Useful Information for Visiting Yachts
Published 14 years ago, updated 6 years ago
I keep a Beneteau 373 in Seychelles and the following information may be useful to visitors:
A vessel may visit for 12 months and must then leave or pay GST of 15% and make a formal application for importation. If GST has been paid the vessel may stay on indefinitely.
All vessels, whether GST paid or not, must pay harbor dues which are SR30 (about $3) per day for a vessel under 10 meters on a scale which increases with the size of the vessel.
Private chartering is not permitted without appropriate licensing and vessels can be impounded for breaching this rule.
The 12-month rule will be relaxed for reasons of safety, such as avoiding pirates.
A vessel that has visited for 12 months and left without paying GST may not return for 36 months. Seychelles officials are quick to say that no import duty is payable after 12 months, but fail to mention that GST is payable.
This “GST trap” is not mentioned on the official Seychelles website documentation for visiting yachts. The insured value of the vessel will generally be accepted. Yacht valuations by a local expert can be extremely expensive, of the order of $2000.
Robert Koch
Related to following destinations: Seychelles
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