Seychelles Legislation Amendments

We would like to inform you that the following legislations have been enacted as of 6 August 2021:

1. International Business Companies(Amendment) Act, 2021
2. Foundations(Amendment) Act, 2021
3. Limited Partnerships(Amendment) Act, 2021
4. Companies(Special Licences) (Amendment) Act, 2021
5. International Corporate Service Providers(Amendment) Act, 2021
6. Trusts Act, 2021

You may access the aforementioned legislations from the links provided for your reference.

The Seychelles Financial Services Authority (the “FSA”) conducted a virtual meeting with the industry on 17 August 2021 to present the new amendments. A copy of the PowerPoint slides from the presentation is available here for your reference.

The FSA is in the midst of finalizing/reviewing:

(a) the Penalty Table highlighting the different levels of penalties to be imposed by the FSA in cases of non-compliance;
(b) the Circular on Implementation of Accounting Records Keeping Obligations; and
(c) the sample Financial Summary,

and we will circulate the same to you once it is made available to us.

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New Requirements to Keep Accounting Records in Seychelles

The International Business Companies Act, Foundations Act, Limited Partnerships Act and Trusts Act require every legal person and legal arrangement to keep reliable accounting records that are sufficient to show and explain the legal person’s or legal arrangement’s transactions, enable the financial position of the legal person or legal arrangement to be determined with reasonable accuracy at any time and allow for financial statements of the legal person or legal arrangement to be prepared.

For such purposes, accounting records shall be deemed not to be kept if they do not give a true and fair view of the legal person’s and legal arrangement’s financial position and explain its transactions.

In terms of the preservation of records, every legal person and legal arrangement shall preserve its accounting records for at least 7 years from the date of completion of the transactions or operations to which they each relate.

The 2021 amendments require every legal person and legal arrangement to keep their accounting records at their registered office in Seychelles, or in the case of a trust, at its trustee’s principal place of business in Seychelles. The accounting records may either be kept in their original form or in electronic form. However, where a legal person and legal arrangement’s original accounting records are kept at a place other than in Seychelles, the legal person and legal arrangement must inform its Registered Agent in writing of the physical address of that place. It is important to note that the Seychelles’ authorities maintain the right to request for the original records.

The 2021 amendments provide that the accounting records should be kept at the registered office in Seychelles on a bi-annual basis, that is, at an interval of 2 times per year. In enforcing compliance with the accounting records keeping requirement, the Registrar will allow a delay for the records to be kept in Seychelles as follows:

(a) Accounting records relating to transactions or operations in the first half (January to June) of a calendar year must be kept in Seychelles by July of that year; and
(b) Accounting records relating to transactions or operations in the second half (July to December) of a calendar year must be kept in Seychelles by January of the following year.

The following will apply in respect of existing accounting records (i.e. accounting records relating to the years prior to year 2022) and accounting records relating to year 2022 for companies on the Register:

(a) Accounting records relating to transactions or operations in the past 7 years to 31st December, 2021 must be kept in Seychelles by 6 th February, 2022;
(b) Accounting records relating to transactions or operations in the first half (January to June) of 2022 must be kept in Seychelles by July 2022; and
(c) Accounting records relating to transactions or operations in the second half (July to December) of 2022 must be kept in Seychelles by January 2023.

Although the 2021 Amendments require a legal person or legal arrangement to keep its accounting records in Seychelles at least 2 times per year, it is important to note that the law requires a legal person or legal arrangement to keep its accounting records on a continuous basis (i.e. at all times) and therefore, any accounting record, either being kept in Seychelles or yet to be kept in Seychelles, should be provided to the Seychelles’ authorities upon request.

A legal person or legal arrangement that is struck-off, dissolved or deregistered must ensure that any outstanding accounting records are lodged at its registered office in Seychelles by January or July, following the date that it is struck-off, dissolved or deregistered, or within 3 months of the date of striking-off or dissolution, whichever is earlier.

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Grace Period

The Act provides a grace period for every legal person and legal arrangement to keep their accounting records in Seychelles within 6 months from the date of enactment of the 2021 Amendments(i.e. by 6 th February 2022).

