Does an Overseas Beneficiary Need a Jamaican TRN?

A TRN is a nine-digit number issued by Tax Administration Jamaica. It lets TAJ and other public bodies identify the person in a transaction. Having one does not make you liable for Jamaican tax. Liability depends on income, property or a transaction under the relevant tax law, not on holding a number.

TAJ has said that overseas persons who are parties to transactions processed in Jamaica, including land transfers and mortgages that pass through its Stamp Duty and Transfer Tax Section, must have a TRN. The Government's notice is on the Jamaica Information Service.

In an estate that means a beneficiary who will receive registered land in their own name, who will transfer or sell an inherited interest or who is a party to any transaction submitted to TAJ. A beneficiary receiving only a cash distribution may not need one for the estate transaction, although the bank or the remittance may have requirements of its own. We settle how the estate is to be distributed before any beneficiary is asked to apply.

An individual overseas applies on TAJ's form with a notarised copy of their identification, and we prepare and lodge the package. Forms and certification wording change, so we confirm the current instructions with TAJ before anything is signed or posted. The original passport stays with you.

The name on the application is the legal name exactly as the passport gives it. Where the will or the title uses another name, the marriage certificate or other linking evidence goes with the application. Changing the name informally on the form to match the will is how an application comes back and a transfer waits.

No one can promise that an overseas TRN will issue in a stated number of weeks. Once it is clear the beneficiary will enter a registrable or taxable transaction, the application goes in and the proof of submission is kept. Where the estate has not yet decided whether the land is to be sold or passed to the beneficiaries, that plan is settled first, so nobody applies for a number they will not need.

Where the deceased was the sole owner, or held a tenant-in-common share, the executor or administrator first obtains the grant and applies for transmission at the National Land Agency. The NLA then records the transfer to the people entitled. See our guide to transferring Jamaican property after death.

Where several overseas beneficiaries are to become registered owners, each TRN is in hand before the transfer documents are sent round for signature. One incomplete package holds up the whole dealing, and every beneficiary waits for the slowest.

Tell us at the first meeting where you live and what the will leaves you, and we will say whether you need a TRN and start the application if you do.