Registration Consultant Highlights Benefits of Choosing Offshore

Consulting firm Offshore Premium has recently published an outline on their website of the benefits of registering a yacht in an offshore jurisdiction. The list reads as follows:

Tax Saving and Privacy

The first is of course saving on registration costs and related taxes (including VAT). The second is confidentiality. You may not want to disclose the fact that you own a yacht and prefer to create the appearance that you charter a yacht from time to time.

Liabilities, Labor and Other Issues

But there are many other reasons why such a move is the right one. Firstly they may be liabilities issues (for example in some countries crew members can sue the owner of the boat for any injuries sustained aboard wherever the injuries occurred), labor regulations (some countries will request that at least 50% of the crews be composed of citizens of the registration country or impose training minimum requirement), operating restrictions (some countries prohibit chartering activities without a license which license conditions are prohibitive). Finally, the US registration of a boat may cause unnecessary attention in some unfriendly waters, a harmless offshore jurisdiction flag may ensure a much safer journey.

The Most Appropriate Jurisdiction

There is not a jurisdiction that is per se better than another one. Each destination comes with its own set of benefits for the yacht and the owner and it is just a matter to decide which jurisdiction is more appropriate for you based on your requirements. Note however that the BVI (British Virgin Islands) comes with an additional benefit which may be not negligible in those troubled times. While registration in the BVI will bring you all the advantages of the offshore registration vessels flying the BVI Red Ensign will be entitled to the support of the British Consular and High Commission and Royal Naval protection.

To contact an advisor from Offshore Premium regarding choice of a flag State please click here. The OGSR team can also direct you to additional service providers.