Founders choose a Seychelles international business company (IBC) for practical reasons: it can be formed in days without travelling, one person can run it, and the rules are light compared with many alternatives. What few plan for is the year that follows. The obligations are modest but real, and two rule changes arriving at the turn of 2027 make the first twelve months busier than they used to be.
Here is what Seychelles company formation requires, from the day the certificate arrives to the company’s first anniversary
Day one: what the registered agent needs from you
Every IBC is incorporated under the International Business Companies Act 2016 through an agent licensed by the Financial Services Authority (FSA), and the agent’s address becomes the company’s registered office. Before it can file, the agent will ask for:
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Subscribe- a name that is available and avoids restricted words. “Bank” is prohibited, and words such as “insurance” need the Registrar’s prior consent;
- identity and address documents for every director, shareholder and beneficial owner, usually checked by upload and a video call;
- at least one director and one shareholder, roles that a single person can hold together;
- a short description of the business and where its money will come from.
There is no minimum share capital, and bearer shares are prohibited, so every share is registered in a named holder’s name. With a complete file, the company usually exists within a few working days.
The calendar for a company formed now
| When | What happens |
| Already in force | A new IBC must appoint its first director within 30 days of incorporation, down from nine months. |
| Within 30 days of the first director’s appointment | A copy of the register of directors is filed with the Registrar. Every later change must be filed within 30 days. Late filing carries daily penalties. |
| By 31 December 2026 | The register of directors must state whether each director or alternate director is a nominee acting on someone else’s instructions and, if so, identify the nominator. This applies to every company. |
| From 1 January 2027 | Anyone who requests a certificate of official search will see the name and appointment date of each current director. Who owns the shares, and who stands behind them, is still not disclosed. |
| From the first transaction | Accounting records must be kept, at the registered office or at another place whose address is notified to the registered agent, and preserved for at least seven years. |
| On or before each anniversary | The annual licence fee falls due. If it is paid late it increases, and if it stays unpaid for 180 days the Registrar can strike the company off, with the strike-off taking effect on the following 1 January. |
Only companies that have filed a copy of their register of directors with the Registrar will have their directors shown in an official search, so the filing step matters as much as the 31 December update.
Tax: low at the source, but not the whole story
Seychelles generally taxes only profit that arises inside the country, which leaves most income from international trade outside its net. Foreign passive income such as dividends and interest keeps that treatment only where the company meets economic substance conditions. Those rules sit in separate tax legislation, not the IBC Act, and they mainly concern companies in a multinational group and activities such as holding, financing and distribution.
For European owners, the decisive rules sit at home. A company whose board decides in Berlin or Milan can be treated as tax resident there, and every EU member state applies controlled foreign company rules under the Anti-Tax Avoidance Directive. As of the EU’s October 2026 update, Seychelles is on neither the EU’s list of non-cooperative jurisdictions nor its watchlist, which removes one layer of defensive measures but not the others. Take advice in your own country before the first contract is signed.
Private, not invisible
The 2027 changes do not open up ownership. Beneficial owners are identified to the registered agent and recorded in a beneficial ownership register, kept under the Beneficial Ownership Act 2020, that the authorities can access. It is not open to the public. Banks and payment providers know this, and they will still ask who owns the company and where its money comes from. Many founders open their business account with an electronic money institution rather than a traditional bank, so it is worth preparing the documents early.
Choosing who forms it
Only a licensed agent can incorporate, so the provider you pick also becomes the company’s long-term administrator. Ask who the licensed agent is, who will remind you of the filings above, and how quickly they can start. Some online providers, WeForm among them, collect the director’s details at the order stage, so the 30-day rule never becomes a deadline to chase.
The bottom line
A Seychelles IBC is still light to run. The founders who get the most out of it are the ones who put the calendar in place on day one. Do that, and you can form a Seychelles IBC remotely with no surprises in its first year.
