GCT calculator for Jamaica

General Consumption Tax, or GCT, is Jamaica's value-added tax. It is charged on goods and services sold in Jamaica, and the standard rate is 15%. Only businesses that are registered for GCT charge it. The annual turnover threshold for registration is JMD 15 million, raised from JMD 10 million from 1 April 2025.

Not everything carries the standard rate. Some goods are exempt, including a range of basic food items and prescription drugs, and some are zero-rated, such as exports. A few services have their own rates. If you are registered, check the rate for each product with Tax Administration Jamaica (TAJ) or your accountant before you price it.

If you know the price before tax, multiply it by 1.15. That gives the price the customer pays. The GCT is the difference.

A box of school pens costs you $400 and you price it at $1,000 before GCT. GCT at 15% is $150, so the customer pays $1,150. In the calculator, choose "Add GCT to a price", enter 1000, and you will see $1,000.00, $150.00 and $1,150.00.

This is the one people get wrong. If the shelf price already includes GCT, you cannot take 15% off it to find the tax. The tax was added to the smaller, pre-tax price, so you have to divide.

Take a $1,150 price that includes GCT. The right answer is $1,150 ÷ 1.15 = $1,000, with $150 of GCT. If you take 15% off $1,150 instead, you remove $172.50 and are left with $977.50. You would treat $22.50 of your own money as tax.

A shortcut for 15%: the GCT inside a GCT-inclusive price is 15 ÷ 115 of it, which is about 13.04%. On a $460 shelf price, that is $60, and the price before GCT is $400.

GCT collected is not your income. You hold it for TAJ. When you work out profit, use the price before GCT, or your margin will look better than it is.

Say an item costs you $600 before GCT and sells for $1,035 on the shelf. Strip out the tax: $1,035 ÷ 1.15 = $900. Your profit is $900 - $600 = $300, a margin of 33.3%. If you forget and use $1,035, the profit looks like $435 and the margin 42%. That is 9 points of margin that were never yours.

To go the other way, set a margin first and then add GCT on top. The markup and margin calculator gives you the pre-tax price, and this page adds the tax to it. Our guide to pricing products covers the thinking behind the margin.

1. Decide whether each product is standard-rated, zero-rated or exempt, and keep that list.
2. Price from your cost to a pre-tax price, then add GCT to get the shelf price.
3. Show GCT-inclusive prices on the shelf, so customers see what they pay.
4. Keep receipts that show the GCT separately from the net price.
5. Report your margin and profit on pre-tax figures.

Most small shops in Jamaica are not registered, because they sit below the threshold. If that is you, you do not add GCT to your prices at all, and this calculator is for the day you cross the line, or for checking a supplier's invoice. For a longer explanation, see the Jamaica page.

• GCT standard rate of 15%, JMD 15 million registration threshold from 1 April 2025, exemptions and zero-rating: PwC Worldwide Tax Summaries, Jamaica, Other taxes, checked 6 October 2026.