(Seychelles News Agency) - Non-Seychellois individuals who own properties in Seychelles have until October 31 to register and avoid penalties, said a top official.

The non-Seychellois immovable property tax came into effect on July 1, 2020, where foreigners who own property in Seychelles had until November 31, 2020, to register their property. The deadline was moved to December 31 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and other issues.

The registrar general, Wendy Pierre, told SNA that "last year not everyone who needed to register did so and will therefore have to pay the penalties in place. That is why we are encouraging all those with properties in Seychelles to register at the earliest to avoid such measures."

She added that the penalties include a fine of SCR50,000 ($3,400) for those who failed to register their commercial and industrial properties, while those who did not register their residential properties will have to pay SCR10,000 ($687).

"Last year, we had a number of issues, but this year things have been picking up, where so far we have over 600 individuals who have registered their properties," said Pierre.

First announced by the Ministry of Finance in 2017, the property tax is assessed on real estate and it is usually based on the value of the property in Seychelles, an archipelago in the western Indian Ocean. It includes commercial or residential property, condominium units, industrial property, freehold or leasehold land, multi-purpose buildings and villas.

The Property Tax rate has been set at 0.25 percent of the market value of the property liable to be taxed and it is due and payable to the Seychelles Revenue Commission on or before December 31 every year.

The process of registering of non-Seychellois property owners is only the first step, in order to comply with the law which governs the immovable properties tax act, after which valuations of the property must be conducted by a qualified valuation surveyor or a quantity surveyor.

Going forward, Pierre spoke of the need to have in place a digitalized registration service, as a lot of the individuals who have a property in Seychelles live abroad, which caused a certain level of difficulty for them to come forward, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.