§ Mr. WoodcockTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will publish details of any special arrangements for the taxation of earnings of seafarers which apply or are in active contemplation in each of the member states of the European Economic Community.
§ Mr. Norman LamontLast year for United Kingdom resident seafarers we eased the conditions for entitlement to the 100 per cent. foreign earnings deduction available to those United Kingdom residents who work wholly or partly abroad for a qualifying period of 365 days. Seafarers may now visit the United Kingdom for up to 90 consecutive days and up to one quarter of the total number of days abroad and in the United Kingdom without losing the deduction.
I understand that in Greece, for many years, the earnings of ratings have been exempt from tax and a special low rate of tax (5.5 per cent.) is applied to officers' earnings. A number of other EC countries (Belgium, Denmark, Germany and Netherlands) have either introduced or are reported to be considering arrange-ments, the effect of which is to use the seafarers' tax liability as the basis for calculating a subsidy in favour of the employing shipping company.