Two weeks. That is all the time separating Jamaican business owners from the most important payroll compliance deadline of the year: March 31, 2026.
On that date, the NHT Annual Return is due. The fiscal year closes. Businesses that have been running payroll all year need to prove — in writing, to the National Housing Trust and the Tax Administration Jamaica — that every contribution was calculated correctly, collected, and remitted on time.
If you are reading this on March 17 and you have not yet started your year-end reconciliation, you are behind. But you still have time — if you start today.
Here is your 14-day action plan.
What Is Due on March 31?
Before we get to the plan, let us be precise about what "March 31" actually means for Jamaican employers:
1. NHT Annual Return (S02) This is the big one. Every registered employer must file an annual return with the National Housing Trust listing every employee's NHT contributions for the 2025/2026 fiscal year. If your monthly NHT schedules were correct all year, this is mostly a compilation exercise. If there were errors — wrong NHT numbers, missed contributions, incorrect amounts — you will find them now.
2. Year-End SO1 Reconciliation While the SO1 is a monthly return, March 31 is when you reconcile the full year. Total PAYE withheld from employee payslips should equal total PAYE remitted to TAJ across 12 monthly filings. If they do not match, you have a problem — and TAJ will eventually find it.
3. P6 Employee Certificates By March 31, you must issue a P6 (Certificate of Emoluments) to every employee who worked during the year. This is their proof of income and tax withheld — they need it to file personal income tax returns. Late P6s frustrate employees and can draw labour office attention.
4. Fiscal Year Close April 1 starts the new fiscal year. All cumulative PAYE calculations reset. Contribution ceilings reset. You need clean books at year-end to start fresh on April 1.
Your 14-Day Action Plan
Days 1–3 (March 17–19): Gather and Verify
Day 1 — Pull all monthly records Locate all 12 monthly payroll runs from April 2025 through March 2026. This means:
- Monthly payslips for each employee (or payroll calculation records)
- Copies of all 12 S01 returns as filed
- NHT Monthly Schedule receipts for each month
- Bank records showing remittances made
If any monthly records are missing or incomplete, flag them immediately — you need to reconstruct them before you can file the annual return.
Day 2 — Verify employee statutory IDs For the NHT Annual Return, every employee must be listed with their correct NHT number. Pull your employee records and confirm:
- NHT number on file for every current and former employee
- NIS number current and correct
- TRN matches your PAYE filings
Errors in NHT numbers mean contributions do not reach the right employee account. The NHT will reject or flag returns with unmatched numbers.
Day 3 — Run a quick payroll audit Take your top 5 highest-paid employees and verify their PAYE calculations for one representative month. If you have been using the correct 2025/2026 threshold (J$149,948/month, i.e. J$1,799,376/year), the numbers should be consistent. If not — that is the conversation you need to have with your accountant before filing.
Use the free calculator at payrolljamaica.com/calculator to verify any calculation quickly.
Days 4–7 (March 20–23): Build Your Annual Return
Day 4 — Sum contributions by employee For the NHT Annual Return, you need the total NHT contributions per employee for the full year. This means adding up 12 months of contributions for each person. If you ran payroll in a system, this should be a report. If you ran it in Excel, you are building this manually.
Format: Employee Name | NHT Number | Total Contributions April 2025–March 2026
Day 5 — Reconcile totals Total NHT contributions across all employees should equal what you actually remitted to NHT across all 12 months. Pull your NHT remittance records and check.
Discrepancy red flags:
- Employee who joined mid-year but appears in all 12 months
- Employee who left but is still appearing as active
- Month where contributions are higher or lower than expected (bonus month, month with leavers, etc.)
Day 6 — Handle former employees If employees left during the year, they still appear in the Annual Return for the months they were employed. Make sure you have their final month's contributions and their NHT/NIS numbers on file. Former employees are entitled to a P6 the same as current ones.
