Estonian Maritime Administration continues its work on a push to attract shipping firms to register their ships in Estonia by offering e-registration and a reduced tax burden.
Even though the Maritime Administration has been working out the plan for more than four years, progress could be reached after Estonian Prime Minister Juri Ratas announced that this would be one of the new government’s priorities.
Similarly to other large ship registers in other countries, a key impulse for shippers to register their vessels in Estonia would be low to zero tax.
“For the sake of the competitiveness of shipping it would apparently be best to completely exempt sailors from taxes. We will cut income tax, and when it comes to unemployment insurance contributions, negotiations are under way”, explained Eero Naaber, head of development at the Estonia Maritime Administration, who also added that no decisions had been made yet for the plan that could become effective in 2018. (BNN/Business World Magazine)
