GTIS Quarterly Progress Report

Working with colleagues in Tax Administration Jamaica (TAJ), PRIDE Jamaica and TAJ focused on improving compliance and mobilizing revenue collection. One of the key legislative items was TAJ's progress toward achieving status as a semi-autonomous revenue authority (SARA). This effort began in 2010, when the IMF established April 1, 2012 as the date by which Jamaica should enact legislation to establish TAJ as a SARA. During October Cabinet approved a Cabinet submission outlining the purpose of SARA and the legislative changes that were required. The Honorable Minister of Finance demonstrated his strong support for proceeding with the SARA initiative, and in March Parliament passed an act to establish TAJ as a semi-autonomous revenue authority. This is a major milestone in TAJ's reform program activities and should strengthen TAJ's operational capabilities, especially in accountability and performance. TAJ expects that it will require until April 2014 to fully implement the key aspects of a semi-autonomous revenue authority. During March Parliament passed new legislation which will empower TAJ to determine when a tax debt is uncollectible and enable TAJ to write off any of this debt at any point in time. This new legislation will enable TAJ to clear out a backlog of more than 25,000 arrears cases, and also allow TAJ to remove more than 70% of the current value of arrears cases from its active inventory that are deemed uncollectible. PRIDE Jamaica's work over the last two years provided the framework for TAJ to achieve this milestone. In addition to tax administration reform, PRIDE Jamaica also focused on customs reform. The project worked with stakeholders to aggressively achieve results in this area. One of the key implementation benchmarks achieved by PRIDE Jamaica was building upon the strong foundation established during the previous program years. PRIDE Jamaica is now working only on tax administration reform and customs reform components, and is currently planning to complete project implementation in August 2013. PRIDE Jamaica leveraged resources to maximize project impact and achieve results. Approximately US$500,000 counterparts contributed toward project implementation during this semi-annual reporting period, as included in Annex A. The updated Results Reporting Table (Annex B) from the Performance Monitoring and Evaluation Plan (PMEP) and Annex C, Results By Indicator, provide results against targets for this semi-annual reporting period. In addition to meeting or exceeding all of the targets in the PMEP, PRIDE Jamaica achieved important implementation benchmarks in the core program areas. The project's semi-autonomous revenue authority (SARA) initiative is expected to strengthen TAJ's operational capabilities, especially in accountability and performance. TAJ expects that it will require until April 2014 to fully implement the key aspects of a semi-autonomous revenue authority. The new legislation passed in March will empower TAJ to determine when a tax debt is uncollectible and enable TAJ to write off any of this debt at any point in time. This will enable TAJ to clear out a backlog of more than 25,000 arrears cases, and also allow TAJ to remove more than 70% of the current value of arrears cases from its active inventory that are deemed uncollectible. PRIDE Jamaica's work over the last two years provided the framework for TAJ to achieve this milestone. The project's focus on tax administration reform and customs reform has resulted in significant progress and achievements. PRIDE Jamaica continues to work collaboratively with stakeholders to aggressively achieve results. The project's semi-autonomous revenue authority (SARA) initiative is expected to have a positive impact on TAJ's operational capabilities and revenue collection.