It is important to note that this grace period applies only in relation to the location of where the accounting records are to be kept and not in relation to the obligation to keep accounting records. Therefore, during the grace period, the Registrar may still request for the accounting records for compliance inspection purposes and if the accounting records are not provided, the Registrar will take enforcement action against the legal person and legal arrangement.

Similarly, a competent authority (e.g. Seychelles Revenue Commission) may request for the accounting records to be provided by the legal person and legal arrangement during the grace period and if the legal person or legal arrangement fails to comply, the relevant enforcement action may be taken by the competent authority against the legal person or legal arrangement.

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Compliance Inspections

As of February 2022, the Registrar expects to initiate its on‐site compliance inspections to ensure that reliable accounting records are being kept by legal persons and legal arrangements in Seychelles, and where non-compliance is identified, relevant sanctions will be applied.

Financial Summary

The 2021 Amendments also require certain legal persons and legal arrangements (with the exception IBCs which are small (non-large) holding companies where “small” means an annual turnover equal to or less than annual turnover of SCR 50,000,000) to annually prepare a Financial Summary to be kept in Seychelles (together with the other accounting records and underlying documents) within 6 months from the financial year end of the legal person or legal arrangement. The financial year is defined as the calendar year, unless it is changed by the legal person or legal arrangement.

In view that the obligation for Financial Summary came into effect as of 6th August 2021, the first Financial Summary of a company should cover, at a minimum, the period from 6th August 2021 onwards.

Where a company prepares and keeps its annual financial statements (audited or unaudited) at its registered office in Seychelles, the Registrar will not expect the IBC to also keep a Financial Summary, provided that the financial statements are kept for the relevant financial year and include all relevant material financial information detailed in Financial Summary.

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Other Amendments

In addition to the amendments relating to the keeping of accounting records and the financial summary, there are also other substantial legislative amendments.

Details on the other legislative amendments can be found in the legislation and PowerPoint slides.

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How Portcullis can help

Portcullis will be able to help with preparation of financial statements or the financial summary (if required). Fees for preparation are based the frequency and size of transactions undertaken by the company.

Please do not hesitate to contact your relationship manager on the above matters if you have any queries.

Thank you for your attention to these matters.

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PORTCULLIS GROUP
www.portcullis.co

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賽席爾立法修正案

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本函旨在告知 貴公司，下列法律已自2021年8月6日起施行:

1. 2021年國際商業公司（修正）法
2. 2021年基金會（修正）法
3. 2021年有限合夥公司（修正）法
4. 2021年公司（特殊執照）（修正）法
5. 2021年國際企業服務商（修正）法
6. 2021年信託法

請以提供 貴公司使用的連結存取上述法規。

賽席爾金融服務管理局（下稱「金管局」）於2021年8月17日與業界召開一次虛擬會議，會中提出上述新修正法。在此附上一份會中簡報的PowerPoint幻燈片，供 貴公司參考。

金管局目前正在敲定/審議下列項目：

(a) 金管局針對未守法行為所處以不同級別處罰的懲處表；
(b) 關於執行會計記錄留存義務的公告內容；及
(c) 財務摘要範本。

俟上述項目公布後，本公司即轉知 貴公司。

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留存會計記錄於賽席爾的新規定

依國際商業公司法、基金會法、有限合夥公司法及信託法的規定，每一個法人及法律安排皆須留存確實的會計記錄，該些記錄必須足以顯示及說明該法人或法律安排的各項交易，可用以隨時合理準確判斷該法人或法律安排的財務狀況，並可用以編製該法人或法律安排的財務報表。為符合上述目的，留存的會計記錄若未呈現法人或法律安排的真實且公平的財務狀況，並說明其各項交易者，即視為未留存。

就會計記錄的保留期限而言，各法人及法律安排保留其會計記錄的時間，應自各記錄相關交易或作業完成日起至少七年。

依2021年修正法規定，各法人及法律安排必須將其會計記錄留存於其在賽席爾的註冊辦公室，若是信託，則留存於其受託人在賽席爾的主營業場所。會計記錄得以原本形式或電子形式予以留存。然而，若法人或法律安排的原本會計記錄留存於賽席爾以外的地方，則其必須以書面通知其註冊代理人該地方的實體地址。值得注意的是，賽席爾主管機關有權索取原本記錄。

