Regional tax educational campaign to start next week |28 July 2022

Ms Barra and Ms Isaac during the press interview (Photo: Kurtrine Albert)

All farming businesses are being invited to next week’s ‘Regional Tax Educational Campaign’ organised by the department of agriculture within the Ministry of Agriculture, Climate Change and Environment.

Seychelles Revenue Commission’s (SRC) director tax payer’s education and service delivery, Sheryl Barra, made this announcement during a press interview held yesterday afternoon at the SRC head office, Maison Collet, Victoria, to make farmers aware of the educational campaign.

Also present was the senior information and communication officer from the department of agriculture, Gretelle Isaac.

The awareness campaign to be held on Mahé, Praslin and La Digue is aimed at providing advice to farmers on tax declaration and obligation, and to assist, especially those who are not registered with SRC, in registering their businesses and lodging of tax returns for 2021.

It also brings the SRC services closer to the business community within the agricultural sector.

The campaign is set to start during the month of August 2022 on Mahé and will end in early September 2022 on Praslin.

Ms Barra stated that on the awareness days, officials from SRC and from the department of agriculture will be present to assist farmers with information on tax declaration and obligations which will be followed with the registration of unregistered farming businesses (to SRC) and declaration of business tax returns for 2021. She noted that although registered farmers have been exempted from paying business tax until 2023, they have an obligation to declare their returns each year until the end of the exemption.

Ms Barra said it is important for farmers to register their businesses with SRC for them to be able to access other service providers such as Seychelles Pension Fund where they (services providers) will automatically come to SRC as the first point of contact to verify on their (farmers’) given information.

She added that the sessions will be a good opportunity for farmers, especially those who have not seen it necessary to keep records of the businesses, to learn on how to go about doing it in line with the tax law and further to making queries on the registration and tax obligations.

The awareness sessions will start on August 2, 2022 at the Anse Etoile community centre, followed on August 10 at the Grand Anse Mahé community centre, August 17 at the Anse Boileau community centre, August 23 at the Baie Lazare primary school, August 24 at the Val d’Andorre centre, August 31 at the Anse Royale primary school and on September 6 and 7 at the La Digue primary school and Grand Anse Praslin community centre respectively. All sessions will start at 9am and end at 3pm.

Among documents required for registration are the ID card, certificate of registration from the Registrar General’s Office (if any), license (if applicable), company documents (if registered as a company), partnership documents (if registered as a partner) and a valid farm registration certificate from the department of agriculture. Documents required for lodging of return only is the estimated income for the year 2021 and the record cash received from any sources (cash journal if any).

Ms Isaac said that for the awareness sessions, they have targeted the different regions that are mostly active in agriculture and close to farms. She added that in the event that some farmers miss the sessions in their respective regions, they can also attend any session being held in other regions.

She added that farmers who are not able to attend any of the sessions can come to the department of agriculture or to SRC and they will be assisted.

She stated that SRC and the department of agriculture are working on a programme to capture informal farmers who may wish to register their farming activities. There are a little over 600 farmers registered with the department.

Farmers who wish to learn more about the educational sessions can consult the various local media platforms for more information.

Patrick Joubert