Seychelles IBC Accounting Records: the twice-yearly deadlines and who files a financial summary
Every Seychelles IBC lodges accounting records at its registered office twice a year, in January and July. The financial summary obligation is the part most owners get backwards: it exempts only companies that are both non-large and holding companies, which is far fewer than the word ‘large’ suggests.
What the obligation is, and what it is not
Since the 2021 amendments to the International Business Companies Act, enacted in the Seychelles, every Seychelles IBC has had to keep reliable accounting records at its registered office in Seychelles. The records must be sufficient to show and explain the company’s transactions, allow its financial position to be determined with reasonable accuracy at any time, and allow financial statements to be prepared.
Three things it is not, because each one is regularly assumed.
- Not a tax return. The records go to your registered agent’s office, not to a revenue authority.
- Not filed with the Registrar and not open to public inspection. They sit at the registered office and are produced on request.
- Not an audit. No audit is required of an IBC, and no particular accounting standard is imposed.
- Not annual. Records are lodged on a twice-yearly cycle, in January and July.
- Not avoidable by being small. The financial summary obligation catches most companies, as set out below.
- Retention: at least seven years from the date each transaction was completed.
Who can ask to see them: the Financial Services Authority, the Registrar of Companies, and the Financial Intelligence Unit. That is the whole audience. The records are a compliance artefact, not a public disclosure.
January and July: the twice-yearly cycle
The schedule is simple once stated, and almost never stated clearly.
| Period covered | Records must be at the registered office by |
|---|---|
| First half: January to June | July of the same year |
| Second half: July to December | January of the following year |
Because most IBCs trade entirely outside Seychelles, this means producing and sending records to the islands twice a year rather than assembling them once at year end. That is the practical change the 2021 amendments introduced, and the one that catches companies which treat bookkeeping as an annual exercise.
Records may be kept in physical or electronic form, provided they are accessible in Seychelles. There was also a transitional catch-up: records for the seven years to 31 December 2021 had to be lodged by 6 February 2022. If your company existed before 2022 and that exercise was never done, the gap did not close on its own.
The financial summary: who is actually exempt
This is where the intuition runs backwards, and it is the single most valuable thing to get right.
A financial summary must be prepared by large companies and by non-large companies that are not holding companies. Read that twice. The exemption is not for small companies. The exemption is for companies that are both non-large and holding companies.
An ordinary small trading IBC – a consultancy, an e-commerce vehicle, a services company turning over a modest amount – is a non-large company that is not a holding company. It prepares a financial summary. Most owners of such companies believe the opposite, because they read the word “large” and stop.
The definitions that decide it
A large company is defined by an annual turnover threshold of SCR 50,000,000. A holding company is one with no trade or business operations of its own, which holds interests in other companies or assets.
A note on the figure, because it explains a discrepancy you will see everywhere. The threshold in the legislation is expressed in Seychelles rupees. Various guides convert it to US dollars and arrive at different numbers – US$3.5 million, US$3.75 million – because they are converting at the rate of whatever year they were written. The statutory figure is SCR 50 million. If your turnover is anywhere near the line, convert at a current rate and take advice rather than trusting a number from a blog written in 2021.
Timing and contents
The financial summary must be kept at the registered office in Seychelles within six months of the end of the company’s financial year. It is a summary of financial position – in substance, a balance sheet and an income statement – not a set of audited financial statements.
Your financial year, and the fourteen-day rule
The financial year of a Seychelles IBC is the calendar year unless the directors change it by resolution.
If they do, there is a step that gets forgotten: the company must notify its registered agent of the change within 14 days of the resolution being passed. Without that notification, your agent is working to the calendar year and your six-month financial summary deadline is not the one you think it is.
This matters for groups aligning a Seychelles vehicle to a parent’s year end. The resolution is the easy part. The notification is the part that makes it effective in the agent’s records.
Struck off does not mean finished
The rule that surprises people most: a company that has been struck off, dissolved or deregistered is still required to deliver its outstanding accounting records to the registered office by the next applicable deadline – the January or July following the strike-off.
The instinct is that removal from the register draws a line under everything. It does not draw a line under records that were already due. For anyone who allowed a dormant Seychelles company to lapse rather than closing it properly, this is the obligation that outlived the company.
The practical reading is that there are two ways to end a Seychelles IBC: deliberately, with records brought up to date, or by attrition, with an outstanding obligation attached to a company that no longer exists. Only one of those is clean if the structure is ever examined.
Dormant companies and what the rules do not say
A genuinely inactive IBC with no bank account and no transactions has very little to lodge, and in practice agents accept a declaration of inactive status in place of a bundle of documents.
Two cautions. First, dormancy is a description of fact, not a status you register, and it ends the moment the company transacts. Second, the treatment of dormant companies is a matter of practice between the company and its registered agent rather than an exemption written into the schedule. Confirm with your own agent what they require and keep their confirmation.
