Seychelles government approves EU decision

The Ministry of Finance welcomes the European Union’s decision to remove Seychelles from the denylist.

Following the European Union Council’s decision to remove Seychelles from its list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes, officials from the Ministry of Finance, National Planning, and Trade announced that the country welcomes this decision.

During a press conference on February 21, 2024, the Secretary of State at the Ministry explained that Seychelles was deemed non-compliant and consequently delisted in October 2023, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The decision stemmed from difficulties responding to information exchange requests related to a registered agent who left the jurisdiction with all its records in 2018 following the 2016 Panama Papers disclosures.

Despite contesting the EU Council’s decision to add Seychelles to the annex of its list of non-cooperative jurisdictions, Seychelles engaged with the OECD for further review. In its December 2023 review, Seychelles demonstrated significant progress to the OECD between March 2022 and December 2023. This progress includes providing information on beneficial owners and enhancing supervision, highlights Odile Vidot, Director-General of the Financial Services Development Division.

Seychelles being removed from the denylist, an additional review is scheduled for 2025, after which Seychelles is expected to be moved towards the status of « compliant » countries.