MARINE AND AVIATION COMPANIES
Since the beginning of the 20th century, the use of offshore companies to register the ownership of commercial and passenger ships and yachts has become an important function of some offshore jurisdictions, especially Panama and Liberia.
Today many important offshore jurisdictions have modern commercial and passenger ship and yacht registration laws establishing small registration fees and not foreseeing any taxes on income received from marine shipping and chartering activities. These jurisdictions include the Isle of Man, Madeira, Jersey, Gibraltar, Cyprus, the Bahamas, Belize, and Mauritius.
It should be noted that the owners of passenger ships engaging in activities for a long time in European Union waters should see specialists concerning advice on VAT questions.