General Information

The Income Tax Department and The General Sales tax Department were merged in one Department on 16/8/2004 under the name Income and Sales Tax Department  by the amended law of each of the Income Tax Law and the Sales Tax Law, published in Official Gazette No. 4672 Date 16/8/2004.

Historically, The Income Tax Department was established in 1951. It has exercised its work under the Law No. (50) for the year 1950 and since then tax legislation came through several amendments for the purposes of developing legislations, keeping abreast of economic and social changes and fill the gaps arising as a result of application. The latest amendments were in the year 2003 under the Amendment Law (No. 39) for the year 2003 amending the Income Tax Law No. 57 of 1985.

The sales tax has begun as excise tax in 1926 and concluded to the current format of the sales tax which came into force on 1/1/2001 under the law No. (36) for the year 2000. It is tantamount to a system of value added tax applied internationally, as the legislation passed in many stages of development before reaching the current format,The department works with two separate laws; one for income tax and the other for sales tax.

Developments in Tax Systems:

A number of amendments were conducted on the Income Tax Law with the aim of creating a suitable investment climate that is characterized by transparency and clarity while maintaining the financial and monetary stability.  Jordan is probably one of the first countries in the region to introduce the concept of self-estimation, which was done in the context of the temporary Law number (34) of the year 1988.  As for the sales tax legislation, Jordan moved from the concept of a excise tax and production through consumption tax to the first stage of the sales tax in 1994 that included the importer and the manufacturer.  This was followed by the second stage of the sales tax that added the rest of the commercial categories in 2001.  The legislative development of the sales tax had always aimed to achieve equality and justice among the clients, to encourage investment, and to lessen double taxation, all of which were part of the comprehensive reform

Vision

Tax system that is characterized by efficiency and competency, a model to be imitated to achieve targeted tax revenues, enhance investment atmosphere, and introduce optimal services to taxpayers.

 Mission

Enhance the department efficiency and competency in assessing and collecting taxes to achieve national objectives through taxpayers’ self-assessment, sampling techniques, self-compliance, dealing with tax avoidance cases, and introducing optimal services to taxpayers through applying comprehensive high quality standards.

Objectives:

The Department aims to enhance treasury with revenues. Therefore, it undertakes the following :

1. Manage the process of taxation ,collection and related procedures through spread of knowledge

2.   Raising up tax awareness  and inform taxpayers of their rights and their duties

3.  limit tax-evasion

4. Revise, evaluate and update tax policy regarding income tax,  sales tax  and value added tax.

Responsibilities:

Tax policy is considered one of the most important components of the fiscal policy and since objectives are the basic frameworks that identify any policy and they are the economic expression of the prospects of such policy, the goals of tax policy in Jordan are represented in supplying the treasury with the required revenues to finance the general expenses , encourage savings, investment ,positive impact on consumption and price- stability, and to achieve justice and social equity by re-distribution of incomes.

Tax policy in Jordan requires emphasis on the balanced equation between tax authority and the rights of taxpayers which demands the department to provide tax service and enhance voluntary compliance of taxpayers. Also to achieve harmony between tax system and the national growth goals, therefore the department sets its mission through translating it into procedural objectives that are translated into specific tasks and procedures forming the department action plan.

Stem from this concept, the department has achieved high growth rates in revenues in the past years more than economic growth rates. This might be attributed to the following:

1.Broadening the tax base through encompassing targeted sectors that were not committed to pay the tax due, such as  lump sum amount of tax from transportation and import sectors, and reducing registration threshold on sales tax to cover the largest possible number of registered taxpayers

2. Activation of the system of information and investigation, which led to the reduction of tax evasion

3. Adopting the principle of self- assessment has enhanced trust and credibility between the department and the taxpayers and helped to raise the voluntary compliance level resulted in a large decrease in courts tax cases.

Persistent development and improvement in the tax legislation have helped to create a better investment atmosphere and contributed to greater transparency in dealing with the taxpayers.

 Achievements:

Tax department is considered one of the excellent departments in the public sector since it has got the 4th rank- before the mergence among (25) establishments competed on king Abdullah the 2nd Prize for Excellence of Government Performance and Transparency in 2003, further, Sales Tax Department  got the 6th rank among prize competence criteria. It  also competed on several international prizes such as: UN prize for government performance and His Highness  Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashed Aal Maktoom Prize for excellence of management.

