Jamaica
Jamaica: 3 company types, its taxes, banking and business environment.
Forming a company
Company types in Jamaica
The 3 forms a founder can choose here, each with its own figures. Open one for its sources.
Doing business here
Business accounts
Providers whose own published list of countries names Jamaica. A listing means a company formed here may apply, not that it will be accepted.
Not in our records No provider's country list has been read for Jamaica.
EU listings
Two lists a bank checks when it opens an account for a company or its owner.
- EU high-risk third countries (AML)
- Not listed
- EU non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes
- Not listedOfficial EUR-Lex, 52026XG01465, Annex I as of 2026-02-17
Official sites
The authorities’ own sites for Jamaica: where to register, file and check.
Blocs and agreements
The trade arrangements Jamaica belongs to, as each arrangement’s own texts state them: since when, and what each covers. What a membership means for a business is for you to judge.
- CARICOM Single Market and Economy
- Single market · since 1 January 2006
Covers goods, services, establishment, capital, movement of people, a common external tariff.
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They were Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, St. Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago.
Regional and customs arrangements only, 36 of them; bilateral trade agreements are not yet in our records.
Tax
Company tax
Tax, and what the company owes the registry each year.
- Corporate income tax
- 25%
- Distributions
- Not in our records
- Audit
- Every company appoints an auditor at each AGM (s.154); a small company (two of: turnover under J$40m, balance sheet under J$30m, fewer than 25 employees) that is not a public company, bank, insurer etc. is exempt from audited statements for a financial year if its members pass a unanimous resolution and its articles do not provide otherwise (s.159, Seventh Schedule Part II paras 6-7).Official The registry or ministry page as of 2026-10-15
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shall be exempt from providing audited financial statements and an auditor's report as required under this Act with respect to that financial year.
- Small-company relief
- Not in our records
- Annual obligations
- Not in our records
- Annual registry fee
- JMD 5,000Official The registry or ministry page as of 2026-10-15
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For registration of annual return for a company having share capital
Sales and consumption tax
The tax on what the company sells in Jamaica, and when it must register, as the tax authority states it.
- The tax
- General Consumption Tax (GCT)
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The GCT is a value added tax which is applied on the value added to goods and services at each stage in the production and distribution chain.
- Standard rate
- 15%
Tax Administration Jamaica's guide lists the standard rate's history ending at April 2020 at 15.0%, its most recent entry; the same guide's body text still quotes the older 16.5% standard rate, which its own history table supersedes.
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History of the standard rate: Date Percentage October 1991 10.0% June 1993 12.5% April 1995 15.0% May 2005 16.5% January 2010 17.5% June 2012 16.5% April 2020 15.0%
- Other rates
- 0% Goods and services listed in Appendix 1 of the GCT Act, taxed at zero percent
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The goods and services which attract a rate of zero percent are listed in Appendix 1.
- Registration threshold
- JMD 15,000,000
gross value of supplies, including exempt supplies for a mixed activity; 12-month period, or an average of $1,250,000 per month for a shorter period
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Effective April 1,2025, that value of supply is $15,000,000 over a 12-month period or an average of $1,250,000 per month for a shorter period.
- Voluntary registration
- Yes
A person who qualifies for registration as a Registered Person may apply voluntarily, subject to the Commissioner General's approval.
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A person who has applied for registration and qualifies for registration as a Registered Person may voluntarily apply to be registered as a Registered Taxpayer.
- A foreign company
- See the note
Tax Administration Jamaica's GCT guide sets out registration for persons engaged in a taxable activity in Jamaica but states no separate rule for a supplier with no establishment there, so no answer is recorded.
- Returns filed
- Monthly
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Due on or before the last day of the following month of the return period.
- Tax authority
- Registration page read 2026-10-22
Tax calendar
When the main returns and payments fall due in Jamaica, tax year 2026, as the tax authority states it.
- Corporate tax return
- 15 April · each year
For the 2025 year of assessment, filed in 2026, the final corporate income tax return moved from 15 March to 15 April. The March 15 deadline remains for individual and self-employed filers.
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the filing deadline for Final Corporate Income Tax and Assets Tax Returns will move from March 15 to April 15
- Corporate tax, final payment
- 15 April · each year
Under self-assessment the tax return is filed and the tax paid together, so the corporate balancing payment follows the final corporate return deadline of 15 April (moved from 15 March for the 2025 year of assessment).
