Income tax (FOI)

​Request

Can I please have an update to this request:
Income tax assessment (FOI)

Response

For the purposes of this answer, the Taxes Office has applied the following interpretations: for total income declared, the figures provided are for total income (assessable for tax).

In respect of the total income tax assessed, the Taxes Office has provided details of the tax liability.

Definitions of total income (assessable for tax) and tax liability are included in the explanatory notes below.

These figures are inclusive of the total income and tax liability for High Value Residents (HVRs).

The total income, of HVRs that were here for the entire 2014 tax year, that was taxed at 1% was £18.58m which generated a tax liability of over £185,800. There was a further £356,000 of tax liability arising at 1% and due from those HVRs who arrived part way through 2014. In terms of the tax bands, the rules regarding the application of the 1 percent tax rate are as follows:

• 22 July 2011 onwards: 20% income tax is levied on the first £625,000 of all income; 20% income tax is always levied on all income from land and buildings in Jersey, or dividends paid from a company in receipt of Jersey property income, and 1% income tax is levied on all income above that level
  
• 1 January 2005 to 21 July 2011: 20% income tax is levied on all income arising in Jersey, and on the first £1m of income arising outside of Jersey, 10% on the next £500,000 of income arising outside of Jersey and 1% on all other income arising outside of Jersey.
  

Explanatory notes

The above data is the position as at February 2016.

A registered entity in this context is a personal taxpayer.

The data in the table excludes those registered entities who are registered with the Taxes Office but who are either not required to complete an income tax return because the Taxes Office is satisfied that their total annual income is consistently below the tax exemption thresholds (for example their sole source of income is an old age pension or their sole source of income arises from employment which is consistently below the tax exemption threshold). or they are non-resident for income tax purposes.

A registered entity includes a taxpayer and a non-taxpayer.

A taxpayer is defined as an individual who has completed an income tax return and calculated to have a positive income tax liability greater than £50 for the tax year, based on the income, allowances and deductions, for the year.

Based on latest Taxes Office figures, there are about 350 taxpayers whose liability was less than £50. These are counted as non-taxpayers.

A non-taxpayer is defined as an individual who has completed an income tax return and does not have a positive income tax liability for the tax year, based on the income, allowances, reliefs and deductions for the year.

Both taxpayers and non-taxpayers include: 

• unmarried individual

• married couples and civil partnerships that have not opted for separate assessments (counted as one taxpayer or one non-taxpayer)

• married couples and civil partners that have opted for separate assessments (counted as two taxpayers or two non-taxpayers).

Total income (assessable to tax) is the sum of a taxpayer’s income taken into account in calculating income tax liabilities. Total income is measured before tax allowances and any other deductions have been taken into account.

Tax liability refers to individuals overall tax liability and is before the deduction of any foreign or domestic tax credit.