NewzMANDEVILLE, Manchester — The long-awaited new location for the Mandeville Tax Office is expected to be opened for individuals requiring in-person services by year end. However, people in St Elizabeth will have to continue using the crammed Santa Cruz Tax Office as there is no timeline for the rebuilding of the Black River Tax Office, which was damaged by Hurricane Melissa last October. Finance Minister Fayval Williams made the disclosure in response to questions posed by the Jamaica Observer regarding the tax offices in Mandeville, Black River, and Santa Cruz as well as appeals for a collectorate in Junction, St Elizabeth.
“The commissioner of taxes [Ainsley Powell] has advised that he would like to have this [Mandeville Tax Office] open at the end of this year, but you know how construction works [can be]. According to Williams, the Government is exploring how to improve the efficiency of tax offices. “Rest assured that all across Jamaica we are looking at all the locations of our tax offices to see how well they are working or not working, and we are taking steps to ensure that we get those facilities [developed] so that when customers walk in there they feel comfortable.
They don’t have to waste a lot of time and they can get through with the business that they came about,” she said. The building for the new Mandeville Tax Office is near the intersection of Perth Road and Bloomfield, north of the town centre. In May 2024, Tax Administration Jamaica said in a release that the building in Mandeville at which it is establishing a new revenue service centre (RSC) is owned by Scojampen Limited, the Bank of Nova Scotia pension fund, and that it was being acquired under a lease that would cost the country less than what is currently being paid per square foot in the town.
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