Jamaica: local rules

Jamaica has had transfer pricing rules since the Income Tax (Amendment) (No. 2) Act, 2015 (enacted 16 December 2015, effective from year of assessment 2015). They are in section 17 and sections 17A to 17D of the Income Tax Act and the Eighth Schedule. The rules use the term connected persons (defined in s. 2(2)) and cover domestic as well as cross-border dealings. The return must state and use the arm's length consideration (s. 17(2)), the Commissioner General can recompute income (s. 17(3)), and the taxpayer carries the burden of proof (s. 17(12)). Dealings with a person in a jurisdiction with no tax, or tax below half the Jamaican rate, are treated as connected (s. 17(9) and (10)). The brief assumed new rules were coming. None were found for 2025 or 2026; the 2015 regime is still the law.

Regulations made in November 2015 require any person with gross annual revenue of JMD 500 million or more in the previous year of assessment to keep transfer pricing documentation. It works like an OECD local file: business and group overview, transaction details, comparability analysis, method choice and a conclusion. It must be in English and in place by the return filing date, and it goes to the Commissioner General within 30 working days of a written request. Everyone files Schedule 8 (Declaration of Connected Person Transactions) with the return. There is no master file and no separate transfer pricing return.

The Eighth Schedule (paragraph 5) lists five methods: comparable uncontrolled price, resale price, cost plus, transactional net margin and transactional profit split. Paragraph 4 asks for the most appropriate method. Where two methods are equally reliable, the comparable uncontrolled price method comes first, then the traditional methods before the profit methods (paragraphs 6 and 7). Other methods are allowed if none of the five can be applied (paragraph 9). An arm's length range is used (paragraph 12). TAJ's Practice Note PN-02/17 follows the OECD Guidelines as they stood in 2015 and does not allow secret comparables.

The Income Tax Act sets a fine of up to JMD 2 million, or up to 12 months in prison if it is not paid, for failing to certify connected transactions or for an incorrect or incomplete certificate or return caused by negligence or fraud (s. 17(5), from year of assessment 2016). No separate penalty for missing documentation was found in the texts read. If a taxpayer does not give the information TAJ asks for, TAJ can treat the other party as connected and set the price itself (s. 17(8)). Ordinary late filing and late payment penalties and interest also apply.

Nothing has been enacted. Jamaica has said it plans a qualified domestic minimum top-up tax (a TAJ official said so in October 2023, and the 2024/25 budget mentioned it). No bill, Act or regulation was found, and no deadline applies. Do not treat the Pillar Two rules as in force in Jamaica.

Corporate income tax return (IT02): the Income Tax Act date is 15 March after the year of assessment. TAJ, the Jamaica Information Service and PwC say it moves to 15 April from year of assessment 2025, and TAJ ran the 2026 filing season on that basis. The Income Tax (Amendment) Act, 2026 that makes this change passed the House and then the Senate on 20 February 2026 (with two Senate amendments), but its assent and commencement could not be confirmed, so this site shows the earlier 15 March date. The balance of tax is due with the return. Estimated tax is paid on 15 March, 15 June, 15 September and 15 December, and the estimated income declaration (IT07) is due 15 March. Country-by-Country reporting is not in force: Jamaica told the OECD in May 2025 that it has not yet implemented it, and the OECD 2025 peer review found no CbC filing rules or exchange agreements. The tax year is the calendar year, and TAJ can approve another accounting date. Under the Interpretation Act s. 8, a deadline on a Sunday or public holiday moves to the next day that is neither. Saturday does not move it by the statute. Advance pricing agreements (s. 17A), corresponding adjustments (s. 17B) and treaty mutual agreement procedures are available; a company with a transfer pricing agreement sends TAJ an annual compliance notice for each covered period, on the date the agreement sets (TAJ Practice Note PN-01/18, Rule 10). Jamaica has no thin capitalisation rule.