Employed individuals registered with the Jamaica Council for Persons with Disabilities (JCPD) are being reminded that they are eligible to apply for an income tax exemption.
Section 12 (Y) of the Income Tax Act provides an exemption on the emoluments of individuals with permanent physical or mental disabilities who are, nonetheless, capable of gainful employment.
Manager for Corporate Communications and Public Relations at the JCPD, Adrienne Pinnock, explained that persons can apply for the exemption by completing the prescribed application form available on the Council’s website at https://jcpd.gov.jm/registration-process/.
“You can also get the application form from us here at the Council. The application form indicates who are the individuals who should complete it.
“There’s a portion of the form that is completed by a medical practitioner that verifies the disability you have and then the application is returned to the JCPD,” she shared.
Pinnock added: “That form is submitted to the Ministry of Health [and Wellness] that has an approving process in the exemption consideration.”
It is… then… given to the office of the Minister of Labour and Social Security who also plays a role in the approval process. If you are exempted, you would have received approval from both ministries.
Pinnock said individuals who qualify will be issued a certificate that must be presented to either the Income Tax Exemption Office or Tax Administration Jamaica for proper documentation.
“There is a portion of a refund that’s calculated for you, and that sum is given to you. You then take a copy to your employer who will retain that on file [indicating] that no income tax… after your exemption… [be] deducted from your salary.
"If you are not considered for the exemption, you can navigate the appeals process for the decision to be reconsidered. But income tax exemption is the approval of the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, at the ministerial level, and the Ministry of Health [and Wellness], at the Chief Medical Officer’s level,” she said.
Pinnock reminded that persons with disabilities that any income tax exemptions do not preclude them from paying General Consumption Tax (GCT) or any other tax type.
Regarding the benefits, Pinnock shared that for those who are paying income tax, they will notice that the sum that is deducted, “that 25 per cent of your earnings, the government is now returning that to you.”
“For somebody who is amputated and wears a prosthetic limb, there is a unique cost that comes with that arrangement that somebody who has full legs doesn’t have to face. Now you have been refunded, your tax exemption gives you better economic leverage to be able to manage the expenses that come only because of your disability. That’s one of the benefits of the exemption process, which is a good consideration of the Government,” she pointed out.
