HQ 0112094 - Application for Refund of Special Tonnage Taxes and Light Money for the Luxembourg Vessel M/V FEDERAL OTTAWA - United States International Trade Commision Rulings

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HQ 112094

March 10, 1992

VES-11-11 CO:R:IT:C 112094 MLR

CATEGORY: CARRIER

Regional Commissioner
South Central Region
U.S. Customs Service
423 Canal Street
New Orleans, Louisiana 70130-2341

RE: Application for Refund of Special Tonnage Taxes and Light Money for the Luxembourg Vessel M/V FEDERAL OTTAWA

Dear Sir:

This is in reference to your memorandum of January 29, 1992, which transmitted documents from Blue Water Shipping Company, concerning an application for refund of special tonnage taxes and light money.

FACTS:

Special tonnage taxes and light money in the amount of $13,049 were collected from Blue Water Shipping Company on March 18, 1991, for the entry of the Luxembourg vessel, the M/V FEDERAL OTTAWA, at the Port of New Orleans, Louisiana. The monies were collected pursuant to section 121 of title 46, United States Code Appendix (46 U.S.C. app. 121), and section 4.20, Customs Regulations (19 CFR 4.20); section 4.22 of the Customs Regulations (19 CFR 4.22) had not been amended to include Luxembourg.

On May 15, 1991, the agent for the vessel under consideration applied to the District Director of Customs in New Orleans for a refund of the special tonnage taxes and light money collected. The District Director forwarded the application to the Regional Commissioner.

ISSUE:

Whether the special tonnage taxes and light money assessed against a Luxembourg vessel after the effective date that Luxembourg was added as one of the nations exempt under section 4.22 of the Customs Regulations may be refunded when timely application for refund is made.

LAW AND ANALYSIS:

Under 46 U.S.C. app. 121 and 128, a special tonnage tax in the amount of fifty cents per ton and light money in the amount of fifty cents are to be assessed on vessels not built in the United States and not of the United States. However, pursuant to 46 U.S.C. app. 141 (see also final clause of penultimate sentence of 46 U.S.C. app. 121), upon satisfactory proof that no discriminating duties of tonnage or imposts are imposed in the ports of another nation upon United States vessels, "...foreign discriminating duties of tonnage and impost within the United States are suspended and discontinued, so far as respects the vessels of such foreign nation...." The nations for which such satisfactory proof has been supplied are listed in section 4.22, Customs Regulations (19 CFR 4.22). Luxembourg is one of those nations.

The Customs Regulations pertaining to tonnage taxes and light money are found in sections 4.20-4.24, Customs Regulations (19 CFR 4.20-4.24). The procedures and requirements for obtaining a refund of tonnage taxes and light money are in section 4.24. Under that section, an application for refund must be made within one (1) year from the date of payment. Paragraph (e) of section 4.24 provides that such an application must include:

...a certificate by the owner or...agent that payment of tonnage tax at the applicable rate has been or will be made for each entry of the vessel on a voyage on which that rate is applicable before the end of the current tonnage year, exclusive of any payment which has been refunded or which may be refunded as a result of such application.

The special tonnage taxes and light money were collected because Luxembourg did not appear on the list of nations exempt from collection of these taxes and light money in section 4.22, Customs Regulations (19 CFR 4.22). Customs places the names of nations on that list upon notification by the United States Department of State that no discriminating duties of tonnage are levied by those nations on vessels of the United States.

Customs was notified on March 4, 1991, that Luxembourg should be added to the list of nations exempt from the assessment of special tonnage taxes, and that the exemption should be made retroactive to January 1, 1991. Prior to amending our regulations to reflect this change, we sent a telegram to all regional commissioners on April 22, 1991, reporting this change, including the retroactive effective date.

When the owner or agent of a vessel which has been assessed special tonnage taxes and light money timely submits the original vessel document to the District Director of Customs for the port where the special tonnage taxes and light money were assessed, the special tonnage taxes and light money may be refunded.

In this case the vessel agent has timely applied for a refund of the special tonnage taxes and light money assessed against the M/V FEDERAL OTTAWA. It is satisfactorily established that the vessel was documented under the flag of Luxembourg on its March 18, 1991, entry in New Orleans when the special tonnage taxes and light money were collected. Because Luxembourg vessels were exempt from special tonnage taxes and light money on that date, the special tonnage taxes and light money under consideration may be refunded.

HOLDING:

Special tonnage taxes and light money assessed against a vessel of Luxembourg subsequent to January 1, 1991, may be refunded.

Sincerely,

B. James Fritz

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