Renewing Seychelles IBC - Worth it?

[welld]

I got a notification that my Seychelles IBC is getting renewed and that I need to transfer money for the "renewal" in the upcoming days. Not really sure what to do with my IBC and I'm asking for your advice. So far, I've only been using it for smaller projects. With the new legislation, the Seychelles Government will most likely make the company registry public for everyone (it's just a question of time). For this IBC, I've been using Wise (formerly known as TransferWise) and I have approximately 50k $ left on the account. Is it worth keeping it? I can't withdraw any money nor buy anything as Wise is not issuing any Visa cards for Seychelles IBC companies. All I'm left with is normal wire transfers and I feel like I'm paying for something that's not functioning. Also, what can I do with the money stuck with Wise if I decide not to renew the company. Just asking for your advice... The renewal fee is roughly around 1000 USD/year.

 

[JohnLocke]

You may transfer the money to another account that has a Debit card attached. I can't see why you would not be able to spend the money by bank transfer. Many businesses accept Bank Transfer as a payment method!

 

[welld]

You may transfer the money to another account that has a Debit card attached. I can't see why you would not be able to spend the money by bank transfer. Many businesses accept Bank Transfer as a payment method!

Yes, many do accept wire transfers. But I'm mostly concerned about WISE shutting down accounts, as seen in many other threads here in the forum. My business is not high risk (doing web design mostly), but the fact that my IBC is registered in Seychelles, makes me a bit nervous that WISE would shut down the account any day. And that's why I'm not sure if it's worth renewing the IBC or if I should just shut it down.

 

[JohnLocke]

Why not transfer the money in small amounts?! Some people have troubles with Wise others not, I consider this to be depending on how long you have been with Wise and if they know what you are into.

The math can't be that difficult. You have 50K$ in your account, it costs 1000$ to renew.. if you do, there is 49K$ left.

You say there is no risk if you renew but think there is a risk if you do not renew but try to withdraw the money via Wire Transfer.

In my view, it's a matter of paying the $1000 and moving on.

 

[CyprusLawyer101]

You either pay the renewal or you start a dissolution process wherre you dissolve the company and transfer the funds/assets to the shareholder as a distribution resulting from the liquidation.
If company goes for strike off and the funds are still in Wise, normally no transfer would be possible. Of course Wise has to find out about it first.

 

[tolstoy]

How exactly does wise find that out as there is no public registry for seychelles company??

Yes, many do accept wire transfers. But I'm mostly concerned about WISE shutting down accounts, as seen in many other threads here in the forum. My business is not high risk (doing web design mostly), but the fact that my IBC is registered in Seychelles, makes me a bit nervous that WISE would shut down the account any day. And that's why I'm not sure if it's worth renewing the IBC or if I should just shut it down.

Do you need encashing out into crypto?

 

[I'mRobot]

I have never renewed my Seychelles companies in the past if I didn't need them. I don't think anyone noticed that some of them are not active any longer. People tend to ignore such entities even f they accept them for business.