H M Revenue & Customs TAX Ruling

[James McLauchlan]

OK looks like we have drawn one in 🙂

Hi saefarer [spelling?] and welcome to the ROVworld Forum. Nice introduction from yourself there 😉

Sadly, I am not VERY educated myself and feel offended by you naturally assuming that all people here are ‘VERY educated’. Because of my sub-standard education I also had to look up the spelling of your username [saefarer] in the dictionary. Imagine my surprise when I read that we seem to have, in the Forum, a seafarer can’t actually spell the word in a profession they claim to be defender of. 🙄

The sooner the inland revenue/goverment establish a definition of a seafarer, rather than a ship, the better

I agree, but if the Tax man currently struggles with the definition of a ship I’d be interested to see how they would get on defining a seafarer.

I do not claim SED and never will. So, whether the SED claim facility exits or not, I have nothing to gain financially and therefore am not affected by any SED decision made by the UK authorities. Like you though I am entitled to express my opinion.

In my view a ‘seafarer’ is someone who’s income is derived from working at sea. No matter if we take into account catering crew, deck crew, engineering crew, medic, ships officer or project crew, they all earn their living as a result of being at sea. That makes them all seafarers in my mind. Therefore those seafarers should be entitled to claim SED.

As saefarer brought up the matter of war it might be worth pointing out that, in time of war, whilst they are crewing their cargo ship with a few tanks in the hold, project vessels will be required to maintain the supply of oil and gas that may drive those transport ships.

[Cabledog]

At the end of it all, the main reason BRITISH seafarer’s lost most of the jobs at sea was down to their attitude, ie we are the best so don’t have to work as hard as the rest, same goes for the rest of the country really. When you look at it, it does explain a lot. 😳 😳

James is correct when he states thast ALL personell that work at sea should be intitled to SED.

Oh yeah, seafarer, although I am just an ROV guy I am also qualified as a Royal Navy Navigator and have my YMO ticket. There is generally a lot more to the guys on the back deck than most people give us credit for.
🙄 😉 😯 😆 😆 8)
Be good
Dog

[bcklad]

Surely all these VERY educated people can read and understand, the SED was introduced after the first Iraq war to ensure that there was/is a pool of qualified British SEAFARERS, so that in times of conflict ships required for strategic duties can be manned by such. Although a DSV/ROV vessel is unable to be operated commercially without the project team, it will be of little use when transporting tanks etc to the other side of the world.
If the members of this forum want to maintain there tax exempt status then it is suggested they join the merchant navy and then be classed as a seafarer, assuming they have the ability to do so.
The sooner the inland revenue/goverment establish a definition of a seafarer, rather than a ship, the better, although I am sure some members can suggest there own definition!

First off Welcome Seafarer 8)

I think your sadly mistaken if you think us ROV guys are very well educated because if we were we wouldnt be working away from home for weeks on end in some of the most undersiable locations in the world 😀

[Micbeth]

I am highly educated and my reading and comprehension skills were rated highly during my years of education. But don’t remember SED, or the reasons for its introduction, being taught as part of any curriculum at any educational institution I attended. So I think the education argument is irrelevant to the whole situation.

I do not take advantage of SED and do not have a vested interest in whether it is maintained or not. But I do think anybody spending half their (spelt correctly by an educated person) life at sea in a foreign location in the pursuit of their livelihood is entitled to some sort of tax break. They are bringing foreign capital into their own economy and therefore contribute to the wealth of their country. Being highly taxed on their income when employed in this situation is really contributing twice.

[saefarer]

Looks like I drew more than 1 in!!

[James McLauchlan]

Looks like I drew more than 1 in!!

Oh wot fun 😉

[saefarer]

Almost as much as working on a ship!

[hunter]

Hey lads been reading the posts with interest latley and i’ve been enjoying the healthy debate! I’m a project eng (dive / rov) with one of the big subsea comapnies but prior to that was marine crew. Having been offshore on both sides of the fence I can sympathise with the marine crews plight, i.e. Techs wotever on more than the marine crew but as i’ve often said to them(shoot me down in flames senior officers) project crew are on more than marine crew: end of. Anyones fault?..No. Ermm how about marine guys get together and do something about it like change job? I left the marine crew because i was faced with the decision of leaving a career at sea (which I did enjoy) or making some money. Money talks guys! All the new cadets coming through and other junior officers are faced with the choice of geting paid decent cash in the MN or changing to the project side (which I encourage all my fellow marine mates to do) and making more money and not having to put up with the hierarchy/ room inspection etc etc. Marine…. Project??? Get a grip marine crew, engineers, our skills are sought after and more luctravley paid! As for SED… It was a loophole which was nice… but Big Brother likes to get his piece!

Later Boys!

See all offshore!

[Pugwash]

All this bickering about who is a seafarer or not means that people have taken their eye off the ball.
Stop going on about who is intelligent or not. I went to Eton, so I must be absolutely and utterly brilliant. We all know that we get huge planks on board ships and I don’t mean the decking, but we still find ways of working efficiently with them!
The fact here is that we have not won anything yet and the decision still has to be finalised (february 09 I believe).
So for Chrissakes cut the cackle and the shite and get back to the issue of saving OUR SED 👿

(And Oh yes, British seafarers are still the best in the world :!:)

[tellytubby]

What about defining a seafarer as someone who requires a discharge book for their position onboard, not just to claim SED?

what do you mean this isnt the Numast forum page, hahaha

[Andy Shiers]

Vote Labour out before they do anymore damage to our once fine , proud and respected nation 👿

[Pugwash]

There are British seafarers on foreign ships today that don’t even sign on to the ship’s articles and a discharge book is pretty easy to get hold of these days even if you are in charge of a rowing boat on the Serpentine!
However, as I said before lets refocus on saving the SED as that is the priority right now.

[tellytubby]

its only an educated guess but i cant see SED continuing for very long as far as offshore vessels are concerned. Comms from any government sources seem to make it quite clear that they are of the opinion that only marine crew should be able to claim SED. They might not introduce any change to defining a seafarer, but im sure in the next couple of years working on an offshore vessel with any non-marine crew whatsoever is going to disqualify the whole ship from SED.
dont think any amount of lobbying is going to change the ultimate decision, just a case of what country to move to to avoid paying tax, or increased wages from the companies. Im changing jobs in the summer and the company is going to pay the tax bill (so they say!!).

[Gamekeeper]

Theres nothing like positive thinking……..

[mind-when-this-was-fields]

Weel weel, Some people seem to think that the ‘non marine crew’ personnel only get a discharge book to claim SED??
Well some countries won’t let you in to work if you don’t fookin have it so it is a necessity for me!!! not just a way to claim fookin tax back!!!
fight the power!!

[Author]

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