INCOME tax returns are due for submission by March 15, the Tax Administration Services Department (TASD) has advised.

Business persons are being urged to use the next two months to prepare their final income tax return for 2009 and a declaration of estimated income and tax payable for 2010 and to file and make payments on or before the due date, the TASD said in a statement on Monday.

Meris Haughton, director of communications of the TASD, is encouraging companies to file early. “In terms of late filing, persons can actually be taken to court for outstanding amounts,” she told the Business Observer. Haughton also said that the TASD has at its disposal the capacity to “raise estimated assessments on the persons who have not filed by March 15”.

An estimated assessment is an automatically generated estimation of the amount the business owes in taxes, done by a computerised system. The system automatically generates a ‘failure notice’ once the deadline has passed and there is no record of returns filed by a company. Failure notices and reminders will be produced as of March 18.

Following the ‘failure notice’, if the company still does not comply, an estimate of how much is owed is generated automatically. Haughton says that companies and individuals have 30 days within which to raise an objection to the estimated amount, after which “that assessment will stand and will be due for collection”.

The TASD has a special taxpayer service programme to assist small business operators in filing their tax returns.

Haughton explained that the system, which has been in effect for over six years, aims to help those persons who may not know how to file their taxes. Sessions are set up at tax offices, islandwide, as well as at community centres, churches, courthouses and school auditoriums for the public to get help with filing.

Persons are then invited to take their income and expenditure documents to the sessions where they are assisted in filling out the required forms. Small business owners should bring all expenses and income that are related to the business, including receipts, invoices, sales records, bank records and utility bills.

The process has already begun and is expected to continue until March 15. Further details on the programme, including the location of the sessions, is available through local Tax Collectorates, or by contacting the administration’s customer care centre at 1-888-TAX-HELP (1-888-829-4357). The Income Tax Return forms and schedules can be picked up at any of the 29 Collectorates island wide or downloaded from the tax administration’s website at www.jamaicatax.gov.jm and should be completed according to the category in which the entity falls.