KSAMC and TAJ Join Forces to Collect Outstanding Property Tax

Property tax amounting to $28 million has been collected under the Kingston and St. Andrew Municipal Corporation (KSAMC) and Tax Administration Jamaica (TAJ) joint compliance initiative, targeting outstanding property taxes, trade licence fees and commercial fees.

The disclosure was made by Mayor of Kingston, Councillor Andrew Swaby, at the monthly meeting of the KSAMC in downtown Kingston, on September 8.

“The initiative is yielding results. Since our engagement, TAJ has collected $28 million in property tax, $3.4 million in trade licence, and the KSAMC has collected $2.6 million from signs and billboard fees,” he said.

Mayor Swaby said the initiative is part of efforts to strengthen the Corporation’s revenue and improve compliance.

“Early this year, the KSAMC partnered with TAJ to strengthen compliance with public tax and trade licence obligations. The first phase of the KSAMC joint initiative with Tax Administration Jamaica was the collection and analysis of the data to identify businesses and property owners with outstanding property tax. The exercise has provided the Corporation with valuable intelligence on compliance gaps and potential revenue,” he said.

“In Half-Way Tree alone, excluding the current fiscal year, the data identified 432 properties with property tax arrears of approximately $162 million, including 151 business-related properties, which accounted for approximately $96 million,” the Mayor noted.

He said the data also identified approximately 1,395 businesses with estimated trade licence arrears of $48 million.

“This information has allowed the Corporation to better identify taxpayers and businesses requiring engagement and to target its revenue-collection efforts more effectively,” the Mayor said.