The Council of the European Union has published a press release dated 5 October 2021 that informs that the Republic of Seychelles has been removed from the EU list of jurisdictions that do not cooperate with the EU in the field of taxation.
It was made possible due to the measures implemented by Seychelles in respect of the country’s tax and corporate legislation. Earlier, Seychelles had been included in the blacklist because the jurisdiction did not meet the EU requirement of being ranked as at least “largely compliant” by the OECD regarding the exchange of information on request.
The EU Member States may impose defensive measures in relationships with persons or entities of a blacklisted country (such as limitations on dividend payments, withholding taxes at the source of income, applying controlled foreign companies’ rules and others).
Recently Seychelles have enacted the laws (Beneficial Ownership Act, 2020, Limited Partnerships (Amendment) Act, 2021, International Business Companies (Amendment) Act, 2021, Foundations (Amendment) Act, 2021, Trusts Act, 2021), that have considerably changed the conditions of operation of businesses. The new rules provide the disclosure of companies’ beneficial owners, the duty to keep accounting records, the revised taxation rules, etc. The Ministry of Finance, Economic Planning and Trade of Seychelles notes that the country has been moved to the “EU grey list” which includes jurisdictions that do not yet meet the international standards but have committed to implementing tax good governance principles.
