How SeaPay crew payroll works

SeaPay sets up the payroll companies that act as the crew’s official employer. The crew are hired by the payroll company, not directly by the vessel owner, and every salary, deduction and filing is taken care of.

The service is for the owners, family offices, captains and management companies of superyachts and megayachts. To start, talk to your personal manager, or write to us through the Contact page and choose Payroll as the topic.

• Payroll companies: SeaPay sets up the payroll companies that act as the crew’s official employer.
• Crew hired through them: the crew are hired by the payroll company, not directly by the vessel owner.
• Pay and benefits: salaries, benefits and deductions — taxes, insurance and retirement plans.
• The owner protected: no direct exposure to employment disputes, tax liabilities or insurance claims.
• Compliant everywhere: maritime labour law and each jurisdiction’s rules, followed — including German crew payroll.
• Taxes paid for you: personal tax and social liabilities identified and paid, with reports to the employer — no blocks on accounts.

What MLC-compliant payroll means for yacht crew

The Maritime Labour Convention, 2006 (MLC 2006) is the International Labour Organization’s convention that sets out seafarers’ rights to decent conditions of work. It applies to ships ordinarily engaged in commercial activities, with some exceptions, such as fishing vessels and ships of traditional build. ILO guidance says that, in principle, yachts ordinarily engaged in commercial activities fall within its scope. Each country that ratifies it puts it into its own laws for the ships that fly its flag.

On pay, MLC 2006 says all seafarers must be paid for their work regularly and in full, in line with their employment agreements. Payments must be made at no greater than monthly intervals. Each month the seafarer gets an account of the payments due and the amounts paid, including wages, additional payments and the exchange rate used when payment was made in a different currency, or at a different rate, from the one agreed.

Shipowners must also give seafarers a way to send all or part of their earnings to their families. One way the convention names is letting seafarers allot part of their wages to be sent at regular intervals by bank transfer or similar means, on time and directly to the people they name. Any charge for this must be reasonable.

MLC 2006 makes one party, the shipowner, responsible for the crew’s living and working conditions. In the convention, the shipowner is the owner, or an organisation such as a manager or bareboat charterer that has taken over responsibility for operating the ship. ILO guidance says another company can employ a seafarer and pay their wages, but the shipowner keeps overall responsibility towards each seafarer. Such an employer can sign the employment agreement only as the shipowner’s representative, with a signed power of attorney, or in addition to the shipowner.

SeaPay’s payroll companies follow maritime labour law and each jurisdiction’s rules. This section is general information about MLC 2006, not legal advice.

What a seafarer employment agreement must contain

Under MLC 2006, every seafarer employed on board needs a clear, written, legally enforceable employment agreement, signed by the seafarer and the shipowner or the shipowner’s representative. The seafarer must be able to examine it and seek advice before signing, and each side keeps a signed original. It must contain at least the particulars below.

Each country can require more for the ships that fly its flag. With SeaPay, crew see their own contract and payslips in ReceiptKeeper, SeaPay’s iPhone app for crew, which is coming to the App Store. This is general information, not legal advice.

• The seafarer’s full name, date of birth or age, and birthplace
• The shipowner’s name and address
• Where and when the agreement is made
• The capacity in which the seafarer is employed
• The wages, or the formula used to calculate them
• Paid annual leave, or the formula used to calculate it
• How the agreement ends: the notice period, the expiry date or, for a voyage, the port of destination
• The health and social security protection benefits the shipowner provides
• The seafarer’s right to repatriation
• A reference to the collective bargaining agreement, if there is one
• Anything else national law requires

Crew payroll and social security

Under MLC 2006, each country that ratifies the convention must take steps to give social security protection to the seafarers ordinarily resident in its territory, in at least three of nine branches: medical care, sickness, unemployment, old-age, employment injury, family, maternity, invalidity and survivors’ benefits. That protection must be no less favourable than for shore workers resident there. Countries can agree other rules between them, so which system applies depends on the crew member and the countries involved.

