The Charities Act was enacted the 28th November 2013. The Authority and the Registrar under the Act were named and designated with effect from December 24, 2013. The Authority is the Department of Cooperatives and Friendly Societies and the Registrar is the Companies Office of Jamaica.

As at December 1, 2013, Tax Administration Jamaica is no longer authorized to approve New Charities or renew Tax Exemption Certificates for existing charities.

The Department of Cooperatives and Friendly Societies has begun the processing of the new and existing charities. TAJs role is to review these applications using our established criteria to ensure that the Objects and Powers, etc. are in keeping with what should obtain for a charitable organization under the Charities Act. If no impediment is identified by us we then issue a No Objection Letter to the Authority attesting to our satisfaction with the charities application. Conversely if we identify problems with the application we will set this out and pass the information to the Authority for them to interface with the organization and bring about some resolution.

Source: https://www.jamaicatax.gov.jm/Charities

1. Identify and define charitable organizations in your own words.