Owning your own business is a worthwhile experience. The ability to see your dreams and visions come to life while providing employment opportunities for others, is a meaningful contribution to our people and our nation.
But ‘with great power comes great responsibility’. One of these noted responsibilities is remaining up to date with the payment of your taxes, not just for you or your business, but for your employees as well. Paying your taxes is essential in funding public services, such as education, healthcare, infrastructure and social welfare programmes.
In Jamaica, an employee may see four tax deductions from their salary receipts each month. These include income tax, and your National Insurance Scheme (NIS) Contributions. There is also education tax, and also your National Housing Trust (NHT) contributions.
If you have an employer, your NHT contributions is a total of 5% of your monthly salary. However, employers contribute 3% of this amount, while the employee contributes the remaining 2%.
It can be difficult to keep up with your taxes, especially as small business owners. But, remaining up to date with your tax payments protects you, your business, but most importantly, it protects your workers.
Let’s look at your NHT contributions. Employees and business owners are able to benefit from this payment as it opens them up to low interest loans to buy, build or repair houses. Contributors to the NHT also have access to a refund of their contributions in the eighth year after their first contribution. And did you know your NHT contributions are savings? You can use your NHT contributions to assist with your down payment or to subsidise your legal fees for when you decide to take that big jump and purchase your own home. This is called CRTD- Contributions Refund Towards Deposit.
All employers are expected to make their NHT contributions payments monthly at the Tax Office of Jamaica (TAJ). If you are an employee and you are interested in finding out whether your employer is paying your NHT contributions, simply download the NHT mobile app or log in to our online portal NHT Online at online.nht.gov.jm. You will be able to see a history of all your NHT contributions. If you still have questions, then visit any of our NHT offices island wide and speak to someone from our Compliance Unit.
If you are self-employed or the owner of a small business the NHT has made the process of registering easy for you. Simple visit any of our offices with your Taxpayer Registration Number (TRN), National Insurance Scheme and a valid form of identification. We will assist you with creating your e-services account and filing your tax returns with Tax Administration Jamaica.
Paying your NHT contributions puts you in a great position to apply for one of our NHT scheme units, or allow you the opportunity to build, buy or repair your dream home.
Your NHT contribution is more than a tax, it is a benefit.