TAX Administration Jamaica (TAJ) would need to collect $900 million on Monday to meet the budgeted target for the small business tax.

With the September 15 deadline tomorrow, only $300 million of the targeted $1.2 billion has so far been collected, said Meris Haughton, Director of Communications at TAJ.

The shortfall, which amounts to 75 per cent of the budgeted target, was expected.

“Because it was a new tax, we did not anticipate that we would have gotten half of that amount at the June 15 date,” Haughton told the Observer.

She did not say how many of the 68,000 businesses registerd in Jamaica actually paid the tax.

TAJ notes that companies making a loss and those that are dormant are also liable to pay the tax.

Tomorrow, TAJ is anticipating that it will collect about twice the amount that it did in the first tranche of the tax which was due on June 15.

Business owners can now pay their taxes entirely online, courtesy of a recent upgrade to TAJ’s payment systems, Haughton said.

Prior to now, customers would have had to visit the tax office to make their payments. The new online payment option is expected to ease the process of making tax payments and improve compliance.

Taxpayers are also now able to download a payment advice from TAJ’s website and send it by bearer to any of the 24 Tax Offices island wide without visiting the office.

The added convenience, plus greater awareness of who the minimum business tax is applicable to, is expected to drive greater compliance, Haughton said.

The tax, which was implemented in April, requires persons operating a business to pay $60,000 per year in two instalments.

TAJ says all companies or other corporate bodies incorporated or registered in Jamaica are required to pay the Minimum Business Tax.

In the case of individuals, the tax authorities say persons including partners carrying out a trade, vocation or profession, and whose annual gross revenue is at least $3 million, are required to pay the tax.

Registered charities and individuals with gross revenue below $3 million are exempt from the tax.

Businesses can, however, reclaim the paid amount as a credit against their income tax liability if it is over $60,000.

This means that companies who have already paid the minimum business tax will only be required to pay the difference between that amount and their income tax liability.