The same applies to the question of where records may physically sit. The statutory obligation is that they be at the registered office in Seychelles. Guidance and practice around records held elsewhere but produced on request have evolved, and this is precisely the kind of point where you should be reading your agent’s current instructions rather than an article – including this one.
Where owners get caught
- Treating it as an annual task. It is twice-yearly, in January and July, and records assembled once a year are already late for one of the two.
- Assuming “small” means exempt from the financial summary. Only companies that are both non-large and holding companies are outside it.
- Trusting a US dollar threshold. The statutory figure is SCR 50 million; every dollar equivalent you will read is a conversion at some past rate.
- Changing the financial year without telling the agent. The 14-day notification is what makes the change real in the agent’s records.
- Believing strike-off ends the obligation. Outstanding records are still due at the next January or July.
- Confusing records with filings. Nothing here is submitted to the Registrar or made public.
- Leaving the 2015 to 2021 catch-up undone. That deadline passed in February 2022 and the gap does not expire.
Failure to comply with the accounting records requirements carries financial penalties under the legislation. We have not quoted an amount, because the figures that circulate come from secondary sources rather than the statute, and the right place to confirm exposure is the Act and your registered agent.
This is general information and not legal, tax or accounting advice. If you hold a Seychelles IBC and are not certain whether your records are current or whether a financial summary was due, ask your registered agent for written confirmation of your filing status and your recorded financial year end. Our compliance and accounting service covers the twice-yearly cycle and the summary, and the structure itself is covered in Seychelles company formation. If you are comparing offshore bases, Seychelles vs BVI vs SVG sets out the trade-offs, and the equivalent obligation in the British Virgin Islands is the BVI annual financial return, which works quite differently.
Records and summaries, answered plainly
What IBC owners ask once they discover the obligation is twice-yearly.
Does my Seychelles IBC have to keep accounting records?
Yes. Since the 2021 amendments every IBC must keep reliable accounting records at its registered office in Seychelles, sufficient to show and explain its transactions and allow its financial position to be determined at any time.
When are the deadlines?
Twice a year. Records for January to June must be at the registered office by July of the same year; records for July to December by January of the following year.
Are the records filed with the Registrar or made public?
No. They are kept at the registered office and produced on request. The Financial Services Authority, the Registrar of Companies and the Financial Intelligence Unit may inspect them; the public may not.
Does an IBC need an audit?
No. There is no audit requirement for a Seychelles IBC and no particular accounting standard is imposed. The obligation is to keep records adequate to explain transactions and allow financial statements to be prepared.
Who has to prepare a financial summary?
Large companies, and non-large companies that are not holding companies. The only entities outside the requirement are companies that are both non-large and holding companies. A small trading IBC is not exempt.
What is a large company in Seychelles?
One meeting an annual turnover threshold of SCR 50,000,000. Dollar equivalents quoted elsewhere are conversions at historic exchange rates and differ between sources, which is why the rupee figure is the one to work from.
What is a holding company for this purpose?
A company with no trade or business operations of its own that holds interests in other companies or assets. The definition matters because it is half of the only exemption from the financial summary.
When is the financial summary due?
It must be kept at the registered office in Seychelles within six months of the end of the company’s financial year.
What is my company’s financial year?
The calendar year, unless the directors change it by resolution. If they do, the company must notify its registered agent within 14 days, otherwise the agent continues to work to the calendar year.
What counts as an accounting record?
Documents relating to the company’s assets, liabilities, receipts, expenditure, sales, purchases and other transactions. In practice that includes bank statements, invoices, receipts, contracts, agreements, title documents and ledgers.
How long must records be kept?
At least seven years from the date of completion of the transaction or operation to which each record relates.
Does strike-off end the obligation?
No. A company that has been struck off, dissolved or deregistered must still deliver its outstanding accounting records to the registered office by the next applicable January or July deadline.
More from the Sovera desk
Methodology & sources. Verified September 2026 against the International Business Companies (Amendment) Act, 2021, enacted on 6 August 2021, which introduced the twice-yearly lodging of accounting records and the annual financial summary, and against the accounting-records provisions of the International Business Companies Act, 2016. The regulator is the Seychelles Financial Services Authority, which issues guidance to licensed international corporate service providers on these obligations. A note on sourcing: unlike our Cayman and BVI guides, we were unable to retrieve the FSA communique itself, so the operational detail here reflects the amending legislation together with the consistent guidance of licensed Seychelles service providers. Confirm your own position with your registered agent, who receives the FSA circulars directly.
This is not legal, tax or financial advice. Seychelles company law and FSA practice change, and how the requirements apply depends on your company’s activity, turnover and structure. Confirm your obligations, deadlines and financial year end with your registered agent before relying on anything here. Sovera Global is a corporate services and jurisdiction advisory firm, not a law firm or an audit firm.
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