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the filing deadline for Final Corporate Income Tax and Assets Tax Returns will move from March 15 to April 15
- Corporate tax, instalments
- Set each year by decree · each quarter
Estimated income declarations and the four quarterly instalments are due on 15 March, 15 June, 15 September and 15 December; the schedule is unchanged by the move of the final corporate return to April. For 2026 the March date is observed on Monday 16 March 2026.
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The quarterly estimated tax payment schedule also remains unchanged and is due on March 15, June 15, September 15 and December 15.
- Personal income-tax return
- 15 March · each year
The 15 March deadline remains in place for personal income tax filers. In 2026, 15 March falls on a weekend and is observed on Monday 16 March 2026.
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The March 15 deadline will remain in place for Personal Income Tax filers.
- Personal income tax, final payment
- 15 March · each year
Under self-assessment the return is filed and the tax paid together on 15 March of the year following the year of assessment; in 2026 that date is observed on Monday 16 March 2026.
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March 15th -The due date to file Income Tax return and make payment.
- Personal income tax, instalments
- Set each year by decree · each quarter
Estimated income declarations for individuals (S04A) and the four quarterly instalments are due on 15 March, 15 June, 15 September and 15 December. For 2026 the March date is observed on Monday 16 March 2026.
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the filing of Estimated Income Tax Returns —both Individual (S04A) and Corporate (IT07) — remains due on March 15 (March 16 in 2026)
- VAT return
- 1 month after the end of the month · each month
The GCT return is filed and the net tax paid by the last working day of the month following the month in which the tax was collected, so the last day of the following month falls back to the previous working day when it is a rest day.
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Pay the net GCT collected to the Tax Office (Tax Administration Jamaica) by the last working day of the month following the month in which the tax was collected.
- Payroll withholding
- Day 14 of the following month · each month
Statutory deductions withheld in a month are remitted by the 14th of the following month (for example, January deductions by 14 February). The publication does not state what happens when the 14th falls on a rest day.
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14th of each Month The due date for remitting statutory deductions (Income Tax, Education Tax, NIS, NHT and HEART) withheld the previous month to Tax Administration Jamaica.
Running the company
Running a company here
Not in our records The authorities’ pages on running a company have not been read for Jamaica yet.
Economy and trade
What it exports
Goods Jamaica exported, by product, as a share of its goods exports each year. Exports include goods passing through for re-export. A share describes Jamaica’s own trade; it does not compare places.
| Product (HS heading) | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | Value, 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Artificial corundum, whether or not chemically defined; aluminium oxide; aluminium hydroxide HS 2818 | 15.6% | 23.6% | 38.6% | US$408 m |
| Undenatured ethyl alcohol of an alcoholic strength by volume of less than 80 % vol; spirits, liqueurs and other spirituous beverages HS 2208 | 6.4% | 5.0% | 6.8% | US$72 m |
| Manioc, arrowroot, salep, Jerusalem artichokes, sweet potatoes and similar roots and tubers with high starch or inulin content, fresh, chilled, frozen or dried, whether or not sliced or in the form of pellets; sago pith HS 0714 | 3.0% | 2.5% | 5.3% | US$56 m |
| Aluminium ores and concentrates HS 2606 | 5.0% | 3.1% | 5.1% | US$54 m |
| Cruise ships, excursion boats, ferry-boats, cargo ships, barges and similar vessels for the transport of persons or goods HS 8901 | under 0.05% | under 0.05% | 3.8% | US$40 m |
| Sauces and preparations therefor; mixed condiments and mixed seasonings; mustard flour and meal and prepared mustard HS 2103 | 2.0% | 1.7% | 3.3% | US$35 m |
| Bread, pastry, cakes, biscuits and other bakers' wares, whether or not containing cocoa; communion wafers, empty cachets of a kind suitable for pharmaceutical use, sealing wafers, rice paper and similar products HS 1905 | 2.0% | 1.3% | 2.9% | US$31 m |
| Beer made from malt HS 2203 | 1.8% | 1.3% | 2.6% | US$28 m |
| Other fermented beverages (for example, cider, perry, mead, saké); mixtures of fermented beverages and mixtures of fermented beverages and non-alcoholic beverages, not elsewhere specified or included HS 2206 | 1.2% | 1.1% | 2.6% | US$27 m |
| Petroleum oils and oils obtained from bituminous minerals, other than crude; preparations not elsewhere specified or included, containing by weight 70 % or more of petroleum oils or of oils obtained from bituminous minerals, these oils being the basic constituents of the preparations; waste oils HS 2710 | 26.3% | 28.5% | 2.4% | US$26 m |
Total goods exports, 2024: US$1.1 bn. The ten largest headings are shown.