The Seychelles' tariff regime constitutes as follows;
• Customs Duty
Customs Duty is a tax that is levied on imported goods into the Seychelles. The amount of tax is determined by the amount stated in the Regulations of the prevailing law, currently the "Customs Management Act 2011". The specific Regulation governing rates of Customs Duty applicable in Seychelles is the "Customs Management (Tariff and Classifications of Goods) Regulations 2014".
The "Customs Management (Tariff and Classifications of Goods) Regulations 2014", is based on the WCO harmonized system 2007 which forms the basis upon which products are classified for customs purposes.
Customs Duty is calculated on the CIF (Cost, Insurance and Freight) value of the goods, from which the scheduled tax rate is then applied.
The current regime provides for 83% of tariff lines in the tariff nomenclature at 0% Customs Duty with the remaining 17% concentrated mostly on the following products;
• Alcohol
• Tobacco
• Motor Vehicles
• Fruits and vegetables
• Articles of clothing
The table below provides a more accurate breakdown of the duty structure as well as its simple averages.
Applied Customs Tariffs
Import duty rate (%)
0
0-5
5-10
10-15
15-20
20-25
>25
Specific rate
Total
Number of tariff lines
4,614
109
4
95
0
367
194
128
5,511
% of tariff lines
83.72
1.98
0.07
1.72
0
6.66
3.52
2.32
100
Simple Average MFN Applied Tariff
Total
6.4
Agricultural tariff lines
7.8
Non-agricultural tariff lines
6.2
02 Excise Tax
The Excise Tax regime is Governed by the "Excise Tax Act 2009" and its subsequent implementing Regulations, and is imposed on:
• Excisable goods removed from taxation control [bonded warehouse] by a registered manufacturer; or
• Excisable goods imported into Seychelles
It is a tax levied on four excisable goods imported or locally manufactured in Seychelles, namely:
• Cigarettes or tobacco
• Alcohol
• Motor Vehicles
• Petroleum Products
The complete list of excisable goods can be found on the following : SI 5 Excise Tax (Amendment of Schedules 1 and 2)
03 Value Added Tax
The Value Added Tax (VAT) regime is governed by the "Value added Tax Act 2010", which repealed and replaced the "Goods and Services Tax (GST) Act 2001" on 1 January 2013.
The VAT rate is currently set at 15%, and applies to all imported and domestically-produced goods and services, except for those exemptions as specified in the "Value Added Tax (Amendment of Schedules) Regulations 2014".
04 Environmental Levies
In its continuous efforts to afford protection to its fragile and delicate environment from which Seychelles derives most of its precious resources, environmental levies are imposed on the imports of certain items that may contribute to the detriment of our environment.
Such levies exist on items such as;
• Vehicles
• Pet bottles
• Plastic bags