TTM01310 | Introduction to Tonnage Tax: Tonnage tax profits

Joint interest in same ship at same level

Joint interest

If two (or more) companies have a joint interest in a ship, they will each be regarded as operating that ship for tonnage tax purposes. But HMRC would not seek the full tonnage tax profit from each company. The tonnage tax profit attributable to the ship is shared between them in proportion to their interests in the ship. See the example below.

(This treatment does not apply where two or more companies are regarded as operating the same ship because they have different interests in it, see TTM01320.)

Example

Companies A, B, C are the joint owners of a ship for the whole of the year ended 31 December 2013. A owns 16/64 of the ship, B owns 24/64, and C owns 24/64. The net registered tonnage of the ship is 17,371 tons.

The ship’s tonnage tax profit for the 12 month accounting period ended 31 December 2013 is £ 24966 (see the example in TTM01300). The share of profit to be included in the tonnage tax profits of each of the joint owners is:

Company A: £ 6242 (16/64 x £ 24966)
Company B: £ 9362 (24/64 x £ 24966)
Company C: £ 9362 (24/64 x £ 24966)