Africa Common Law
Asset protection structures with no banking dependency, Seychelles
Seychelles allows nominee arrangements and a confidential beneficial owner register accessible only to authorities. Useful for niche IP or trademark holding where the entity does not transact.
Confidential registerNominee permittedIP holding
Start setup {placement} 4 min · no card required
Corp tax
0%
Fastest setup
7 days
Tax treaties
28
Region
Africa
What you'll need
- No resident director required
- Local registered office required
- No substance requirement
- Minimum capital: USD 1
- Administrative language: English
- Legal system: Common law
Tax and treaty profile
- Corporate tax 0%
- Tax treaties 28
- VAT rate 15%
- Withholding on dividends 0%
Key treaty partners
ChinaUAESouth AfricaMauritiusCyprusBelgium
Banking and payments
- Banking is restrictive without local presence
- Stripe not supported
Considerations
If reputation, banking, or any new operating activity matters
Seychelles exited the FATF grey list (February 2024) and the EU non-cooperative list (October 2024) — but banking remains slow (180 days) and Stripe / Mercury / Wise still do not support Seychelles entities. Almost any operating use case is better served elsewhere:
No Stripe/Mercury/WiseSlow bankingLegacy reputation lingers