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When you need a Seychelles company that can sign a contract this week, a ready-made shelf company, an off-the-shelf Seychelles International Business Company (IBC), is the fastest legal route into the Indian Ocean’s premier offshore jurisdiction. ShelfCompanies24 maintains a live inventory of clean, never-traded Seychelles IBCs registered with the Financial Services Authority (FSA), with paid-up share capital, registered agent, and clean Seychelles Revenue Commission record. Most transfers complete in 3 to 7 working days.
Seychelles combines a low-tax framework (1.5% CIT on Seychelles-source income, 0% on foreign-source for IBCs subject to economic-substance compliance), English common-law tradition, and modern offshore corporate-services infrastructure. Particularly suitable for international holding, IP-licensing and trading structures with focus on Indian-Ocean and African corridors.
Our service covers IBC, FSA filings, registered agent, ES assessment.
Off-the-shelf IBC + registered agent + banking introduction + Economic Substance compliance bundled.
Most transfers within 3 to 7 working days. English-speaking case manager.
IBC transfers do not require notarisation.
We file member/director changes, registered-agent amendments, and ES Reporting.
A Seychelles off-the-shelf IBC is incorporated by a registered agent purely to be transferred. From incorporation to sale, the IBC has:
| Feature | Seychelles IBC | Seychelles CSL (Company Special Licence) |
|---|---|---|
| Governing law | International Business Companies Act 2016 | Companies (Special Licences) Act 2003 |
| CIT on foreign-source income | 0% (subject to ES) | 1.5% effective on worldwide income |
| Treaty access | Limited (IBC excluded from most DTTs) | Full Seychelles treaty network access |
| Best fit | ~85% of buyers, pure offshore holding | Treaty-driven structures requiring DTT access |
Seychelles keeps IBC formation and annual upkeep straightforward, with a single registered agent relationship and a short filing calendar.
Subject to economic-substance compliance, IBC foreign-source income is not subject to Seychelles corporate tax.
Every Seychelles ready-made IBC carries an active company number with a clean record at the FSA.
Seychelles banking has tightened post-2018. Many international clients use offshore-friendly Mauritius/EU/Singapore banks rather than Seychelles domestic banks.
| Tax | Rate | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| CIT, IBC foreign-source income | 0% | Subject to ES compliance |
| CIT, IBC Seychelles-source income | 15% / 25% / 33% | Standard Seychelles business tax tiers |
| CIT, CSL company | 1.5% effective | Worldwide income; treaty access |
| VAT | 15% | Seychelles-source goods/services |
| Annual government filings | Varies (most IBCs) | Among the lowest globally |
| Economic Substance | Compliance regime | Aligned with OECD/EU standards |
Buying a ready-made IBC is offshore company registration with the queue removed. The registration has already happened: the company sits on the Financial Services Authority record with its own company number, memorandum and articles, statutory registers and a licensed registered agent. What changes on purchase is the ownership, the board and, if you want it, the name. That is why a transfer completes in 3 to 7 working days while a new IBC takes 1 to 3 weeks, and why a counterparty that insists on contracting with an existing company can be satisfied this week.
IBC share transfers are made by written instrument and need no notarisation, so the purchase runs remotely from wherever you are. Buyers in the United States, the United Kingdom, the UAE, France, Germany and India complete the same KYC pack: certified passport copies, proof of address and documented source of funds. None of it requires travel to Seychelles. What does need attention at home is tax residence, because an IBC managed and controlled from your own country may well be taxable there.
Both routes end with the same kind of company, so the question is timing against specification. Choose formation when the name, the share structure or the constitution matters more than the calendar and 1 to 3 weeks is acceptable. Choose a ready-made IBC when a bank, a counterparty or a closing date will not wait, or when a contract has to name a company that already exists and can be checked with the registered agent. The economic substance classification, the beneficial-ownership record and the banking introduction are the same either way.
We do not publish the inventory, because it changes as companies are sold and new ones are incorporated, and a public list invites name squatting. Our Seychelles desk confirms what is on the shelf on request, with the incorporation date, the company number, the authorised share structure and the registered agent for each entity, along with confirmation of zero trading history. If nothing available fits the structure you have in mind, a new IBC can be incorporated to your specification instead.
Ask for the company number and the incorporation date and have them confirmed against the Financial Services Authority record through the licensed registered agent, together with a certificate of good standing. Read the memorandum and articles, the registers of members and directors, and the current economic substance position. We provide that pack on every entity we transfer, with a written dormancy declaration covering the whole period the company sat in our stock, so nothing rests on our word alone.
Three to seven working days from KYC sign-off to the Financial Services Authority notification, assuming the document pack is complete. The share-transfer instrument is signed, the outgoing directors resign, your directors are appointed, the registered agent files the changes and the beneficial-ownership record is updated in your name. A new IBC, by comparison, takes 1 to 3 weeks. The bank introduction begins as soon as the transfer documents are filed.
The IBC is the standard offshore form, 0% on foreign-source (subject to ES) but limited treaty access. The CSL pays 1.5% effective tax on worldwide income but has full Seychelles treaty network access. For pure offshore holding, IBC is preferred. For treaty-driven structures (e.g., to access India, China, France treaties), CSL is required.
No. Share transfers, director appointments and registered-agent filings are all executed remotely, and no notarisation is required for an IBC transfer. Documents are signed electronically, or on paper and couriered where a bank wants originals, with apostilles arranged where a counterparty asks for them. Buyers in Europe, the United States, the Gulf and India complete the whole purchase without leaving home.
Want today’s Seychelles inventory? Contact our Seychelles desk.
