Tonnage Tax
The question
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she plans to discuss the Tonnage Tax scheme with (a) Cabinet colleagues, (b) shipowners and (c) maritime trade unions as part of the current Spending Review.
Answered by James Murray
Tonnage Tax is an advantageous corporation tax regime for shipping companies. It was introduced in 2000 to improve the competitiveness of the UK’s shipping industry.
As set out on GOV.UK, the Government forecasts that the cost of the regime in 2024-25 will be £185m: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/main-tax-expenditures-and-structural-reliefs. However, this assumes that shipping companies would remain in the UK without a globally competitive UK Tonnage Tax regime; in its absence, there is a significant risk that shipping companies could leave the UK to join tonnage tax regimes in other countries, so this amount of revenue would not be collected. The UK would also not benefit from shipping companies (i) strategically and commercially managing their vessels in the UK and (ii) fulfilling the regime’s cadet training commitment. Annual cost figures dating back to 2000 are not available
As with all taxes, the Government keeps Tonnage Tax under review. Phase 2 of the Spending Review will set departmental budgets for the rest of this Parliament – from 2026-27 until 2028-29 for day-to-day spending and 2029-30 for capital spending. Non-structural tax reliefs - GOV.UK
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