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Seychelles launches its Tax Inspectors Without Borders Programme

October 04, 2021

Seychelles, through the Seychelles Revenue Commission (SRC), is receiving technical support from the Tax Inspectors Without Borders (TIWB) initiative to build its tax audit capacity. 

The one-year programme was launched virtually on Monday 04th October 2021.

Speaking at the launch, the Secretary of State in the Ministry of Finance, Economic Planning and Trade, Mr. Patrick Payet, has assured that Seychelles will ‘make maximum use of the programme’.

 “Seychelles recognizes the need to carry out better quality audits. Our lack of experience and skills in complex international audits often acts as a barrier and allows for cross border tax avoidance.”

Over the next 12 months, the Government of India being the Partner Administration for this TIWB programme will be providing a tax expert to assist the Government of Seychelles.

Seychelles’ TIWB programme will be oriented towards building capacity of the SRC in handling transfer pricing cases in the tourism and financial services sectors.

Both governments of Seychelles and India are taking part in the multilateral negotiations for a digital tax, led by the OECD. At the event, Mr. Ben Dickinson, Head of the Global Relations and Development Division at the OECD’s Centre for Tax Policy and Administration, stated: “We're delighted that Seychelles and India are fully engaged in international tax cooperation discussions.  TIWB provides practical support and is a great asset to international tax co-operation".

TIWB is a joint initiative of the OECD and the UNDP supporting developing countries in building tax audit capacity. The initiative makes use of a pool of qualified tax experts who are deployed to jurisdictions where technical know-how, skills, best-practices and experiences can be shared and transferred to the local tax auditors.

SS Payet commended TIWB for adopting such an approach whereby ‘countries with limited resources, such as Seychelles, would really benefit from the transfer of such knowledge from qualified and experienced tax experts.’

Since its inception, TIWB has supported over 50 countries and jurisdictions through its targeted tax audit assistance programmes.

Along with SS Payet, the event had the participation of Mrs Veronique Herminie, Commissioner General of the Seychelles Revenue Commission; Mr J. B. Mohapatra, Chairman of the Central Board of Direct Taxes, India; Mr Ben Dickinson, Head of the Global Relations and Development Division of the Centre for Tax Policy and Administration at the OECD; Mrs Rusudan Kemularia, Head of the TIWB Secretariat; and key officials from India, the TIWB Secretariat, UNDP, OECD, Ministry of Finance, Economic Planning & Trade (MFEPT) and the SRC.

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