Buying a pre-formed Seychelles IBC from the ShelfCompanies24 stock is materially faster than forming a new one, typical end-to-end is 24 hours from KYC sign-off to your name on the FSA. The mechanics:
The shelf IBCs in our stock are true Vorratsgesellschaften, incorporated solely to be held in reserve. Every entity we offer:
This profile is what banking-onboarding teams want to see and what avoids the complications of buying a previously trading company (loss-utilisation rules, anti-abuse provisions, undisclosed liabilities, beneficial-owner-history scrutiny).
Modern offshore practice has shifted substantially since 2019. Seychelles, like most international financial centres, requires entities engaged in ‘relevant activities’ (banking, insurance, fund management, financing & leasing, headquarters, distribution & service centre, holding-company business, IP, shipping) to demonstrate economic substance, adequate staff, premises, and management presence in Seychelles commensurate with the activity carried on. Pure passive holding companies face a reduced substance test; active income-generating activities face the full test.
Seychelles-resident corporates are also subject to FATCA and Common Reporting Standard (CRS) automatic exchange of financial-account information with US IRS and OECD partner jurisdictions respectively. We brief every client on these obligations during scoping; they are not deal-breakers but they materially shape how the IBC should be structured and where the beneficial owner sits for tax-residency purposes. Our consultant helps you build a structure that is both efficient and demonstrably compliant, Google’s E-E-A-T standards, OECD pressure, and your home jurisdiction’s controlled-foreign-company rules all push in the same direction: substance matters more than ever.
Headline Seychelles corporate tax in 2026: 0% offshore.
0% on IBC foreign-source income / 1.5% CSL with treaty access; Economic Substance from 2019; streamlined IBC at capital.
Annual obligations after incorporation typically include FSA confirmation/return filings, beneficial-owner-register updates whenever ownership changes, and corporate-tax filings on the company’s financial year. Where VAT/sales-tax registration applies, periodic VAT returns are filed on calendar-quarter or monthly cadence depending on turnover. Our retainer-based bookkeeping and tax-compliance service handles the entire annual cycle for a service, for a non-trading IBC and for an actively trading one.
The right bank for a Seychelles IBC depends on what you’ll actually do with the company. Operating-account-only with low transaction volume is straightforward. International EUR/USD multi-currency with high-volume B2B transfers requires a different banking partner. E-commerce processing has yet another set of requirements.
For Seychelles entities specifically, we work with relationship managers at international banks that accept seychelles-domiciled corporate structures, a noticeably narrower set than for onshore EU companies. The banks that do accept offshore entities focus on substance evidence, beneficial-owner CV, and source-of-funds documentation rather than just incorporation paperwork. Our consultant pre-positions your application against the bank’s specific scoring model so the application clears on first submission.
Operators evaluating Seychelles for a shelf project frequently also look at:
Each of those jurisdictions has its own trade-off matrix on tax, banking, substance, and operational practicalities. If you’re early in your evaluation, your consultant will walk you through the comparison in the first call, we are deliberately jurisdiction-agnostic about which structure fits your business best.
An IBC has no residency or nationality requirement for shareholders or directors, and one person may be both. A licensed Seychelles resident agent and a Seychelles registered office are nonetheless compulsory. The Company Special Licence is different: it needs at least two individual directors and a Seychelles resident company secretary, and in practice Seychelles resident directors, because treaty access depends on the company being managed and controlled locally.
A Seychelles IBC can be wound up voluntarily through a FSA dissolution procedure (typical timeline 6-12 months including the statutory creditor-notice period). It can also be sold, the share-purchase mechanism is the same one we use to transfer shelf companies, just operating in reverse. We handle both routes; clients often resell a no-longer-needed IBC as a shelf entity to recover part of the original investment.
Some activities require sector-specific licences in Seychelles, banking, insurance, investment services, crypto-asset services, gambling, and others depending on your business model. The standard IBC we form is suitable for non-regulated commercial activity; licensing is layered on afterwards where needed. Your consultant confirms the licence position for your specific activity during the initial scoping call.
A Seychelles IBC can hold subsidiaries, branches, or contractual relationships in other jurisdictions. The optimal multi-country structure depends on tax-residency rules, treaty access, transfer pricing, and beneficial-owner reporting in each country. ShelfCompanies24 covers 56 jurisdictions across our network, so we can implement a multi-country structure end-to-end without you needing separate providers in each country.
Send us a short message with your country preference (or that you’re undecided), the activity you have in mind, and whether you’d prefer a pre-formed shelf IBC ready in 24 hours or a fresh formation taking 24 hours. We respond within one working day with a service tailored to your situation. The first consultation carries no obligation and covers structure, tax, banking, and timelines, no obligation.
Our retainer-based ongoing service covers the full annual lifecycle of a Seychelles IBC: registered office and mail handling, accounting and bookkeeping, periodic VAT/sales-tax filings (where applicable), payroll for any employed staff, beneficial-owner-register maintenance, FSA confirmation/return filings, and the year-end financial statements plus corporate-tax return. We also provide a dedicated point of contact who knows your file and signs off every filing, no rotating-account-manager experience. Specialised work (transfer-pricing studies, restructurings, M&A on the IBC, or sector-specific licensing) is quoted separately. Most clients find the predictable service far easier to budget than buying piecemeal services from local accountants and lawyers, especially when starting out in Seychelles.
You have three practical options. Voluntary dissolution through a FSA winding-up is the cleanest route, handled by us, typically completed inside 6-12 months including the statutory creditor-notice period. Sale of the IBC as a shelf entity to another buyer is sometimes possible, especially if it has clean trading history and a recognisable name; we evaluate this on a case-by-case basis. Mothballing via reduced-cost dormant filings keeps the IBC alive at a light annual compliance load (registered office plus nil filings) for the day you might want to use it again. Your consultant walks you through trade-offs before you commit either way.