Red Ensign and greek yachts

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Stevie_T

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Having just come back from a week round the Aegian, I was wondering what advantage some of the obscenely large motor yachts must get from flying the British Ensign?
Most of these are clearly Greek owned.
Is there some tax advantage being gained somewhere from this?

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It's just dead easy to fill in a little form, send it off to Swansea and end up with British registration via the SSR.

You should see all the bureaucracy involved in getting onto the Greek register especially if your intentions include any sort of commercial or private charter application which these vesels often do.

Take a look at Vouliagmeni Marina east of Athens, it's crammed with them.

Steve Cronin


<hr width=100% size=1>The above is, like any other post here, only a personal opinion
 
I am certain you are right -

all the defaced ensigns are a tax mitigation device. - Jersey, channel Islands Caymen Islands, British West Indies, 'dominions' - you can set up a company in these places and run your yacht anonymously + tax breaks et al. You do not have to be a resident of the country involved.

To be regisered blue book or SSR you have to be a resident of the UK - it is one of the stipulations - What I am not so certain about is that for really big yachts what the requrirement is for a British Merchant Ship? - I suspect it can be owned by a 'British company' registered at company house so the actual ownership is vague - then it can legitimatly fly the red ensign.

What it is to be so rich you have such problems!!

<hr width=100% size=1>If you have time please visit my web site -
<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.michaelbriant.com/sailing>http://www.michaelbriant.com/sailing</A>
 
I bumped into Bill Gates, not literally, just saw his boat in Athens this summer. Biggest private mobo I've ever seen. Flying a red ensign to prove his patriotism. It turned out to be defaced and from Belize or some such place. I think there is a sence of snobbery attached to the red duster, why? I don't know. Maybe it makes you a better sailor.

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Yes.
They avoid paying Greek tax on the purchase if they haven't declared sufficient income to buy a big yacht.

<hr width=100% size=1>Melody McKay Burton
Yacht Valentine, Greece
 
I believe bill gates' boat IS the biggest leisure boat you will ever see
this year that is................

For the Greek flag though, you need either to be a greek resident, obviously, or set up a greek management company for the vessel. BUT for a greek company you need to give a friendly greek resident a 51% share in your new company!

<hr width=100% size=1>Live life to the fullest... think of all the people on the Titanic who passed up chocolate dessert.
 
as melody says..the greeks have a wealth tax ..they can either claim tax on a charter yacht..or when they get that big a boat its better for them to fly a foreign flag..also its not permissable to use "tax free red diesel" in greece for their engines..only for air cond and heat...so you can imagine the aircon/heat use more fuel than the engines(G)...but dont get caught in greece with tax free diesel in your tank or you will lose your boat

<hr width=100% size=1>Bill
 
After some investigation, it appears that it makes a lot of sense to fly the SSR Red Duster even for a small second-hand 9.05m sailboat that costs 10,000 euros (EU VAT paid), than a Greek flag. I'm a Brit, and want to keep my EU-VAT-paid pleasure sailboat in Greece permanently, and would rather register it under the Greek flag so as to avoid the silly check-in and check-out rituals at every Greek marina (my Mom is a Greek national, so I could technically register it under her name). But after finding out Greek tax laws, I've calculated that I'd have to pay additional 3,600 euros each year for such a small boat. No thanks - I'd rather go to SSR website and register it online for £35 in minutes.
Greece has stupid and unnecessary laws, regulations and taxes, which is why it is missing out.
 
garen said:
After some investigation, it appears that it makes a lot of sense to fly the SSR Red Duster even for a small second-hand 9.05m sailboat that costs 10,000 euros (EU VAT paid), than a Greek flag. I'm a Brit, and want to keep my EU-VAT-paid pleasure sailboat in Greece permanently, and would rather register it under the Greek flag so as to avoid the silly check-in and check-out rituals at every Greek marina (my Mom is a Greek national, so I could technically register it under her name). But after finding out Greek tax laws, I've calculated that I'd have to pay additional 3,600 euros each year for such a small boat. No thanks - I'd rather go to SSR website and register it online for £35 in minutes.
Greece has stupid and unnecessary laws, regulations and taxes, which is why it is missing out.
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This is an old thread, 20 yrs?...things may have changed..but my post I was in Greece at the time, and back then I was told that only residents/citizens of Greece or Greek registered companies could have Greek registration/flag.
 
piscosour said:
I bumped into Bill Gates, not literally, just saw his boat in Athens this summer. Biggest private mobo I've ever seen. Flying a red ensign to prove his patriotism. It turned out to be defaced and from Belize or some such place. I think there is a sence of snobbery attached to the red duster, why? I don't know. Maybe it makes you a better sailor.

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Click to expand...
Nothing to do with The Red Duster. More likely due to less workload as les control over operation than American registration. Even millionaires count the pennies! There are a number of colonies with a defaced ensign and there used to be someone in London who set up marine departments for some of them and run their registration pool. Not sure it is still around. The registration allowed you to tick some boxes etc. and kept him in beer tokens. It is surprising how some large cruise ships are registered with these so called flags of convenience places.
 
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