Jamiaca tax rebates made simple

Jamaican PAYE taxpayers can now get income tax refunds electronically

Starting August 2014, TAJ or tax administration Jamaica will pay income tax refunds directly into the bank accounts of PAYE tax payers as well as pensioners. Earlier, the refunds were paid through cheques. To enable this change, TAJ is running a pilot project named EFT or Electronics Funds Transfer. All individuals who are eligible for a PAYE Income tax refund need to submit their bank account details.

Here's the procedure:

• Individuals eligible for income tax refund should fill up a standard Client Information Form of Government of Jamaica (GOJ), which will include their bank information. The GoJ forms are available online at www.jamaicatax.gov.jm.
• When applying for a refund, this form should be provided along with the IT05 income tax form
• You need to also include documents that will help in verification of bank account number and account type

Under the EFT system, the government will use this information and deposit the refund amount straight to the taxpayer's bank account.

Initially, EFT pilot focused only at the TAJ Refunds unit. However as per TAJ, from September 2014 onwards, the system will be functional at all 29 tax offices in the island. Starting from 2015, the EFT project will be functional also for GCT or general consumption tax.

This project will help the Jamaican tax administration in reducing their costs, effort and time in processing refund payments. It will also be easier for the administration to track the status of refunds electronically. For taxpayers, this feature will save the time and effort of collecting cheques from TAJ and then depositing it into their bank accounts.