Tax Administration of Jamaica (TAJ) says over $18.6 billion has been collected through the Government’s Special Arrears Settlement Programme.

TAJ says the programme, which started in January and ended on May 31, has relieved businesses of over $6 billion of interest, penalty and surcharge (IPS).

TAJ notes that the waivers and removal from taxpayer accounts so far relate to approximately 60,000 tax periods associated with assets tax, corporate income tax, education tax, PAYE, individual income tax and partnership income tax.

It says eventually, over $30 billion in IPS will be removed from taxpayer accounts, lowering the stock of debt on the books of TAJ.

During the programme, TAJ says its compliance officers made over 50,000 contacts to persons with outstanding balances, resulting in over 10,000 taxpayers indicating a willingness to pay all or part of their principal taxes.

Meanwhile, TAJ is advising taxpayers that they are carrying out further system configuration to automatically remove charges relating to General Consumption Tax, Special Consumption Tax and PAYE late payment of income tax.

It is projected that this will be done by the end of July 2025.

Additional IPS waiver cases involving manual removal will be administered on an ongoing basis as they are identified and processed by the agency’s compliance teams.