FAQs

For a Seychelles IBC the annual fees are due on the anniversary of its incorporation. If an IBC was incorporated on the 4th January 2023 the annual fees would be due each year on the 4th of January. We would need to pay the annual government fees by the 4th of January each year to avoid any late payment penalties. If not paid on time, the IBC would incur penalties of 10% on the 5th January, to a 50% penalty 90 days later. To help you to renew on time and to avoid penalties we send a first reminder by way of a renewal proforma invoice between 60 and 90 days before the due date. We then send renewal reminders on a monthly basis for the IBC thereafter so that you do not have to keep track – you can just act on our reminders.

Please contact us by email, WhatsApp or SMS, or call us for our price list. Our annual fees are competitive and include government charges of USD 150.50 per annum, and our registered agent and registered office fees.

Yes we can obtain a certificate of good standing from the Registry if your IBC has paid all its annual fees and its name is still on the register, i.e. it has not been struck off, and if it does not have any unpaid penalties for non-compliance. A certificate of good standing is often required by banks, other parties in business transactions or government bodies to confirm that a company still exists and has legal capacity to act.

Once an order has been fulfilled, we generally we do not accept returns and we do not give refunds, except for our 180 day satisfaction guarantee. In case of errors in documents we produced or procured, or loss of documents in shipment, we would offer to provide a replacement at our cost. We would of course return advanced payments if an order is cancelled before we have started any work.

If after 180 days you cannot use your very first IBC for the planned purposes, you may approach us and we will do our best to help you get the results you want, or we may give you a part refund and then resign as registered agent, following which the IBC would be struck off by the Registrar. This is for newly onboarded clients only, who have not previously obtained a Seychelles IBC. Another solution is for you to sell the IBC to someone you know. We can assist with the transfer of ownership and management (transfer shares and the directorships) to the new owners.

We will process most orders before receiving payment so as not to cause delays, but we will wait for payment before despatching documents by email or post or courier. We do not extend credit, but we can allow established clients to pay after document despatch. We also have special arrangements for active professional intermediaries.

We are flexible but we prefer payment via bank wire transfer (SWIFT, IBAN, online payments) and most of our clients pay by this method. We can receive payments in United States dollars, Euros, British Pounds, Singapore dollars, and Seychelles Rupees. Other currencies are also allowed but they will be converted to one of the above currencies by our banks. We can also accept credit card payments from VISA and Mastercard holders. You may also send money straight to one of our bank accounts via international money order services like MoneyGram or Western Union but we only recommend this if you absolutely cannot pay by bank transfer or credit card because bank charges are very high. If you are in Seychelles we may accept, and bank small amounts of cash denominated in major international currencies or in Seychelles Rupees (value less than USD 2000). Bank notes must be of very good quality so as to be acceptable to Seychelles banks.

Yes we can because Seychelles is a party to the Hague Convention of 1961. Original documents bearing the signature and/or seal of a public official (such as that of the Registrar on a certificate of incorporation) can be apostilled without prior certifications or authentications. Other documents and all copies require notarization or other certification or authentication before they can be apostilled. In Seychelles apostilles are affixed by the Registrar of the Supreme Court, and the process is usually very quick and not expensive.

You will in some circumstances but not all. Some banks, government bodies and private individuals or businesses in transactions overseas (not in Seychelles) may ask for apostilled documents. An apostille is an internationally recognized form of authentication. It is an international certification comparable to a notarisation in domestic law. The sole function of the apostille is to identity any stamp or seal affixed to an official document, to certify the authenticity of the signature on the document, and the capacity in which the person signing the document acted. Under the Hague Convention, participating countries have agreed to recognize public documents issued by other signatory countries if those public documents are authenticated by the apostille. The apostille guarantees that public documents issued in one signatory country will be recognized as valid in another signatory country.

The persons registered as directors and shareholders (the persons appearing on the registers) may not in fact be the persons who ultimately control an IBC and who benefit from the successes of the IBC. They may be professional directors and nominee shareholders. Directors (and Professional directors) can be removed by shareholders who are controlled by ultimate beneficial owners. Normally when professional directors and nominee shareholders are appointed, agreements called directorship service agreements and nominee shareholder agreements are signed by these persons and the ultimate beneficial owners. Because of these agreements the professional directors and nominee shareholders will not be able to appoint new directors or sell shares without the prior approval of the ultimate beneficial owners, and we would not process the changes without the written consent of the ultimate beneficial owners. The Beneficial Ownership Act 2020 also requires that beneficial owners sign a declaration, in prescribed form, to confirm that they are the beneficial owner, and based on this, their names are entered into a Beneficial Owners register. The contents of the register are uploaded into a centralized government database (not public). The declarations and register can also be used as proof.