Thousands of Jamaicans to Benefit from Reverse Income Tax Credit

Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Dr. the Hon. Nigel Clarke, says the Reverse Income Tax Credit provision is intended for the mass of working citizens who contribute to the Jamaican economy through monthly or regular statutory deductions.

Closing the 2024/25 Budget Debate in the House of Representatives on Tuesday (March 26), Dr. Clarke said the primary beneficiaries will be persons who earn below the income tax threshold, particularly Jamaicans earning close to the minimum wage.

He said there are already approximately 570,000 Jamaicans who earned less than $3 million in 2023 and who contributed to the system via Education Tax, National Housing Trust (NHT) and National Insurance Scheme (NIS) statutory deductions.

“These are the persons who will qualify for the Reverse Income Tax Credit and anyone else regularised before the end of the fiscal year; and there are approximately 450,000 persons who earned less than $1.5 million who contributed to the system through… Education Tax, NHT and NIS… deductions,” Dr. Clarke informed.

He said these persons include security guards, room attendants, factory floor workers, machine operators, cooks and waitresses in restaurants, office attendants, messengers, janitors, drivers, sanitation workers, street cleaners and maintenance staff who toil every day and contribute to the economy through statutory deductions.

“We are leveraging economic stability to their benefit. We are directing a benefit of $11.4 billion to persons who earn at the lower end of the income spectrum, including hundreds of thousands of hard-working Jamaicans who earn at or just above the minimum wage level, and who contribute NIS, NHT and Education Tax. When you increase the income tax threshold, everyone above the threshold benefits, including those way, way above the threshold,” he said.

During his presentation to open the 2024/25 Budget Debate, Dr. Clarke said the initiative means that every registered taxpayer who earns $3 million or under will benefit from a reverse tax credit of $20,000.

It will be made available through an online platform to make the process secure and efficient.