectiveness of financial services laws amended in Seychelles in 2021. This review will ensure that the island nation’s financial sector is complying with international standards for the exchange of information on tax matters relating to corporate products. This was revealed by the Financial Services Authority (FSA), Seychelles.
FSA chief executive Damien Thesee said that international business companies (IBCs) registered in Seychelles have been given until the February 6 deadline to ensure all their accounting information was in order. One of the drawbacks of a country’s accounting system was the inability to provide accounting information to other competent authorities from other jurisdictions upon request. That was one of the reasons why Seychelles was blacklisted by the OECD.
Damien Thesee said that the EU deadline would not be not be extended despite receiving requests from some partners in the sector. She stressed that it was important to follow international norms as the country should come out of the black list for serving its own development needs. She urged foreign business entities operating in the country to comply with the OECD stipulations in time since the deadline will not be extended. Corporations are lobbying for extension of the deadline.
Seychelles was added to the European Union’s (EU) list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes in February 2020 and was upgraded to the grey list last October. Seychelles did not get a rating of at least “largely compliant” from the OECD global forum on the exchange of tax information with other countries. Importantly, in April 2020, Seychelles got a rating “partially compliant” in the OECD review as it amended a few laws in 2021 including the International Business Companies Act, introducing the obligation for corporate service providers to preserve information of all IBCs under their administration for a minimum period of seven years.
