The list of careers available on a cruise liner is a seemingly endless list: engineering, entertainment, child care, retail, catering… it goes on! However whether you are the captain or the cleaner, all employees could get tax free earnings.
At Whitaker & Co we have managed accounts for clients who work at sea for over 10 years and the majority of these were security officers dealing with pirates off the coast of Africa, and the rules for tax free income is exactly the same regardless of your role on the moving vessel.
It is not as simple as getting on the vessel and all your money is tax free! Nothing is that simple where HMRC is concerned. There are rules that must be met to qualify for your income to be tax free.
The rules you can find them on our site here https://whittakerandco.com/seafarers/. If you meet the criteria to be tax free you will have to submit a tax return to HMRC.
You may have already paid tax through your employers PAYE system then you will be able to reclaim the tax from HMRC. If the company who are paying you are not on the PAYE system, you will notify on the return that you have qualified to not pay tax. Don’t assume that if you have been out of the UK for the majority of the year that you are tax free and don’t have to do anything with HMRC.
Whittaker & Co will be at the Cruise Job Fair in London on 22nd May 2017 to provide information on getting your income tax free.
Interested in getting into the Cruise industry? It is free to attend and will host a large number of recruitment companies and some of the larger well-known Cruise Liner companies. http://www.cruisejobfair.com/london/
