Jamaican Tourism Operators Face Withholding Tax

by Mike Godfrey, Tax-News.com, Washington

28 October 2015

From November 1, Jamaican tourism operators whose turnover is at least JMD500m (USD4.2m) will be required to pay a new Withholding Tax on Specified Services (WTSS) of three percent on supplies worth JMD50,000 or more.

The WTSS was implemented from September 1 and is intended to target a broad range of service suppliers without a good history of tax compliance. It will newly be extended to large tourism operators from next month.

Compliant tourism operators – those who have filed their income tax return for the previous year and who have paid or made arrangements to pay their tax liabilities – may apply for an Exemption Certificate. This exempts them from levying and remitting the WTSS.

Specified service providers without an exemption certificate will be presented with a Withholding Tax Certificate, which can be used to claim a credit when they file their income tax return. Failure to collect and remit the WTSS can result in a penalty of as much as fifty percent of the tax that should have been withheld.

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