Greek Shipowners Fiercing Protect Tax Breaks
Shipping minister says current measurement method not effective. On the day he took office as Greece's shipping minister in June 2012, Kostis Moussouroulis received a visit from a 90-year-old shipowner. He still remembers the older man's words: "Don't forget, the best minister of shipping and maritime affairs is the minister who is doing nothing for the shipping industry. That's the way Greek shipowners like it. The magnates who run one of the biggest merchant marine fleets in the world have long argued that if Greece tried to tax them, they would leave - and that their departure would devastate the economy. In recent years, as international institutions repeatedly bailed out Greece, the lenders have also pushed Athens to beef up its tax take.
Russian Food Import Ban: Trucks Lose, Shipping Wins
Team Niinivirta, a Finnish family-run transportation firm, turned 60 this year, but its third-generation managers now don't know if the business will see Christmas, because of Russia's new ban on European food imports. The firm based in Kotka, on the Gulf of Finland opposite Saint Petersburg, was using its 12 refrigerated trucks to ship 80 loads a month of Finnish milk products to Russia. But the ban on imports of dairy products, fruit, vegetables, meat, and fish from Europe has brought work for Niinivirta and similar specialist local truckers to a near standstill.
UK Clamp Down on North Sea Drilling Tax Holiday
A planned change in the way Britain taxes North Sea drillers exposes the loophole in a system that allowed an industry with annual revenues of 2 billion pounds to pay almost no corporation tax for two decades, prompting accusations that the UK tax authority is falling down on the job. The change, announced by Finance Minister George Osborne in March, caps the amount a UK company can deduct from profit for leasing drilling rigs from an overseas unit in the same group. The rig-leasing units are typically based in countries where their income is taxed lightly or not at all. A Reuters review of company accounts, shipping registers and other company statements…
BG's Singapore Move Seen Cutting Big UK Tax Bill
When BG Group Plc announced last week it was shifting the headquarters of its oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) trading operation to Singapore from Britain, it said the aim was to get closer to its customers. Analysts and consultants agreed that the growing importance of Japanese and Korean utilities in the LNG market meant the move would have clear logistical and commercial benefits. But they also said another motivation was likely at play: tax. "Tax is always a factor," said Bob Piller, a Swiss-based energy trading consultant who previously worked for commodities giant Vitol.
