KINGSTON, Jamaica – The Tax Administration of Jamaica (TAJ) has extended the deadline for the submission of new applications for the Government of Jamaica’s Reverse Income Tax Credit (RITC) from December 2 to December 13, 2024, as the eligibility period for the filing of returns has been adjusted from August 31 to October 15, 2024.

The RITC allows residents who earned below $3,000,000 in 2023 to apply for a one-time tax return of $20,000. With the extension, self-employed individuals, Pay-As-You-Earn (PAYE) employed individuals and domestic workers filing a Stamp Card, now have until December 13 to apply for the RITC, once they had completed their required tax filings and/or payments by October 15, 2024.

The TAJ says the extension is primarily to facilitate employers who filed their Employer’s Annual Return (S04) after the previous August 31, 2024 date but by the extended October 15, 2024 date, now allowing additional employees who earned below $3 million in the year 2023 to benefit.

Additionally, individuals who are National Insurance Scheme (NIS) stamp card holders, and had updated their Taxpayer Registration Number (TRN) information with the NIS, are being advised that their information has now been updated in the supplemental database. This means that Stamp Card holders who had previously submitted applications, may now do so again.

Similarly, other individuals who have been advised by TAJ to reapply, due to an earlier challenge that has been rectified, may also reapply. Such individuals will have until December 31, 2024 to resubmit their applications.

The TAJ says so far, 290,912 individuals have benefitted from the government’s tax give back, with total payments of $5.8 billion disbursed up to the end of November. A further 38,263 applications are currently at various stages of the application process.