Key Takeaways
- Seychelles does not levy inheritance or estate tax, a position this article confirms and traces to its legal basis.
- Forced heirship and succession rules under the Civil Code still apply to estates even though no tax is charged on transfers at death.
- Non-residents holding foreign assets should consider cross-border estate treatment and vehicles such as trusts and foundations when planning succession.
- While the current regime is zero-tax, the article reviews the outlook for whether an inheritance or estate tax could be introduced.
Inheritance & Estate Tax in Seychelles: An Introduction
Seychelles levies no inheritance tax, no estate duty, and no gift or wealth tax. Wealth passing from one generation to the next falls entirely outside the local tax net, a position rooted in the territorial, source-based system administered by the Seychelles Revenue Commission. The same framework excludes capital gains tax, reinforcing the absence of any charge on death or transfer.
This applies to residents and non-residents alike, including foreign owners of Seychelles companies, trusts, and foundations. What follows explains why the charge does not exist, how succession still operates under the Civil Code, and what cross-border issues survive even when Seychelles itself imposes nothing. The material is most relevant to high-net-worth individuals, investors holding assets through Seychelles structures, and advisers planning intergenerational transfers.
Does Seychelles Levy Inheritance or Estate Tax? Confirming the Position
The rate is zero. Inheritance, estate, gift, and wealth taxes do not exist, and transfers between generations carry no Seychelles tax liability.
The revenue authority's published list of administered taxes confirms the point by omission. It covers Business Tax, Income and Non-Monetary Benefits Tax, VAT, Excise Tax, and the Immovable Property Tax for non-Seychellois owners. Inheritance tax, estate duty, and gift tax appear nowhere on that list.
A clarification matters for property buyers. While no succession charge applies, stamp duty does arise on certain property transfers, and the annual Immovable Property Tax affects foreign owners. Neither is a death tax, and both are addressed later in this article.
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The Legal Basis for the Absence of Inheritance & Estate Tax
The absence is structural, not a carve-out. No statute creating an inheritance tax, estate duty, or succession duty has ever passed the National Assembly, so there is no charge to exempt anyone from in the first place.
The territorial system, under which foreign-source income is generally outside scope subject to economic-substance conditions, sits at the heart of this design. Two further laws reinforce the result. The Trusts Act 2021 confirms that no estate duty is chargeable on assets belonging to an international trust, while the Business Tax Act 2009 governs business income and contains no provision for estate or inheritance tax.
The one recurring property charge comes from the Immovable Property Tax Act 2019, effective January 2020. That law taxes non-Seychellois owners of immovable property on an annual basis; it is a holding tax, not a transfer or succession levy.
No bilateral or multilateral commitment requires Seychelles to impose an estate or inheritance tax. The zero position reflects domestic policy, not a temporary concession.
Treatment of Lifetime Gifts and Succession Duty Within This Scope
Lifetime gifts attract no tax. There is no gift tax in Seychelles, so donations made during life sit alongside inheritance and estate transfers entirely outside the tax net.
No succession duty has been legislated, and there is no deemed-disposal rule on death of the kind found in Canada or Australia, where assets are treated as sold at market value when a person dies. The only gift-related provision in the tax code concerns corporate deductibility: gifts to public funds, charities, and NGOs are 150% deductible from business assessable income. That rule rewards the donor company, not penalises a transfer.
One transaction tax can touch property dealings. Stamp duty of 5% applies on the purchase of immovable property by residents, but it is triggered by acquisition, not by gift or succession.
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Forced Heirship and Succession Under the Civil Code (No Tax, But Rules Apply)
Zero tax does not mean zero rules. Inheritance is governed by the Civil Code of Seychelles, which combines freedom of testation with forced heirship. Certain close relatives, principally children and a surviving spouse, are entitled to a reserved portion of the estate regardless of what a will says.
The current Civil Code of Seychelles Act 2020 came into force on 1 July 2021, replacing a code that had operated since 1 January 1976. Among its reforms were significant changes to inheritance law, including greater Supreme Court flexibility over estates with no apparent heirs.
Where a person dies without a will, the estate passes to legal heirs under the Code's succession rules, typically the surviving spouse and children, with other relatives entitled in defined circumstances. If no heirs exist, or a person has been absent for a long period, a curator of vacant estates administers the succession; the court may now authorise the curator to sell property without an auction.
The distinction to hold onto is simple. Forced heirship dictates who receives what, not how much tax is due. No monetary levy is triggered by these distribution rules.
