The taxation of shipowners' tonnage: a device that is still in question
On 1 January 2004, the tonnage tax scheme for French shipowners became possible.
In concrete terms, this means that, for two decades, French shipowners can be taxed according to the volume of cargo – or tonnage – of ships they control or manage, and not on the basis of their profits, as is usually the case. Currently, instead of paying 25% corporate tax, they can pay a tax of EUR 24 cents per tonne of goods transported.
When it was introduced into France 20 years ago, the scheme covered 70% of the world fleet and was already in force in Greece, the Netherlands, Norway, Germany, the United Kingdom, Spain, Denmark and Ireland. In order to place its shipowners on equal terms with their European competitors, the French State had then decided to authorise the option of tonnage taxation for all its shipping companies, provided that their turnover came from more than 75% of the operation of armed vessels in commerce.
Until 2020, the tax advantage of this tax system was low, but with the Covid crisis and the consequent rise in freight rates, the profits of some shipowners have gone away. In 2020, theFIT(International Transport Forum)OECD(Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development)a studyrevealing that the effective rate of taxation in the maritime sector was around 7 per cent globally, well below the majority of tax rates calculated on profits. If French shipowners had been taxed on their profits, the state would then have raised EUR 10 billion in revenue between 2021 and 2023.
In view of these losses, various French political parties want to tackle what they believe to be a « Tax niche » granted to maritime actors. They defend this tax system, arguing that competition is harsh and that this money is primarily used to decarbonize their fleet, which is a huge investment for them. UNCTAD (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development) reported in December 2023 that, according to existing estimates, decarbonization of the global fleet by 2050 could cost between $8 billion and $28 billion annually.
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