("ais") incentive - Watson, Farley & Williams

WATSON, FARLEY & WILLIAMS LLP
Guidelines for granting of AISE
status
7 The government body which administers the AISE Incentive Scheme is the
Maritime Port Authority of Singapore (the “MPA”). Currently the following
guidelines will be applied in determining whether a company qualifies for AISE
status:
(a)
It must be a tax resident Singapore company (i.e. a Singapore incorporated
company which is managed and controlled in Singapore).
(b)
It must own and/or operate a significant fleet of vessels.
Although a "significant" owner or operator is not defined, we are given to
understand that this refers to a company which owns and/or operates a specific
number vessels in Singapore (which must be owned by other companies in the
same group if chartered in by the AISE company). We believe, however, that a
degree of flexibility will be exercised in the context of FPSOs, FSOs and semisubmersibles.
If the proposed AISE company is a joint venture between two companies, both
shareholders must be "significant" shipowners, each of which would qualify
separately for AISE status.
(c)
Its shipping operations must be controlled and managed from Singapore.
(d)
It must have directly attributable business spending in Singapore of a specified
S$ amount per annum - expenses can include manpower costs, rental, utilities,
repairs, bunkers, stores, spares, fees on professional services and financial costs
(for which caps may apply and which caps will vary from time to time subject to
prevailing policy). However, we understand that companies that are already
established with an operation in Singapore must have a business spending of
more than the required minimum of $4 million per annum.
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