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Seychelles off the EU Blacklist and now?

What about setting up a Seychelles company to receive payments in cryptocurrency?
If you're asking if it's easier to commit tax evasion in crypto than in fiat, the answer is yes.

If you're intending to follow the law, crypto makes no difference in most cases. Income is income and is taxed accordingly.
 
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If you're asking if it's easier to commit tax evasion in crypto than in fiat, the answer is yes.

If you're intending to follow the law, crypto makes no difference in most cases. Income is income and is taxed accordingly.

That's not what I'm asking.

The question is about receiving crypto payments because of how hard it is to open a bank account for a Seychelles company.

How does that have anything to do with tax evasion and not following the law? Seychelles doesn't tax income from abroad in any case.
 
The question is about receiving crypto payments because of how hard it is to open a bank account for a Seychelles company.
If you have no or very limited need for fiat access, a Seychelles company can be a simple and attractive solution.

How does that have anything to do with tax evasion and not following the law? Seychelles doesn't tax income from abroad in any case.
Right, but the company is probably not tax resident in Seychelles.
 
If you have no or very limited need for fiat access, a Seychelles company can be a simple and attractive solution.

If it is actually possible to have a Seychelles company that can produce invoices that can be legally covered in crypto, that wouldn't be a problem.

The digital asset would then be owned by the company, and it can then be exchanged for fiat with a crypto card, like the ones Binance or Coinbase provide.

So, basically:

1) Set up a company in Seychelles without a bank account.
2) Make invoices that get paid in crypto. That gives you source of funds for your digital assets, etc.
3) Open a Binance/Coinbase/anything else account for the Seychelles company.
4) Get the crypto card for the company.

Since capital gains tax is also non-existent in Seychelles, there would be no tax at any stage.

Of course, assuming all 4 steps I listed above are possible (there could still be obstacles).

Right, but the company is probably not tax resident in Seychelles.

Irrelevant if you are a tax resident of the right territories.
 
One possibility for this a TIEA (Tax Information Exchange Agreement), which aren't unique to Seychelles. Dozens of jurisdictions signed TIEAs with dozens of other jurisdictions between around 2008—2012 when focus shifted to CRS.

Tax havens were expected to sign a certain minimum number of TIEAs and most signed with the Nordic countries and a few other European countries just to satisfy the minimum.

Seychelles signed their first TIEAs back in 2011 and were initially heavily criticised for being to slow at providing information. They succumbed to that pressure while many others continued to find excuses to refuse or delay responses.
They exaggerated a little bit by not even waiting for formal TIEA's and just replying to emails. Certain information they were not allowed to disclose based on their own laws unless there was a court order. All of that was conveniently set aside. Untrustworthy jurisdiction.
 
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As long as your customers don't mind it, issuing invoices in crypto is no different from issuing invoices in another fiat currency than your regular accounting currency.

If your accounting currency is EUR, you can issue an invoice in GBP. Likewise, you can issue an invoice in BTC or USDT.

As long as you track the equivalent amount and use that in your record keeping, shouldn't be any issues.
 
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As long as your customers don't mind it, issuing invoices in crypto is no different from issuing invoices in another fiat currency than your regular accounting currency.

If your accounting currency is EUR, you can issue an invoice in GBP. Likewise, you can issue an invoice in BTC or USDT.

As long as you track the equivalent amount and use that in your record keeping, shouldn't be any issues.

Are you talking about Seychelles or in general?

Because this is not the case in general; some countries do not allow cryptocurrency as a payment tool. For example, a company in Ecuador, among other countries, cannot legally receive payments in BTC or USDT.

Not sure about Seychelles though, and what's the legal status of using cryptocurrency as a payment tool over there.


Most exchanges don't offer crypto cards for companies, let alone offshore ones.

Might be doable, though.

Using a BTC ATM could also work, assuming it's legal for a Seychelles company to receive payments in BTC, hold it or sell it.

If the ATM is in the right country, no capital gains would arise on any of the ends.
 
Are you talking about Seychelles or in general?

Because this is not the case in general; some countries do not allow cryptocurrency as a payment tool. For example, a company in Ecuador, among other countries, cannot legally receive payments in BTC or USDT.

Not sure about Seychelles though, and what's the legal status of using cryptocurrency as a payment tool over there.
I haven't yet come across any place where it's been a totally unsolvable problem. Can't say I have a ton of experience doing it in Ecuador, though. However, there are a few different ways you can do it:
  1. Invoice in crypto and get paid in crypto.
  2. Invoice in fiat and get paid in crypto.
  3. Invoice in fiat and get paid in crypto through some service that automatically converts to fiat on your behalf and settles fiat to you.
  4. Invoice in crypto, record the sale in fiat on the books, and get paid in crypto using a direct-to-fiat solution.
We're straying very far off-topic, though. This should perhaps be its own thread instead.

I know several Seychelles companies that operate exclusively in crypto. They all do their accounting in a fiat currency, though, and simply track the exchange rate for each transaction.
 
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I haven't yet come across any place where it's been a totally unsolvable problem. Can't say I have a ton of experience doing it in Ecuador, though. However, there are a few different ways you can do it:
  1. Invoice in crypto and get paid in crypto.
  2. Invoice in fiat and get paid in crypto.
  3. Invoice in fiat and get paid in crypto through some service that automatically converts to fiat on your behalf and settles fiat to you.
  4. Invoice in crypto, record the sale in fiat on the books, and get paid in crypto using a direct-to-fiat solution.
We're straying very far off-topic, though. This should perhaps be its own thread instead.

I know several Seychelles companies that operate exclusively in crypto. They all do their accounting in a fiat currency, though, and simply track the exchange rate for each transaction.

The problem is that those companies that you mention, which operate exclusively in crypto, are not declaring it as crypto earnings. They declare it as fiat on the books and there is no mention anywhere about the crypto transaction.

It could very well be illegal and they are just hiding the crypto transaction, unless Seychelles explicitly allows crypto as a payment tool.

But I wasn't able to confirm this online.
 
Because this is not the case in general; some countries do not allow cryptocurrency as a payment tool. For example, a company in Ecuador, among other countries, cannot legally receive payments in BTC or USDT.
Learning something new here.

Can you give me some examples of jurisdictions that do not allow crypto's as a payment tool? I wasnt aware that there were jurisdictions out there forbidding this :)
 
Thailand, Vietnam, Turkey, Malaysia and Indonesia are other examples of countries where businesses cannot accept cryptocurrency as payment.
This comes to an surprise for me I must say. These countries should have been some of the first to accept crypto.
 
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