Treatment of Foreign Assets and Cross-Border Estates on Death
Seychelles imposes no worldwide estate tax on its residents or domiciliaries. There is no equivalent to the United Kingdom's long-term resident rule or the United States non-resident estate threshold that catches estates above USD 60,000. From the Seychelles side, an estate carries nothing.
Risk arises from assets located elsewhere. A person resident in Seychelles who dies owning property in a country that does levy inheritance or estate tax may face liability there, based either on where the asset sits (lex rei sitae) or on domicile and residency rules in that other country.
| Element | Seychelles treatment | Where exposure can still arise |
|---|---|---|
| Inheritance / estate tax | None | Country where overseas assets are located |
| Capital gains on death | None | Jurisdictions with deemed-disposal rules |
| Annual property charge | 0.25% of market value (non-Seychellois owners) | Continues after death until ownership changes |
| Double tax agreements | Around 28 DTAs | None impose an estate or inheritance charge |
The network of roughly 28 double tax agreements addresses income, not wealth transfer. None creates an inheritance or estate obligation for Seychelles as the resident jurisdiction.
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What the Absence of Inheritance & Estate Tax Means for Investors and Companies
For a foreign investor, the combination is straightforward: no inheritance, estate, gift, or wealth tax, no capital gains tax, and a treaty network of around 28 agreements. Assets can pass between generations without any Seychelles-side charge on death.
Holding structures benefit directly. International Business Companies, incorporated under the International Business Companies Act 1994, are widely used as holding vehicles. Shares in an IBC can sit within a trust or foundation and transfer down a family line without triggering a local estate charge.
Real estate carries one recurring cost worth planning for. Non-Seychellois owners of residential immovable property pay an annual Immovable Property Tax at 0.25% of market value, and that charge survives a change of ownership by death. Foreign buyers should also note that non-residents may need approval from the Seychelles Investment Bureau, particularly for commercial or development property.
Economic-substance reforms introduced from 2018 raised compliance expectations. The effect has been to legitimise the framework for serious high-net-worth use rather than to dilute its tax advantages.
Trusts and Foundations as Estate-Transfer Vehicles in Seychelles
Two vehicles dominate succession planning here, each with its own statutory base. Both can move assets across generations without a Seychelles wealth-transfer charge.
Trusts
The Trusts Act 2021 replaced the earlier International Trusts Act 1994 and consolidated the rules into a single modern framework. For an international trust whose income derives from outside the jurisdiction, the tax treatment is comprehensive in its exemptions: no income or business tax, and no estate, inheritance, succession, or gift tax on the trust property.
Several features make these trusts effective for cross-border families:
- Income and gains from foreign sources are permanently exempt, and instruments relating to the trust are free of stamp duty.
- The only Registry charge is a one-off stamp duty payable when the trust is created.
- A transfer to a Seychelles trust cannot be set aside by any foreign forced-heirship law, and the validity of such a transfer cannot be challenged on that basis.
- The Act defines "heirship rights" as claims arising on death other than rights created by will or voluntary disposition.
- A trust may last up to 100 years, unless ended earlier under its terms (charitable and purpose trusts excepted).
- At least one trustee must be a licensed Seychelles resident.
Foundations
The Foundations Act 2009 added the foundation to the financial services range. A Seychelles foundation is a separate legal person: once the founder transfers assets to it, those assets become the foundation's own property with full legal and beneficial title and cease to form part of the founder's personal estate.
Foundations are exempt from any form of Seychelles tax, including on income, gains, and distributions to beneficiaries. The annual licensing fee to the Financial Services Authority is a flat USD 200. Foundation assets cannot include immovable property in Seychelles, though the foundation may hold interests in IBCs, Limited Partnerships, and licensed mutual funds.
Because neither founder nor beneficiaries hold an ownership interest, and management rests with the foundation council, the structure works well for "outside estate" succession planning.
Estate & Succession Planning Considerations Despite the Zero-Tax Regime
A Seychelles structure does not remove the need for advice in the home country. A trust or foundation can be fully valid here and still create tax or disclosure consequences elsewhere, particularly where forced heirship, reporting duties, or controlled-foreign-structure rules apply.
US persons should be especially clear-eyed. American citizens and long-term green card holders are taxed by the United States on worldwide income wherever they live, and US worldwide estate taxation continues. Seychelles is a residence and lifestyle option for such individuals, not a route to eliminate US tax.
Compliance obligations attach to the structures themselves. Foundations must keep a registered office, a licensed agent, and annual records demonstrating lawful operation, while trustees must maintain accurate accounting records for at least seven years. Beneficial ownership data stays private but can be disclosed to regulators on request under AML or FATCA provisions.
