As services migrate online, TAJ and Companies Office get mixed reviews
WITH MORE business owners utilising recently implemented online business processes at Tax Administration of Jamaica, TAJ, and Companies Office of Jamaica, COJ, the reforms are getting mostly good, but also some mixed reviews. The newly launched systems for the Tax Compliance Certificate, TCC, implemented by TAJ, and the Electronic Business Registration Form, the eBRF, by the Companies Office, have been touted by the National Competitiveness Council, NCC, as an improvement in safety and convenience during a time that calls for social distancing. But the Young Entrepreneurs Association of Jamaica, YEA, whose members continuously utilise the services of the two state agencies, has poured cold water on talks of improved efficiency in registering a business online. “For Companies Office of Jamaica, our members have indicated that using the platform for most services is okay. However, when it comes to the registration of business names and companies, this can prove to be challenging,” President of the YEA, Cordell Williams-Graham, told the Financial Gleaner. More specifically, Williams-Graham said, some of the labelled tabs lead business owners to inactive pages with unrelated content or absence of next steps. “When the office is contacted, they indicate that they are aware of the issue,” she said. Launched in August 2019, eBRF converts the manual business registration form into an electronic version, ultimately aimed at limiting visits to the COJ. The system is intended to allow for registration of any type of business or company online in 20 minutes, with a five-day turnaround time for approval. Once successful, applicants may pick up their documents or have them delivered. Both the YEA and head of the Small Business Association of Jamaica, Huge Johnson, acknowledge that TAJ’s online system has significantly improved the experience of many entrepreneurs in the filing of tax returns and tax payments, even prior to the onset of COVID-19. “The platform has helped to reduce the time necessary for persons to go in to conduct transactions. It has reduced bearer costs and contributed to a reduction in errors. The pre-calculation functions which are integrated into the forms also make it easy and improve efficiency,” WilliamsGraham said. Unlike the previous manual system, a clearance letter from each agency is no longer required. since TAJ’s online system allows for cross-reference using the tax registration number in real time to ascertain compliance. Once compliant, it can take applicants up to three days to be granted a TCC. Successful applicants no longer receive a certificate but are given a number to go online to see the details of the tax compliance letter for validation purposes. “We have seen commendable improvement at the TAJ. Sometimes our members have difficulty navigating the system to get exactly what they want and they have in place personnel to do some hand-holding. “That is good, but not enough, because you have to try a couple of times before you get through to those persons,” Johnson told the Financial Gleaner. The improvements, which are spearheaded by the NCC, fall under business reforms that are meant to position Jamaica for better scores in the World Bank’s Doing Business surveys, which are done annually. Jamaica currently ranks 71st among 190 countries on the Ease of Doing Business rankings. Its best sub-ranking is in the category ‘starting a business’ at No. 6 of 190 countries; its worst relates to ‘trading across borders’ at No. 136.