Duties, Taxes And Fees on Imported Items Collected by Customs
This is the duty to be paid on imported goods. The rates of duty are published in the Jamaica Customs Tariff, which may be purchased from Jamaica Printing Services at 77 ½ Duke Street, Kingston; www.jps1992@cwjamaica.com, Telephone (876) 967-2250
Postage Stamps amounting to the value of Jamaican Five Dollars ($5) must be affixed to receipts with a Cost Insurance and Freight (c.i.f.) valued at Five Thousand Five Hundred Jamaican Dollars (J$5,500) and less. One hundred dollars ($100) worth of stamps must be affixed for receipts with values above this range.
Additional stamp duty is payable on some goods, e.g. chicken and most chicken parts, pork and some pork products, beef and certain beef products; some aluminium products, alcoholic beverages and cigarettes.
The General Consumption Tax Act specifies two primary types of taxes.
The General Consumption Tax (GCT) and the Special Consumption Tax (SCT).
Since 22 October 1991, the General Consumption Tax (GCT) and the Special Consumption Tax (SCT) have replaced a range of taxes and duties, such as the Excise Duty, CARICOM Duty, Consumption Duty, Entertainment Duty, Retail Sales Tax, Hotel Accommodation Tax and Telephone Service Tax.
GCT is charged for products and services except those things which are zero-rated and excluded from GCT. Zero-rated products are items that attract 0 per cent of GCT. Exempted items are items that do not attract GCTs.
SCT is payable on a couple of things. They are alcoholic drinks, most tobacco products and some petroleum products.
Most of the products attract GCT only, while some attract both GCT and SCT.
This is a fee of 0.3% collected on behalf of the Bureau of Standards and SCF is calculated on the CIF value.
The Customs Administrative Fee (CAF) is a fee imposed on or in connection with import or export and is the approximate cost of the services provided.
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Processing Fees are required for the processing of certain documents submitted to the Customs Department. These are:
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C7
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Application to load or unload cargo at a Sufferance Wharf
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C15
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Application to amend the report
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C24A
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Provisional entry
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C24B
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Bill of Sight
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C25
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Request to import goods for temporary use
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C26
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Application to remove goods under bond prior to entry
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C27
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Unaccompanied baggage declaration
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C32
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Request to repack warehouse goods
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C33
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Application to remove goods for re-warehousing
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C36
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Transshipment-shipment shipping bill
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C43
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Permit to export goods for subsequent re-importation
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C78
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Import entry
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C82
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Shipping bill for export
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C83
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Import entry
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C78X
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Import entry, which will replace the form C79.
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Price: The gross cost of goods abroad, including ex-factory costs, fee, mark-up and inland freight, minus sales tax and interest. Often the cost of the product is expressed as FOB (Free on Board) or FOA (Free on Air)
Insurance: This is the insurance fee that is payable for shipping the goods to Jamaica in order to ensure that any coverage is made available to you in the case of loss or harm to the goods.
If you have not paid any insurance charges while shipping your goods to Jamaica, insurance charges are still available for valuation purposes. For goods coming by sea, the insurance charge is 1.5% of the overall cost and freight (c.&f.), that is, if the goods cost $100 and the freight charge is US$50, then C&F will be US$100 + US$50 = US$150. 1.5 per cent of US$150, that is, 150 x 3/200 = US$2.25.
Complete c.i.f. is therefore $100 + $50 + $2.25 = $152.25.
The insurance available for shipments arriving by air is 1% of the overall expense and freight. The insurance premium of 1.5 per cent applies to maritime freight.
Freight: This is the amount of money paid or payable to the shipping agent or airlines for the goods to be shipped or transported to Jamaica, including domestic freight, packaging and handling charges.
0.5% of the CIF value of all imports
