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Contact Us

Pensum Ltd.
Cayman Business Park A7
P.O. Box 10024 APO, KY1-1001
Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands
Cayman Islands: +1 345 945 1830
Fax: +1 345 945 1835
Email: Marine@Pensum.Pro
Time Zone: GMT - 5

Maritime Administrative and Accounting Services

Administration

Administrative services cover a range of areas.  In processing a registration, it may involve arranging a legal opinion for a mortgage, arranging contracts, setting up VAT accounting in EU Countries, arranging commercial entry for free circulation in the EU, arranging insurance, arranging/collecting documentation and getting it delivered to its destination. It may also include aspects of maritime administration that arise from time to time in the operation of ships and yachts.

Accounting

There are various reasons why it might make sense for an owner or manager to run certain accounting operations from an offshore jurisdiction.

Tax

For crewmembers of certain nationalities that spend time predominantly outside their taxable residence, it often makes sense for their pay to emanate from outside their jurisdiction of residence.  This would constitute foreign source income in respect of the home country and, in many countries, foreign source income paid to nationals who are living outside the territory beyond a certain threshold is either not subject to tax or subject to beneficial tax exclusions.

If, for example, a vessel is registered in the Cayman Islands, and owned by a Cayman company, then it is perfectly reasonable for crew to be paid from the Cayman Company.  Of course, it would somewhat defeat the object if the paying country itself imposed taxes or levies such as national insurance, pension or other contributions, either unilaterally or under the provisions of a treaty with the home country.  The Cayman Islands does not have such provisions and is thus a good candidate.  This leaves crewmembers free to establish and continue to contribute to their own health and pension plans in their country of choice.

In turn, this can assist owners seeking to offer good terms to attract and retain preferred crew.

Crewmembers who are residents of the EU and certain other countries should be aware that there are reporting requirements in respect of interest or earnings on overseas accounts.

Privacy

For some owners, it is very important to establish privacy and this objective creates a privacy impact on all links in the chain of owning and operating a ship or yacht, particularly the financial links.  
In the Cayman Islands, privacy is protected by law.  This makes it possible to create a measure of disconnection to help protect privacy.  For some owners concerned for family kidnap and ransom, privacy can literally be a matter of life or death.

Flexibility

Getting pay to the crew can sometimes be difficult.  Such difficulties can be reduced or avoided through the establishment of a crew account coupled with individual crew debit cards that limit the amount they can draw to the balance on account.  The cards can be issued with PIN numbers so as to draw cash from ATM machines in most places in the world.

Some crew are employed through special purpose companies that hold reserves and make limited payments into credit and debit card accounts for various protective reasons.  Sometimes, individual crewmembers set up these companies to employ one or more of themselves.  It is then the Company that contracts

with the owner to supply crewing services rather than a direct contract.

 

From an owner’s perspective, this can be a good thing since, in the event of an incident such as a collision, the crew member can be kept “onside” rather than being forced to become an adversary under the adversarial legal system.   From the seafarer’s perspective, if living in or operating from a country that only charges tax on remittances, this can be a useful planning mechanism.

In providing services, we can do as much or as little as an owner or manager may require.  Typical accounting services include:

  1.  Accounting for crew payroll.
  2.  Accounting in respect of a project.
  3.  Accounting in respect of a vessel’s operations.
  4.  Forming and administering companies for crew employment.
  5.  Assisting with crew bank accounts together with credit/debit cards.

Amongst our staff, we have a qualified banker, trust officer and professional accountants so we are well equipped to transact such services.

There is no VAT, GST or other tax on services in the Cayman Islands that we have to levy and account for.  This makes us very competitive, particularly for owners based in such taxable jurisdictions as the EU, Canada, Australia and New Zealand where VAT going up to 25% applies.

If you have questions or wish to proceed further, contact us.

Related Resources

Crew Payroll and other Crew Services

Employment and payment of crew from overseas can be beneficial, both for owners and for crew.

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Company Management and Associated Services

Company formation and management is a regulated service along with banks, trusts, insurance companies, and funds.

See More