Seychelles participates in the Common Reporting Standard and carries FATCA obligations. A trust or foundation with foreign beneficiaries may trigger reporting in those beneficiaries' home countries.
On administration, the reformed Civil Code makes it easier to deal with the property of those who die without apparent heirs, a process that previously rested entirely with the curator of vacant estates. Wills may be made in writing, orally, or by codicil, and under the Trusts Act 2021 an international trust may itself be created by will.
Outlook: Will Seychelles Introduce an Inheritance or Estate Tax?
No credible legislative proposal to introduce an inheritance or estate tax has been identified in public sources. The positioning as a low-tax international financial centre with a territorial system makes such a move structurally unlikely in the near term, though no official statement guarantees the policy permanently.
History shows the jurisdiction does respond to international pressure. The economic-substance reforms from 2018 adjusted the framework in step with OECD, EU, and FATF expectations while preserving the low-tax core.
That engagement continues on the corporate side. In May 2026, the African Tax Administration Forum ran capacity-building at the revenue authority on transfer pricing and the global minimum tax, both corporate measures rather than wealth-transfer taxes. Advisers watching for change should track OECD and G20 Inclusive Framework outputs and National Assembly budget speeches; no wealth-transfer tax signal has surfaced.
Conclusion
The absence of any inheritance or estate tax is a genuine structural feature of Seychelles, not a temporary concession, and for a non-resident foreign business owner that distinction carries real weight when comparing jurisdictions for long-term asset holding. What deserves equal attention, however, is that forced heirship rules still govern how an estate passes, and those rules can override even a well-drafted succession plan if the choice of vehicle and governing law is not resolved before death.
The single most consequential step for this reader is therefore not confirming the zero-tax position, which the article settles, but stress-testing whether the trust, foundation, or corporate structure holding their Seychelles-connected assets is already insulated from the Civil Code succession rules that sit alongside it.
How Expanship Can Help Your Business in Seychelles
Expanship supports foreign owners on the practical side of estate transfer here, from establishing trusts and foundations that hold assets outside a personal estate to keeping those structures and any underlying companies compliant. That work sits within a wider set of services for foreign-owned entities operating in the jurisdiction.
- Company incorporation, including IBCs used as holding vehicles
- Registered agent and registered office provision
- Tax registration and filing with the revenue authority
- Ongoing compliance and economic-substance management
- Accounting and bookkeeping, including trustee record-keeping
- Banking introductions for entities and structures
To discuss a structure suited to your circumstances, contact Expanship Seychelles.
Frequently Asked Questions
No. There is no inheritance tax, estate duty, or succession duty in Seychelles, so receiving assets through inheritance carries no local tax charge. Distribution is still governed by the Civil Code, but that is a matter of who inherits, not what is owed in tax.
Lifetime gifts attract no gift tax. The only gift-related rule in the tax code allows a company to deduct 150% of gifts made to charities, public funds, and NGOs from its business income, which benefits the donor rather than taxing the transfer.
There is no death or transfer tax on the property itself. Non-Seychellois owners do pay the annual Immovable Property Tax at 0.25% of market value, and that charge continues after ownership passes on death until the position is regularised.
Yes, in respect of the transfer to the trust. The Trusts Act 2021 states that no foreign inheritance law affects a transfer to a Seychelles international trust, and the validity of that transfer cannot be challenged on heirship grounds. Your home jurisdiction may still apply its own rules to you personally, so home-country advice remains necessary.
No. Seychelles imposes no worldwide estate tax, so foreign assets are untouched here. Liability can still arise in the country where those assets are located or where the deceased was domiciled, based on that country's own rules.
No proposal to do so has been identified in public sources, and the territorial low-tax model makes introduction unlikely in the near term. The jurisdiction does adapt to international standards over time, so monitoring budget speeches and OECD Inclusive Framework outputs is sensible for long-term planning.
Legal Disclaimer
The information provided in this article is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal, tax, or professional advice. While we strive to ensure the accuracy and timeliness of the content, laws and regulations are subject to change, and the application of laws can vary widely based on specific facts and circumstances.
Readers should not act upon this information without seeking professional counsel tailored to their individual situation. Expanship and its authors disclaim any liability for actions taken or not taken based on the content of this article.
For specific advice regarding your business setup, compliance requirements, or any legal matters, please consult with qualified legal and tax professionals in the relevant jurisdiction.
