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Note 18 - Income Taxes
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2017
Notes to Financial Statements  
Income Tax Disclosure [Text Block]
18.
Income Taxes
 
Under the laws of the countries of the companies’ incorporation and/or vessels’ registration, the companies are
not
subject to tax on international shipping income, however, they are subject to registration and tonnage taxes, which have been included in Vessel operating expenses in the consolidated statements of operations.
 
Pursuant to the Internal Revenue Code of the United States (the “Code”), U.S. source income from the international operations of ships is generally exempt from U.S. tax if the Company operating the ships meets certain requirements. Among other things, in order to qualify for this exemption, the Company operating the ships must be incorporated in a country which grants an equivalent exemption from income taxes to U.S. corporations. All the Company’s ship-operating subsidiaries satisfy these initial criteria. In addition, these companies must be more than
50%
owned by individuals who are residents, as defined, in the country of incorporation or another foreign country that grants an equivalent exemption to U.S. corporations. These companies also currently satisfy the more than
50%
beneficial ownership requirement.
 
 
In addition, the management of the Company believes that by virtue of a special rule applicable to situations where the ship-operating companies are beneficially owned by a publicly traded company like the Company, the more than
50%
beneficial ownership requirement can also be satisfied based on the trading volume and the anticipated widely-held ownership of the Company’s shares, but
no
assurance can be given that this will remain so in the future, since continued compliance with this rule is subject to factors outside the Company’s control.