Capital Construction Fund Program

National

The purpose of the Capital Construction Fund Program is to improve the fishing fleet by allowing fishermen to accelerate their accumulation of funds with which to replace or improve their fishing vessels. Created by the Merchant Marine Act of 1936 as amended (46 U.S.C. 1177), the program enables fishermen to construct, reconstruct, or, under limited circumstances, acquire fishing vessels with before-tax dollars. Under the program, the amount accumulated by deferring tax on fishing income, when used to help pay for a vessel project, represents the time value of deferred taxes on operating profit. The taxes are recovered by the U.S. Government by reducing the depreciable cost of the vessel.

Any U.S. citizen is eligible who owns or leases a U.S.-built fishing vessel of at least 2 net tons and has an acceptable program for constructing, reconstructing, or acquiring a fishing vessel of at least 2 net tons. The term "fishing vessel" includes vessels used commercially in the fisheries of the United States for catching, transporting, and processing fish. Also included are commercial passenger-carrying vessels used for fishing parties. Applications are accepted at any time. However, to be applicable to any given tax year, a Capital Construction Fund agreement must be executed and entered on or before the due date (with extensions) for filing your federal tax return for that tax year.

The CCF program will not approve applications from any applicant owning or operating a vessel determined to be engaged in Illegal, Unreported, or Unregulated (IUU) fishing. Any applicant which operates and/or owns multiple vessels but only one is involved in IUU fishing, will also be denied from CCF participation.