Personal Income Tax Filing Season Has Begun
(Bridgetown, March 30, 2021) Taxpayers are advised that the 2020 Personal Income Tax (PIT) return is available for filing. All self-employed persons, employees who earned above $25,000 last year as well as pensioners with an annual income above $40,000 are required to file a personal income tax return. The return must be filed online in TAMIS at https://tamis.bra.gov.bb by April 30, 2021.
Communications officer with the Barbados Revenue Authority, Erica Lazare, issued a reminder for persons to check their third-party information for accuracy and to choose the correct income year for the PIT return.
“This round of filing is for the income year 2020. So, before persons file, they should review that the information uploaded on their behalf, such as salary, income tax deductions, union dues, charitable donations, pension, divided income from partnerships, goods and services income from contracted services as well as any NIS benefits such as maternity or unemployment, is correct. The steps on how to do this can be found on the Authority’s website https://bra.gov.bb and social media channels,” she explained.
“If anything is missing or incorrect, taxpayers should contact the party responsible for uploading the information, which may be their employer, trade union, church or other relevant entity, to alert them to make the necessary correction before filing, as this information directly impacts your return.”
Lazare highlighted that TAMIS now has a payment feature which allows persons who have income tax payable to do so online.
“Employees and pensioners with tax payable after filing are required to pay half of the amount by the April 30 deadline while the remainder is due by September 30, 2021. On the other hand, self-employed individuals should have been making pre-payments towards their accounts in June, September and December of 2020 and the final payment should be paid on or before April 30 of this year. All of these payments can be made online in TAMIS,” she shared.
She also noted, that the 2020 Reverse Tax Credit (RTC) return was not yet ready and shared that the Authority will make an announcement when it becomes available. Persons eligible for this credit, are employees who earned an annual income below $25,000, worked for at least three months consecutively and paid less than $500 in income tax last year. Self-employed persons and directors of companies are not eligible for this credit.