Day 7 — Prepare the NHT Annual Return Go to nht.gov.jm. Log in to your employer account. Navigate to the Annual Return section. Enter each employee's contributions. Review the summary. Do not submit yet — review again tomorrow.
Days 8–10 (March 24–26): Finalise and Generate P6s
Day 8 — Final review of NHT Annual Return Before submitting, review:
- Every employee's NHT number matches your records
- Contribution totals are per employee, not combined
- No employees are missing
- The filing period is correct (April 1, 2025 – March 31, 2026)
Day 9 — Generate P6 Certificates The P6 shows each employee their gross emoluments, PAYE deducted, NIS, NHT, and Education Tax for the year. You can generate P6s from your payroll system, or manually using the TAJ P6 template.
Every employee who worked any time during the year gets a P6. If you have had 15 employees throughout the year (some who have since left), you are producing 15 P6 certificates.
Day 10 — Distribute P6s and begin submissions
- Send P6s to all employees (email is fine, or print and distribute)
- Submit your NHT Annual Return if the Day 8 review is clean
- Keep submission confirmation numbers — you will need them
Days 11–14 (March 27–31): Final Push
Day 11 — SO1 Year-End Reconciliation Add up total PAYE withheld from employee payslips across all 12 months. Compare to total PAYE shown across all 12 monthly S01 returns. Identify discrepancies and resolve them with your accountant.
Day 12 — Final TAJ check Log in to eTax (jamaicatax.gov.jm). Confirm all 12 S01 returns for 2025/2026 show as received. If any are showing as missing or rejected, address them now — not on the 31st.
Day 13 — Buffer day Do not plan to use the 13th of 14. Deadlines get missed when every day is planned until the last second. Use this as a buffer for any surprises from Days 11–12.
Day 14 (March 31) — Final submissions Any remaining filings go in today. Confirm:
- NHT Annual Return: submitted ✅
- P6s: issued to all employees ✅
- SO1 reconciliation: complete ✅
- All confirmation numbers saved ✅
Common Problems in the Final 14 Days — and How to Fix Them
"I can't find one employee's NHT number"
Contact the NHT directly (876-929-6500) or have the employee access their NHT account at nht.gov.jm. Alternatively, their NHT number should be on their most recent NHT payslip contribution receipt.
"My monthly S01 totals don't add up"
This is an accountant conversation. Common causes: bonus month not filed separately, employee who was paid in one month and filed in another, rounding differences compounding across 12 months. TAJ will accept a reconciliation if the discrepancy is explained — do not ignore it.
"I forgot to register an employee with NHT"
Register now and backfile contributions. Late registration is better than not registering. The NHT can provide guidance on how to handle backdated contributions.
"I have been calculating PAYE wrong all year"
If the error is systematic (wrong threshold, wrong rate applied), you may have been withholding too much or too little from employees. Your accountant needs to recalculate. Underpayments may require a corrected S01 and additional remittance. Over-deductions may require employee refunds. Either way, do not ignore it — self-correction before an audit is always better than being found.
The March 31 Penalty Reminder
If you miss March 31:
| Obligation | Penalty | |---|---| | NHT Annual Return (late) | Penalty + 20% per annum on outstanding amounts | | Late S01 / SO1 reconciliation | Surcharge + interest | | P6 not issued | Labour law breach; potential LRIDA complaint |
The penalties compound quickly. Filing incomplete and correcting later is almost always better than not filing at all.
Don't Want to Go Through This Again Next March?
The businesses that breeze through March 31 year after year are the ones that run compliant payroll every month — not the ones scrambling every March to reconstruct a year's worth of records.
PayrollJamaica automates the statutory calculations every month (PAYE, NIS, NHT, Education Tax) and keeps per-employee contribution records that make the annual return a report, not a manual exercise.
Start before April 1 — the new fiscal year is the cleanest possible starting point. See all payroll software features →
Or at minimum, use the free calculator to verify your March deductions are correct before you file.
14 days is enough time. Start today.