The right structure protects your yacht, your family and your investment — long before the keys change hands.
Every yacht we transact — from a coastal cruiser kept on the Gold Coast to a 50-metre flagship moving between the Mediterranean and the Whitsundays — sits inside a structure of ownership entities, flag and registry, finance, tax, insurance and crew. Get that structure right at the outset and it quietly supports every voyage. Get it wrong and it surfaces, expensively, exactly when it shouldn’t. After 60+ years in the industry, Leigh-Smith Yachts coordinates the lawyers, accountants, lenders, surveyors and flag agents so that you, as the owner, see one project plan rather than a dozen invoices.
Coordinated guidance across ownership entities, GST, luxury car tax equivalents, import duty and capital gains — so the structure you settle on supports the way you'll actually use the yacht.
Advice on Australian, Cayman, Marshall Islands, BVI and Maltese flags, recreational versus commercial registration, and the cruising permits required for your intended waters.
From MARPOL and SOLAS compliance through to crew employment, payroll, and seafarer agreements — your obligations are mapped before contracts are signed, not after.
We map your usage profile, cruising plan and ownership preferences with you and your advisers.
Entity, flag, finance, tax and crew options compared side-by-side — with indicative running cost.
MOA negotiation, escrow, survey, sea trial, classification, registry deletion and re-flagging coordinated.
Marina, fuel, insurance and refit programs handed across to our Ownership team.
Whether you’re scoping a new build, considering an offshore acquisition or preparing to sell, the first conversation is private and obligation-free.
No. We are yacht brokers and project managers, not lawyers, accountants or licensed tax agents. We coordinate the transaction and work alongside your maritime lawyer, accountant and lender — and we can introduce you to specialists we have worked with for many years if you don’t already have advisers in place.
It depends on how the yacht will be used, who will benefit, where it will cruise, and your succession plans. Personal ownership is the simplest path for purely private Australian use. A company or trust often makes sense for shared ownership, asset protection or estate planning. We map the trade-offs with your advisers before contracts are signed.
Most Australian-resident owners cruising domestically register under the Australian flag through AMSA. Owners planning extended Mediterranean, Caribbean or global cruising commonly consider Cayman Islands, Marshall Islands, BVI or Malta for tax, financing and survey reasons. Lender preference and crew nationality all weigh into the decision.
Generally 10% GST plus 5% import duty (where applicable) is payable on the customs value at the time of clearance. Temporary importation, bonded storage and certain commercial structures can defer or alter the position. This is one of the first questions we address on an offshore acquisition.
We project-manage the closing — coordinating the maritime lawyer, classification society, flag registry, lender and broker on the other side — so that funds flow, protocol of delivery, deletion and re-registration all land on the same day. The legal instruments themselves are drafted by qualified maritime counsel.
Leigh-Smith Yachts is an international yacht brokerage and project management firm. We do not provide legal, tax, accounting or financial product advice. Information on this page is general in nature and is provided for orientation only. Before entering into any yacht acquisition, sale, ownership or registration arrangement, you should obtain advice from a qualified maritime lawyer, accountant and licensed adviser taking into account your personal circumstances.
