Dear Claudienne,

I desperately need your help. I am an educator who works part-time at an educational institution. Due to my employment status, I am classified as an independent contractor and as such 25 per cent of my monthly salary is paid as income tax. In order to recover the excess amount paid as income tax, I have to file for tax returns by March of the following year. For the financial year ending December 31, 2022, I filed my income tax returns and the relevant amounts payable to NHT, education tax, and NIS were taken from my income tax refund amount, and the balance returned to me via cheque. I file my taxes at the Constant Spring collectorate.

To date, even though these arrears were deducted by Tax Administration Jamaica (TAJ) prior to returning the surplus, the e-services online system is still reflecting an arrears of $28,000 for that period and penalty is accumulating on the amount.

I reached out to Tax Administration (Constant Spring collectorate) to clarify the issue, and they gave me an explanation that should have been communicated to me prior to them disbursing the cheque. They stated that I should have written a letter requesting them to withdraw the outstanding NHT, NIS, and education taxes from my income tax returns. This was not communicated to me until after, and when I sent them the letter at that time I was told that since the money was already disbursed, they could not act on the request. As such, the arrears are still reflecting on the account even though it has been paid. I cannot afford to double pay this amount and I think it is unfair for Tax Administration to require me to pay this amount when they have already deducted it from monies owing to me.

I have attached payment receipts received from TAJ showing that they deducted the amount.

I am kindly asking for your assistance with resolving this issue.

TA

Dear TA,

Tell Claudienne requested the chief corporate communications officer of Tax Administration Jamaica (TAJ) to address your concerns.

On March 25, 2025 the column received the following e-mail from TAJ:

“Further to the e-mail thread below; the taxpayer in question filed her December 2022 return on April 14, 2023, which was due on March 15, 2023. The return indicated that she was due a refund of $29,254.79. As we do with all refund requests, we did our internal investigations to ensure that the refund claim was valid. Our examination revealed that TA was in receipt of income from the Jamaica Defence Force, a high school, and a Government agency.

Income from these sources, verified as per the S02’s filed, totalled $2,033,314.22. This income verified varied from the income reported by TA by $67,048.10. TA’s return was therefore adjusted to reflect this finding. This resulted in a reduction of the initial refund amount to $14,796.52. Due to the fact that TA filed her return late, she was assessed for late penalty filing of $10,000. This further reduced her refund to $4,796.52, which was refunded.

It must be noted that Tax Administration Jamaica (TAJ) does not raise assessments for the National Housing Trust (NHT) or the National Insurance Scheme (NIS), therefore the organisation does not offset liabilities for these accounts.

It should also be noted that the return filed by TA indicated that she had additional education tax and NHT contributions payable of $10,505.03 and $9,337.78, respectively. The Education Tax was only increased by TAJ by $1,301.24 resulting from the additional income verified of $67,048.10. TAJ has therefore not made any adjustment to her account outside of those mentioned. She should be informed that interest will be generated on the amount owed for education tax if the liability remains outstanding.

TA is advised that the TAJ currently has a Special Arrears Settlement Programme in effect until March 31, 2025, which would allow any interest, penalty or surcharge that has accrued on the outstanding education tax and income tax to be waived once the principal amount owed is paid by March 31, 2025.

Additionally, going forward, TA may contact our compliance and/or taxpayer education officers who are available to provide support in filing tax returns. She may also contact the TAJ Customer Care Centre at 888-TAX-HELP (888-829-4357).”

We wish you all the best,

Have a problem with a store, utility, a company? Telephone 876-936-9436 or Cell/WhatsApp # 876-484-1349 or write to: Tell Claudienne c/o Sunday Finance, Jamaica Observer, 40-42 1/2 Beechwood Avenue, Kingston 5; or e-mail: edwardsc@jamaicaobserver.com. Please include a contact phone number.