Begining of the end for OETC

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EL
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Begining of the end for OETC

Post by EL »

The latest budget proposes phasing out the Overseas Tax Credit beginning 2013 killing it by 2016.

http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/gncy/bdgt/2012/qa07-eng.html
Last edited by EL on Mon Apr 02, 2012 2:54 am, edited 1 time in total.
EL
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Re: Beggining of the end of OETC

Post by EL »

Join in if it affects you or someone you know.
Hello everyone,

Let's see how many signatures we can get to protest the governments
proposal to begin phasing out the OETC next year and eradiacating it
by 2016.
Please forward to anyone you know working overseas.

Many Thanks,

Alexander (Sandy) Thorne

Follow this link to Change.org to sign the petition

https://www.change.org/petitions/canada ... n-in-place
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JollyJack
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Re: Beggining of the end for OETC

Post by JollyJack »

All this means really, is that recruiting agencies in Canada, like Seabase, for example, will have to pay full wages, they will lose the tax allowance they got by paying seafarer's less. The salary I got from them on Maersk Bonavista was as if I were paying top tax rate, Seabase took the tax allowance, I didn't get it. Losing the overseas tax credit won't take any skin from the noses of sailors, it will merely impact the profits of recruiting agencies, who will have to be honest now.
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EL
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Re: Beggining of the end for OETC

Post by EL »

Maybe those people who work for Seabase, Secunda and possibly Atlantic Towing wont see a difference. But those, who work for CMar, for example, will see a big change for sure.

Over 400 people already sign this petition.
Brad
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Re: Beggining of the end for OETC

Post by Brad »

I work overseas on a DSV as second engineer, I will see my take home pay get cut in half by the phase out of the OETC. There are five Canadians within this company alone. So yes, Seafarers will be affected, as well as those in the mining industry, engineering firms, amongst others.

The Petition should be signed, and the usual letters to the blowhards should be written.

Does anyone think all these Seafarers, and the rest, will happily return to Canada and all the jobs available at the great wage?
Neither do I.

I do believe, correct me if I'm wrong, the UK still have the SED tax deduction, and retain ALL there taxes. (After the Nautilus Union got involved).
I know the wages in Australia are great, does anyone know their tax scheme?
Perhaps my next tax return will go to flights and immigration papers.
Partial rant over.
Fairwinds and following seas.
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The Dieselduck
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Re: Begining of the end for OETC

Post by The Dieselduck »

I've made a blog post about it, and spread it around a bit. http://dieselduck.blogspot.ca/2012/04/c ... -jobs.html

Seems very silly of this government to do this...

Tuesday, April 03, 2012
Conservative budget 2012, "Creating Jobs" ?

The Canadian government has not, is not, really known for any maritime policy prowess. There was some hope when they undertook the National Ship Procurement Strategy, that they could be seen to be recognizing how important ships are to Canada, but really this was more about defence spending, rather than a positive outlook on the importance of shipyards and heavy industry.

With the latest federal budget, delivered late last week, the conservative government really took whatever little hope Canadian maritime professionals had of being competitive on the international market, and threw it right out the window. The ruling Conservative Party under the leadership of Mr. Harper, have introduced a phase out plan of the Overseas Employment Tax Credit, also known as the OETC.

This tax credit was probably not originally meant to appeal to Canadian foreign going seafarers, but has been extensively utilized by those sailing aboard ships servicing the oil and gas industry. What it did, is allow a higher income threshold before income tax became applicable - therefore reducing the overall income tax load. This allowed for money earned by a Canadian seafarer, to have similar purchasing power, to their international counterparts. However, with the phase out, this means the same salary paid internationally will be worth much less to a Canadian because most of it will be taxed as if working in Canada.

Income taxes on foreign going Canadian seafarers, has put us at a severe competitive disadvantage to our international peers, and I have long railed against it. I have been fighting for income tax change for some time on my main website, but without much success. Mr. Flaherty, the Finance Minister, has flatly turn down any options for us seafarers. You can view his response to my queries on the main website, just look for the "Taxes" area - which incidental, has quite a bit of information on Canadian taxes and seafarers, including the OETC.

To be honest, I am not upset about the phase out, I think the program was designed to benefit a very narrow field of companies; the benefit to professional seafarers, I believe, was unintentional, confined to a very narrow section of Canadian seafarers. I would much prefer a proper income taxation scheme, similar to those in most international jurisdictions, that recognize the importance of all seafarers.

Unfortunately, I have not much confidence that this government is able to develop a strategy for the maritime industry, much less one that focuses on the human workforce. So giving up even a millimetre of benefits to seafarers is therefore a step in the wrong direction in my view.

You can learn more about the phase out of the OETC on the CCRA's website. As you can well imagine, there are a few of our peers affected by this, and they are not too happy about it. There is a an active campaign to let the Finance Minister know about their displeasure with the changes, you can lend your support for it at the "Allow the current OETC rules to remain in place" petition, which can be found here. There is a discussion thread going on The Common Rail as well, you can find that here.
Martin Leduc
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JollyJack
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Re: Begining of the end for OETC

Post by JollyJack »

For the record, if a UK seafarer is out of the country for 6 months and 1 day, he does not pay any tax whatever. Come to think, if any ex-pat worker meets this requirement, he doesn't pay tax either! NHS and GPC contributions (health and pension) are on a voluntary basis when under that tax umbrella, (except when working for a Brit company based in UK) which is why my UK pension is at a reduced rate.

(yup, I get British Old Age Pension with 20 years contribution time, less contract work overseas when I did not contribute. I also get the Canadian Pension with 30 years contributions...and the Brit pension is more than the Canadian one!)
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JK
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Re: Begining of the end for OETC

Post by JK »

a triple Dipper!!
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JollyJack
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Re: Begining of the end for OETC

Post by JollyJack »

Sometimes it pays to be an old fart!
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Re: Begining of the end for OETC

Post by KJC42 »

I work for Seamanning now and have been overseas with them for about 6 years or so as a deck hand/Olier. I have to say that if the OETC wasn't there, I would have been laid off long ago. It does affect us if it is not there, take around $15000 for the lowest paid person in tax refund and with 2 crews (22 )people, thats alot of incentive for a company to keep the experience crew while looking for work overseas or on the spot market. I think if we lose the OTEC, Canada loses alot of good wages.
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