New Legislation Would Simplify Jamaican Tax Filings

Above: Finance Minister Audley Shaw (JIS Photo)

By the Caribbean Journal staff

Jamaica’s Cabinet has approved amendments to six pieces of legislation that would facilitate the use of a single form to file annual tax returns.

The amendments would be made to a series of acts, led by the Income Tax Act, according to Information Minister Sen. Arthur Williams.

“Two years ago, there was [an] amalgamation of payroll deductions by employees and employers, and phase one saw the introduction of what is called the SO1 form, to allow companies to file a single return for all the various tax types,” he said. “in this phase, what is being done is to enable the filing of annual returns using a single form called the SO2 form.

Among the other acts to be amended are the Education Tax Act and the Revenue Administration Act.

“This is the second stage of the whole development of the amalgamation of the payment of tax types in Jamaica,” he said.

Jamaica’s government has been pushing to improve the management and collection of taxes in the country.

Earlier this year, Finance Minister Audley Shaw said there something of a culture of noncompliance in the country regarding tax payments.