UK Seafarers FAQ

The SED is a claim specific to seafarers who meet the criteria below.

For tax years pre 6^th April 2012, an SED claim is available to seafarers who:

• Are ‘Ordinarily Resident' in the UK (see below);
• Work on Ships (see below as to what qualifies as a ship);
• Undertake work duties outside of the UK (see below); and,
• Spend more than half their time outside the UK (see below).

From 6^th April 2012 the rules on who can claim SD are relaxed. For tax years after 6^th April 2012, the requirement to be' Ordinarily Resident' in the UK is changed to being resident in a member state of the EEA.

It means that your habitual abode is in the UK. For example, a Latvian seafarer who

• Works 1 month on, 1 month off; and
• Spends his months off in Latvia

is unlikely to be resident in the UK. Of course, residence is a complex area and really depends on your exact circumstances so you should speak with your taxback.com account manager to see how you're classified.

There is no statutory definition of the word ship. The Court of Appeal decided in the case of Perks v Clark that for the purposes of the deduction a ship must be:

• capable of navigation and
• used in navigation.

Navigation means ordered movement across the water. To be a ship, a vessel does not need to have a rudder or its own motive power.

Structures that do not normally move about are not generally regarded as ships as they are not used in navigation. These include fixed production platforms, accommodation barges, light and weather ships, etc.

Mobile drilling rigs including semi-submersibles, jack-ups and similar vessels in the oil and gas industry may be capable of being used in navigation (and may actually be so used). However, they are specifically excluded by the law as being treated as ships for the purposes of the deduction. In consequence, workers on offshore installations, no matter what their duties are, are not seafarers and are not entitled to the deduction.

For the purposes of determining where duties are undertaken, the UK Continental Shelf is treated as being within the UK. Thus any voyages to oil rigs etc in the UK North Sea are treated as being within the UK.

Any voyages which leave a UK port and return to a UK port without docking at a port outside of the UK are treated as being undertaken within the UK.

Thus, in order to have duties undertaken outside the UK, the voyages must dock outside the UK and outside the UK continental shelf. Anyone who does not meet this criterion does NOT qualify for SED.

The relevant geography for this test is 12 nautical miles from the UK shore. This means that so long as more than half the tax year is spent more than 12 nautical miles from the UK shore, this test is passed.

It is also worth noting that in determining whether more than half the tax year has been spent outside the UK, holidays and days off also count.

Yes. If you met all the conditions in 2011/12 except the Ordinary Residence condition and you are resident in an EEA country, you should become eligible in 2012/13 (assuming you still meet the other conditions).

If the SED cannot be claimed because you are not Ordinarily resident in the UK (prior to 6^th April 2012) or are not resident in an EEA state after 6^th April 2012 then you may be able to claim relief as a non resident mariner.

Basically this means that you will get relief for duties undertaken outside of the UK. It is important to note that, as with SED, duties undertaken within the UK Continental Shelf are classed as being undertaken within the UK. As a result, seafarers working within the UK sector of the North Sea are treated as working within the UK.