Global tax reform in the context of commercial shipping structures

Maritime London hosted another successful webinar – “Global tax reform in the context of commercial shipping structures” – organised in cooperation with the UK Department for International Trade and the British Embassy Athens on 23 October, 2020 as part of the the Posidonia Web Forums Week.

The audience was welcomed by Maritime London Chief Executive Jos Standerwick, who also moderated the webinar. James Bryce, Deputy Head of Mission & Counsellor at the British Embassy in Greece delivered an opening address, which was followed by two presentations by David Evans, Associate Partner, International Tax and Transaction Services of Ernst & Young LLP and Richard Stephens, Partner in the Tax Group of Watson Farley & Williams LLP. The second half of the webinar saw a lively panel discussion.

The speakers noted that tax reform from the EU and OECD had never been so rapid, as they examined what the future might hold and strategies that would help shipowners deal with changes, concluding that, while not an explicit target in most cases, shipping would have to change, and that the effects of these tax reforms will range from accepting a higher tax charge to changing ship ownership, higher freight taxes, and potentially loosing contracts to companies which have more acceptable structures.

To watch the webinar in full please use this link.

Also see this article authored by Richard Stephens, Partner in the Tax Group of Watson Farley & Williams LLP on the subject.