Have you ever thought of owning your private pleasure boat/yacht through a Vanuatu International company and registering the vessel under a foreign flag?
What are the advantages of this?
Confidentiality of ownership of the vessel, for a start. The owner of vessel will be listed as the company. Your name does not appear anywhere on the vessel’s documents.
With the Vanuatu International company as the owner, selling the vessel is a simple matter of transferring the shares of the company, where the only asset of the company is the vessel. As Vanuatu does not have capital gains tax, you have no tax obligations, no transfer taxes.
A Vanuatu International company has no requirement to register the transfer of shares with the Company Registrar – more savings on stamp duties/transfer fees.
Another benefit is you avoid the onerous and sometimes protracted affair of registering with the Yacht Registry the transfer of ownership of the vessel. The vessel owner remains the same only the real owner has changed.
In some jurisdictions, the vessel may be exempted from VAT and other local taxes. Handy when making repairs locally or replacing high cost items i.e. new sails, engines etc in a jurisdiction with high VAT rates.
Vessels used for chartering purposes may be able to avoid or pay reduced taxes on it’s income when registered under a foreign flag.
Currently yacht registrations in Vanuatu have been suspended until a regulatory authority is appointed to oversee this matter.
However Moores Rowland can assist with yacht registration in another jurisdiction with the vessel owned by a Vanuatu International Company.
Contact us for more details.