According to the Tax Administration Jamaica (TAJ), taxpayers owed the Jamaican Government over $9.6 billion at the beginning of March.
This information was disclosed in response to an Access to Information request made by the Jamaica Observer.
However, TAJ stated that they were unable to disclose which groups of taxpayers had outstanding payments and the amounts owed by each group due to provisions of the Revenue Administration Act.
Nonetheless, TAJ revealed that General Consumption Tax (GCT) accounted for 65% of the outstanding taxes, with a value of over $6.26 billion.
The next largest category was Personal Income Tax, which made up almost a quarter of the arrears and amounted to $2.2 billion.
Guest Accommodation Tax followed with a total of $491 million in arrears, while corporations owed the government $463 million.
Education tax was next with $75 million owed, followed by Asset taxes which amounted to $66 million, and Special Consumption Tax (SCT) at $24 million.
It is unclear how much of the outstanding taxes were paid by the March 15 deadline for tax filing. TAJ disclosed that they pursue compliance and enforcement measures such as court action, distress, payment arrangements, liens, and garnishment to recover estimated taxes owing.
From April 2022 to February 2023, 87.03% of the budgeted recoveries of estimated tax arrears were actualized.