The most important points of excellence in the department are:

1. The excellence of human element working in this department since (746) employees are of high qualifications (Bachelor, Higher Diploma, Master and Ph.d degrees) forming 50.9% of the whole department. employees. The staff were intensively trained on all fields of specialized knowledge of (1.5) course per single employee in average yearly.

2. Income and sales tax department is pioneer in using computer among public sector firms since a main computer was purchased and installed including modern data base (Oracle) and processing systems (Unix). Also modern communication networks were put in service that linked the main department with all its directorates in the governorates with high effectiveness. It also adopted the well- known international VIPs system for sales tax data processing.

3.Since years the department started to simplify       and speed up work procedures to be more effective along with making several guides that cover all aspects of the department and all procedures related to such services have been programmed and centrally monitored by Bench marking to follow up dealing with customers through a monitor to identify time delay in any procedure.

4. All implicit knowledge of the department was documented in addition to all procedures, and were filed and classified to be easily referred to.

5. The department adopts team working to study any problems along with a special system for employees and taxpayers' suggestions.

6. The department started a year ago to comply with ISO 9001 requirements through a relevant tender where the department's structure, duties, activities, available resources and provided services were studied at each division level and their links with each other. Also its needs of materials, human resources, technologies and work mechanisms were studied to achieve the department goals.

7.The department is preparing to launch selected e-services in 2005. This project is the first-phase of   e-government Program. The department provides such services in order to activate the use of technology as a means of improving services provided for citizens through the rapid provision of the service , the continued availability , reduction of  service costs and achieving a high degree of transparency in government procedures.

8. The department has gone a long way in computerization process particularly the system of  archiving funded by the Royal Bureau by the order of His Majesty King Abdullah the Second Bin Al-Hussein.

9.The department adopted a modern system to arrange and index files based on colures to be referred to easily.

10.Customer service unit has been established in each directorate to apply centralized service as instructions were developed and employees were trained on how to deal with customers. Similar units will be established in all the department's offices.

11. Commercial banks in Jordan were adopted to receive tax returns and due payments as well as the adoption of electronic payment means like the internet or the smart cards.

12.The adoption of a private company for the purpose of refunding taxes to travelers and tourists who visit Jordan, which contributes to the promotion of tourism in Jordan.

13.The department concerns  about its commitment towards society  through conducting free courses at the department all the year long along with free guides, brochures,  publications both in Arabic and English (e.g. : Publication of Tax Awareness ) and publishing most of the data both in Arabic and English on the website and through the media.  Training programs, seminars, meetings, workshops and providing assistance to students of universities are also essential parts of spreading tax awareness.

14.Open-door policy is adopted by the department on all levels that the taxpayers will not find any obstacle to reach senior management and meet the Director General who specifies one hour daily to meet the taxpayers who create comfortable atmosphere between service provider and recipient.

15.The department has divided the tax periods to singular and plural periods for the purposes of reducing the burden on the taxpayer as well as the employees and providing better services.

16. As a part of its strategy, the department is committed to fulfill its obligations to the citizens, which are as follow:

a- Good reception with proper guide board

b- Not to ignore any call without answering the caller properly

c- Service provider must disclose his identity.

d- Provide the possibility of sending tax return by mail to those who need it

e- Setting up dates in advance for visits or meetings.

17.  The department is keen to instill high and noble values in its employees as a part of the supportive institutional culture to provide better services for citizens such as:

a- Priority is always to serve the citizen, wherever he might be

b- Get rid of change fears

c- Encourage self initiative and creativity.

D-Loyalty to the establishment.

e-Be patient, flexible and open minded in dealing with the public.

f-Team- working.

g-Not to conceal knowledge, whether implicit or explicit.

h-Be just and integrity

18.  In order to make the best use of available resources, the department has established the Directorate of Large Taxpayers aimed at providing better service in all aspects, whether administrative, technical, controlling or other.

The department  has the technical and administrative expertise that made  it a model in the region. Therefore, it is keen on international cooperation in various fields to deepen its  experience through participation in international

conferences , exchange of experience, and the reception of Arab and foreign delegations which would like to benefit from the Jordanian experience.

Head of Entity

Mr. Mousa Al-Mawazrah

Contact Information

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