Small businesses to remain exempted from sales tax during 2011

By Omar Obeidat

AMMAN –– The Cabinet decided to extend its decision of exempting retail business owners whose annual sales are less than JD75,000 from the sales tax.

The decision will be valid until December 31, 2011, according to Minister of Finance Mohammad Abu Hammour.

In February of this year, the Cabinet endorsed a decision to raise the minimum amount of sales generated by retail business owners that is subject to the 16 per cent sales tax from JD50,000 to JD75,000 per year.

In a statement to The Jordan Times, Abu Hammour said the decision seeks to alleviate financial and administrative burdens on owners of small businesses, adding it also aims at avoiding consumers any rise in the prices of goods.

In addition, the decision will further facilitate the work of the staff at the Income and Sales Tax Department (ISTD) as they will not have to follow up on retail businesses whose sales are less than JD75,000 per year, he added.

Nael Kabariti, president of Jordan Chamber of Commerce, welcomed the government’s move, saying it came in response to an appeal by the Chamber to extend the decision.

The majority of traders whose sales are less than JD75,000 a year do not have the mechanism to register with ISTD, he told The Jordan Times yesterday, highlighting that “there is currently a real partnership between public and private sector as we are working as a team to stimulate the economy.”

The government has become more responsive to private sector concerns, Kabariti said.

jordantimes