Government to tighten yacht operation laws |21 May 2015

The Seychelles Revenue Commission (SRC) and Customs are carrying out investigations into incidence of breach of licences and tax evasion in the yacht operations business.

The Minister for Finance, Trade and the Blue Economy Jean-Paul Adam said this in the Assembly on Tuesday.

He was answering a question by elected member for Grand Anse Praslin Marc Volcère who had asked if the government is satisfied with revenues collected from yacht companies operating in Seychelles.

Minister Adam said it is unfortunate that there are operators who are not ensuring that information relating to their business activities required by government is duly provided.

There are also concerns over yacht owners overstaying on their temporary stay requests thus avoiding to pay the necessary taxes.
 
There are also concerns that some of these yachts are also involved in illegal chartering.

“The commissioner of revenue  as well as Customs are currently carrying out investigations into these incidents as well as other breach of regulations but there have been instances where yachts which were not abiding by tax laws have been confiscated,” Minister Adam informed the Assembly.

Minister Adam also said that the government is considering introducing legislation which will allow for yachts to be registered in a systematic manner so they could benefit under the differed payment system and they would be in conformity with the law.
 
The government is also reviewing the tax system for chartered yachts.

“The SRC is receiving help from regional partners like SADC to address these issues and prevent Seychelles from being used for these illegal activities by yacht operators,” Minister Adam stressed.

Meanwhile Minister Adam said the government is encouraging local investment in the yacht operation sector while it continues to work with its partners to seek to ensure that all operators abide by the regulations in place.  

Minister Adam also answered another question related to revenues collected in the fisheries, tourism and financial services sectors over the last five years asked by elected Assembly member for Cascade Charles de Commarmond.

Minister Adam said revenues over the past five years from these sectors, which are the pillars of our economy, are significant.

The total revenue collected from fisheries in 2010 to 2014 is R779.9 million and these include fishing licence fees, and dividend from IOT and other taxes. R595.4 million from that is from fishing licence fees.

From the tourism sector almost R4 billion, mostly from income and value added taxes, corporate social responsibility taxes, hotel licence fees, tourism marketing and withholding taxes.

As for the financial services sector a sum of R1.6 billion through dividend, income, business and value added taxes were collected over the same period.

“These figures show that these sectors contribute significantly towards revenue which the government collects but more importantly these sectors create wealth for the people through the creation of businesses and jobs,” Minister Adam noted.