The flag state’s responsibilities still include medical care and shipowners’ liability under the convention. The convention’s guidance adds that the employment agreement should say how each branch of social security is provided, with information such as statutory deductions from wages and the shipowner’s contributions.

With SeaPay, the payroll company identifies and pays each crew member’s personal tax and social liabilities, with reports to the employer. SeaPay Reporting comes with every account at no extra subscription: social security, local taxes always on file and tax residence in check.

This is general information, not tax or legal advice.

Why yacht crew payroll is so complex

Several sets of rules meet on one yacht. The flag state’s law sets what the employment agreement must contain. Social security depends on where each crew member is ordinarily resident and on agreements between the countries involved. Tax depends on each person’s circumstances, starting with where they are resident: the UK’s Seafarers’ Earnings Deduction, for example, is open only to employees resident in the UK or in an EU or EEA state. And when pay is made in a different currency from the one agreed, the monthly account has to show the exchange rate used.

SeaPay’s approach is to employ the crew through a payroll company that follows maritime labour law and each jurisdiction’s rules, so the owner is kept clear of direct employment liabilities. This is general information, not tax or legal advice.

Crew payroll for German-flagged yachts

In SeaPay’s experience, Germany is one of the strictest flags. Crew payroll there is governed by detailed employment law, tax rules and social security contributions, and penalties for non-compliance are punitive rather than corrective.

SeaPay provides German payroll services together with German HR services, which, in SeaPay’s view, German-flagged vessels, especially commercial ones, cannot do without. SeaPay’s February 2024 article on crew payroll in Germany covers the German payslip (Lohnabrechnung), wages versus salary, wage tax, church tax, the solidarity surcharge, social security and per diem rates.

Signed payslips crew can check

Crew see their own payslips and contract in SeaPay ReceiptKeeper, the iPhone app for crew, which is coming to the App Store. It signs in with a seapay.network account from the company the crew member works for, and it is free. The same app is where crew snap receipts at the till.

Every SeaPay payslip carries a digital signature and a signed QR code. Scan it with a phone camera and SeaPay’s verifier checks the signature against SeaPay’s public key in the browser — nothing about the document is uploaded. The check confirms what the payslip’s signed summary states: the employer, employee, pay period, gross pay, net pay and employer cost.

A payroll settlement can be checked the same way: it confirms the payroll company, pay period, number of employees and total due. Access follows each person’s role: crew see their own payslips, contracts and certificates; the captain sees the vessel’s budget, crew and documents; the owner sees everything in their companies.

Crew payroll software and salary accounts

Management companies run payroll for the crew of every vessel in SeaPay Workstation, beside the budget, tax and documents for each vessel, company and holding. Workstation is in beta for macOS and Windows. SeaPay Management, the software for fleets, includes automated payroll and crew management. It is from €59 a month, and included with corporate accounts for fleets.

SeaPay Network, for companies registered in the EU and UK, has bespoke pricing and comes with dedicated multi-currency IBANs, corporate cards, batch payments, salary sub-accounts, and payroll and management software. SeaPay World, for companies registered outside the EU and UK, is from €70 a month. For seafarers and crew, SeaPay Me is an account with IBAN and cards — dedicated IBANs, virtual and physical cards, salary accounts, additional family accounts and low-cost international transfers — from €25 a month.

Monthly payroll through SeaPay counts as activity for the Annual Fee Rebate: stay active for 12 months and 100% of the platform fees you paid come back to you, automatically. The account must stay in good standing, a minimum monthly volume may apply, and some charges, such as the foreign exchange margin, are not included. The programme’s terms apply.

SeaPay® is not a financial institution. All financial services are provided by PRIVAT 3 MONEY Ltd., registered in England & Wales under company number 11700691, authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority as an Electronic Money Institution (FRN 900989). Electronic money is not a bank deposit and is not covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS).

Sources

Last reviewed 13 October 2026 · SeaPay