ST ANDREW, Jamaica — Tax Administration Jamaica (TAJ) says preliminary figures indicate that it has again surpassed the year-to-date collections target for the 2017/18 fiscal year.

According to the TAJ, for the period April – December 2017, the revenue authority collected $207.7 billion, which represents 106.1 per cent of the $195.7 billion target.  

“This performance continues the positive trend recorded over the last three years, with the authority being on track to exceed the $283.4B annual target,” said TAJ.

The agency also noted that this positive outcome is as a result of the continuation of focused compliance strategies which began last financial year, and resulted in surpassing its annual target for 2016/17.

These compliance efforts, TAJ said, included closer monitoring of arrears which was facilitated through the implementation of the Revenue Administration Information System (RAiS); the mandating of medium taxpayers to file their returns online; the application of a system generated penalty of $5,000 per month per return for late filing. 

Additionally, the compliance activities have been bolstered by the passing of several pieces of legislation, namely Access to Third Party Information and Garnishment.

 TAJ said it will continue to utilise all the avenues available to encourage and foster voluntary compliance through moral suasion. Notwithstanding, tax evaders will be aggressively pursued through intelligence and enforcement actions and brought to book.