依2021年修正法規定，會計記錄應以半年一次方式留存於賽席爾的註冊辦公室，亦即每年兩次。在執行遵守會計記錄留存規定上，登記處容許於賽席爾留存記錄一事可延緩如下：

(a) 與某年度上半年（一月至六月）交易或作業有關的會計記錄，必須在該年度七月前留存於賽席爾。
(b) 與某年度下半年（七月至十二月）交易或作業有關的會計記錄，必須在次年度一月前留存於賽席爾。

對於在登記冊上的公司，既有會計記錄（與2022年之前各年度有關的會計記錄）及與2022年有關的會計記錄，適用下列規定：

(a) 與截至2021年12月31日之前七年交易或作業有關的會計記錄，必須在2022年2月6日前留存於賽席爾。
(b) 與2022年上半年（一月至六月）交易或作業有關的會計記錄，必須在2022 年七月前留存於賽席爾。
(c) 與2022年下半年（七月至十二月）交易或作業有關的會計記錄，必須在2023年一月前留存於賽席爾。

2021年修正法雖規定，法人或法律安排必須至少每年兩次在賽席爾留存其會計記錄，但值得注意的是，法律規定法人或法律安排必須持續性地（亦即一直不斷）留存其會計記錄，因此，無論是已留存於賽席爾或尚待留存於賽席爾的任何會計記錄，皆應於賽席爾主管機關索取時即予提供。

已除名、解散或註銷的法人或法律安排，必須確保任何終期會計記錄於其除名、解散或註銷日後一月或七月之前存放於其賽席爾註冊辦公室，或於其除名、解散或註銷日後三個月內，兩者以較早者為準。

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寬限期

法律規定了一個寬限期，讓每個法人及法律安排於2021年修正法頒布日起六個月內（亦即2022年2月6日之前）將其會計記錄留存於賽席爾。

值得注意的是，本項寬限期的適用，僅限有關會計記錄應留存的地點，而無關會計記錄的留存義務。因此，在寬限期內，登記處仍得為查核守法與否而索取會計記錄，若未提供會計記錄，則登記處將對法人或法律安排採取強制行為。相同地，主管機關（例如賽席爾稅收委員會）亦得在寬限期內要求法人及法律安排提供會計記錄，若法人或法律安排未提供者，則主管機關得對該法人或法
律安排採取相關強制行為。

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法遵查核

自2022年二月起，登記處可能啟動實地法遵查核，確保法人及法律安排皆在賽席爾留存確實的會計記錄，若確認有未守法的行為發生，將處以相關懲罰。

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財務摘要

2021年修正法亦規定，若干法人及法律安排（屬於小型（非大型）控股公司的國際商業公司除外，而「小型」意指年營業額等於或小於賽席爾幣 50,000,000的公司），必須每年在其財務年度終了後六個月內，編製一份財務摘要留存於賽席爾（併同其他會計記錄及憑證單據）。財務年度係指曆年度，但經法人或法律安排變更者除外。

由於財務摘要編製義務自2021年8月6日起生效，因此公司的第一份財務摘要，應至少涵蓋自2021年8月6日起期間的資料。

公司在其賽席爾註冊辦公室編製並留存年度財務報表（無論經查核或未經查核）時，若該財務報表乃針對相關財務年度而留存，且內容包含財務摘要所詳述的所有相關重大財務資訊，則登記處並不期待該國際商業公司亦留存一份財務摘要。

其他修法

除有關留存會計記錄及財務摘要的修法外，亦有其他實質法律修改。

其他法律修改的詳細內容，載於法律及PowerPoint幻燈片中。

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保得利可如何協助

保得利可協助編製財務報表及財務摘要（若必要）。編製服務費則依公司所為交易的次數及規模而定。

若貴公司對上述事項有任何問題，請洽詢 貴公司的關係經理。

感謝貴公司對上述事項的關注

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保得利集團
www.portcullis.co