TAJ Transitions into Phase Two of RAiS

The Tax Administration Jamaica (TAJ) is transitioning into phase two of its Revenue Administration Information Service (RAiS), which will be rolled out on December 7.

As a result, the TAJ is advising that until December 6, some of its services will either be suspended or limited.

Director of Communications at the TAJ, Meris Haughton, said these services include the processing of Tax Registration Number (TRN), Tax Compliance Certificate (TCC), payroll taxes and zero-rating and accessing its e-services.

“From December 2 to 4, inline services will be limited. For the online platform, the tax types that will be rolled out in phase two will not be available during this period. For other tax services that are currently available online, there will be periods of suspension. E-services will also be available from 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. each day,” she informed, while speaking at a JIS ‘Think Tank’ on December 2.

From December 5  to 6, e-services will be unavailable; however, the TAJ offices will remain open during regular business hours. The Portmore Tax Office will be closed on Saturday, December 5, to facilitate the change to the new system.  However, traffic ticket and property tax online payments will still be available throughout the transition period.

“We had advised our online customers of the dates and we had indicated to persons that they should do their services before the transition period or delay until   December 7,” said Ms. Haughton, adding that persons may contact the agency for cases of emergency.

While some services will be disrupted, Commissioner General at TAJ, Ainsley Powell, said the December roll-out of phase two is deliberately planned, as it is not expected that there will be an influx of customers utilising the services of the agency during the Christmas period.

“The December roll-out is one of the best times for us, because accessing some of the services is usually at a low for us during the month. While there will be an uptake in motor vehicle transactions, the issuing of new driver’s licence will be on the low. We are hoping to see a similar pattern this year,” said Mr. Powell

The RAiS project began in May 2014 with the execution of phase one in February 2015. Phase two is currently on stream and the full roll-out will be in June 2016.

TAJ partnered with e-Gov Jamaica and the United States-based FAST Enterprises Limited to implement the project.