Seafarers news

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• Tax havens that are not beneficial for seafarers:
  

A new regulation of the Minister of Finance of 9 April 2013 in the matter of specifying countries and territories engaged in harmful income tax competition took force on 24 April 2013. The regulation states that harmful tax competition is pursued in the tax systems of the following countries and territories: The Principality of Andorra, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, St Maarten and Curaçao, the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, The Kingdom of Bahrain, Barbados, Belize, The Islands of Bermuda, The British Virgin Islands, The Cook Islands, The Commonwealth of Dominica, Gibraltar, Grenada, Sark, Hong Kong, The Cayman Islands, The Republic of Liberia, The Principality of Liechtenstein, Macau, The Republic of the Maldives, The Republic of the Marshall Islands, The Republic of Mauritius, The Principality of Monaco, Montserrat, The Republic of Nauru, Niue, The Republic of Panama, The Independent State of Samoa, The Republic of the Seychelles, The Federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, The Kingdom of Tonga, The Turks and Caicos Islands, The Virgin Islands of the United States and the Republic of Vanuatu.

• USA
  

On 13 February 2013 a new convention was signed between the Republic of Poland and the United States of America for the avoidance of double taxation, which is likely to take force from 1 January 2014. In accordance with the new convention maritime workers will be obliged to pay tax on their earnings from work aboard ship only in the state in which they are domiciled. Under the terms of the old convention an additional condition needed to be met for exemption from taxation to take effect: the maritime worker had to be a regular member of the crew of the ship.

• INDIA
  

On 29 January 2013 in Warsaw a protocol amending the Polish-Indian convention for the avoidance of double taxation was signed. Where changes concerning seafarers are concerned, the exemption with progression method beneficial to them was replaced by the tax credit method.

• CYPRUS
  

On 1 January 2013 a protocol between the Government of the Republic of Poland and the Government of the Republic of Cyprus entered force to amend the convention for the avoidance of double taxation. Among other things, this protocol maintains the exemption with progression method that is beneficial to seafarers.

• CZECH REPUBLIC
  

On 1 January 2013 a new Polish-Czech convention for the avoidance of double taxation entered force. Under the terms of the new convention the earnings of seafarers can no longer be taxed in the place where the company has its administrative seat and will instead be taxed in the country where the maritime worker is domiciled. This convention maintains, however, the exemption with progression method that is beneficial to maritime workers.

• SAUDI ARABIA
  

On 1 January 2013 a new convention between the Republic of Poland and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for the avoidance of double taxation entered force. The new convention introduces the principle that the earnings of seafarers can be taxed in the place where the company has its administrative seat. It also introduces the tax credit method with respect to the avoidance of double taxation, which is not beneficial to seafarers.

• JERSEY
  

On 1 January 2013 a convention between the Republic of Poland and Jersey for the avoidance of the double taxation of natural persons took effect. Under the terms of the convention the earnings of seafarers can be taxed in the state where the company has its actual administrative seat.  The convention also introduced the tax credit method in respect of the avoidance of double taxation, which is not beneficial to seafarers.

• NORWAY
  

On 5 July 2012, furthermore, a protocol under whose terms Poland is bound to apply the tax credit method to tax-free earnings in accordance with the internal law of Norway, and which amends the new convention, was signed.

• MALTA
  

On 1 January 2012 a new protocol entered force amending the convention for the avoidance of double taxation with Malta. However the regulations concerning seafarers did not change and their earnings can be taxed only in the contracting state where the company has its actual administrative seat.

• ISLE OF MAN
  

On 1 January 2012 a convention between the Republic of Poland and The Isle of Man for the avoidance of double taxation in the case of some categories of natural persons took effect. Under the terms of the convention the earnings of maritime workers can be taxed only on the Isle of Man if the company has its actual administrative seat there.

• SWITZERLAND
  

On 1 January 2012 a protocol entered force amending the Polish-Swiss convention for the avoidance of double taxation. It did not alter the provisions for seafarers, whose earnings continue to be subject to taxation only in the state in which the company has its actual administrative seat.

• DENMARK
  

On 1 January 2011 a protocol entered force amending the Polish-Danish convention for the avoidance of double taxation which introduces a beneficial change to the regulations for seafarers. In this way the tax credit method has been replaced by the exemption with progression method. Under the terms of the amended convention the earnings of seafarers can continue to be taxed in the place where the employer has its actual administrative seat.

• NORWAY
  

On 1 January 2011 a new convention with Norway for the avoidance of double taxation entered force. The new convention introduces the principle that the earnings of maritime workers can be taxed in the state of the enterprise employing them and not, as hitherto, in the state where the company has its actual seat of administration. Furthermore, under the terms of the new convention, if the earnings of seafarers have been derived from work on the deck of a ship listed in the Norwegian International Ship Register (NIS) they will be taxed only in the state in which the maritime worker is domiciled. The exemption with progression method will be maintained in the case of payment of tax in Poland for seafarers not working on ships listed in the NIS.  

• SINGAPORE
  

On 4 November 2011 a new convention for the avoidance of double taxation was signed with Singapore. The new convention introduces the principle that the earnings of maritime workers can be taxed only in the state of the enterprise employing them and not, as hitherto, only in the state where the company has its actual seat of administration. If, however, the seafarers are domiciled in Poland, their earnings can also be taxed in Poland. Furthermore, if a maritime worker earns an income both in Singapore and in Poland, the tax credit method is applied to the income earned in Singapore.

• LUXEMBOURG
  

On 7 June 2012 a protocol was signed amending the convention on the avoidance of double taxation with the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. The amendment does not however concern seafarers so that their earnings will continue to be taxed only in the state where the enterprise has its actual seat of administration.

• ICELAND
  

On 16 May 2012 a protocol was signed amending the Polish-Icelandic convention for the avoidance of double taxation. The principle that the earnings of seafarers can be taxed in the state where the company has its actual administrative seat has been retained. In addition, the exemption with progression method will continue to apply to seafarers.

• CANADA
  

On 14 May 2012 a new Polish-Canadian convention for the avoidance of double taxation was signed. Under the terms of the previous convention the earnings of seafarers could be taxed only in the state where the enterprise has its actual seat of administration. However, under the terms of the new convention seafarers? earnings can be taxed only in the place where they are domiciled.