💡 Money you're leaving on the table

🏠 NHT contribution refunds

Your 2% NHT deductions come back to you — eight years later, but only if you ask.

Every employee pays 2% of gross salary to the National Housing Trust (the employer's 3% is not refundable). Each year's contributions become refundable in the eighth year after they were made — so in 2026 you can claim what was deducted in 2018, plus any earlier years you never claimed. Over a working life this is hundreds of thousands of dollars, and the NHT regularly reports billions sitting unclaimed.

• Apply online at nht.gov.jm → Contribution Refunds, with your TRN and NIS number; the money is paid to your bank account.
• Self-employed and voluntary contributors qualify too.
• Special refunds (no 8-year wait) exist for contributors over 65, people with permanent disability, those who have emigrated, and the estate of a deceased contributor.
• If you have an NHT loan, refunds can be applied to the balance instead.

💊 NHF card and JADEP drug subsidies

If you have a chronic condition, the government pays part of every prescription — most eligible Jamaicans have never enrolled.

The NHF Card subsidises drugs and supplies for 17+ chronic conditions — diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol, asthma, arthritis, glaucoma, epilepsy, prostate and breast cancer, major depression, sickle-cell and more — at any participating pharmacy, for anyone of any age with a Jamaican TRN. The subsidy is taken off at the counter.

JADEP (Jamaica Drugs for the Elderly Programme) covers Jamaicans 60 and over for a list of drugs for 10 chronic conditions at a small fixed fee per item at JADEP pharmacies.

• Enrol at any NHF office, many pharmacies, or online at nhf.org.jm; you need a TRN and a doctor's confirmation of the condition (the form is on the site).
• You can hold both an NHF Card and JADEP, and use them with private health insurance — the insurer pays on what is left.
• Drug Serv pharmacies in public hospitals and health centres fill prescriptions at the lowest cost of all; compare before paying private prices.

🧾 Overpaid income tax (PAYE) refunds

Worked part of the year, held two jobs, or changed salary? You probably paid more tax than you owed.

Income tax is only due on earnings above the annual tax-free threshold (about J$1.8M from April 2025 — check jamaicatax.gov.jm for the current figure). Employers deduct PAYE as if you will earn the same every month all year, so anyone who started or stopped a job mid-year, took unpaid leave, or earned under the threshold across two employers (each applying the threshold separately — or neither) has usually overpaid.

• File an IT05 individual return for the year by 15 March at TAJ's online portal — your P24 from each employer has the figures. Refunds are paid by cheque or to your bank account.
• You can go back and file for earlier years you never filed.
• Pensioners over 65 get an extra exemption on top of the threshold; pension income under the combined figure is tax-free.
• Approved pension and retirement-scheme contributions (up to 20% of salary) are deducted before tax — a reason to use a registered scheme rather than an ordinary savings account.

🏦 Unclaimed bank balances at the BOJ

Accounts left untouched for years are transferred to the Bank of Jamaica — and listed by name.

Under the Banking Services Act, a deposit account with no customer activity for seven years is classed as dormant and the balance is passed to the Bank of Jamaica. The BOJ publishes a searchable list of unclaimed balances, including accounts of people who have died, emigrated or simply forgot a childhood savings account.

• Search your name, a parent's or a late relative's at boj.org.jm (Unclaimed Balances).
• Claims go through the original bank with ID, proof of address and, for an estate, the grant of probate or letters of administration.
• Money with a credit union or building society is held separately — ask them directly.

👵 NIS benefits you may already be owed

The National Insurance Scheme pays more than the retirement pension — and none of it arrives unless you apply.

NIS deductions from your pay fund a retirement pension at 65, but also an invalidity pension if you cannot work before then, a maternity allowance for insured women, a funeral grant paid to whoever meets the cost, and widow's/widower's and orphan's pensions after a contributor's death. People regularly miss the funeral grant and survivor benefits because nobody told them to apply.

• Apply at any Ministry of Labour & Social Security office or at mlss.gov.jm. Retirement claims can be lodged a few months before your 65th birthday.
• Self-employed people can and should register and contribute; a gap in contributions reduces the pension.
• Ask for a contribution statement to confirm your employer actually paid over what was deducted.

🤝 Credit-union shares, dividends and cheaper loans

Your credit-union shares earn a dividend and set the rate you borrow at — most members never check either.

Permanent and voluntary shares in a credit union earn an annual dividend, often above a bank savings rate, and the same shares secure loans at rates well below unsecured bank or micro-lender rates — see the credit-union loans we list. Many members also carry loan-protection and life-savings insurance (paid by the credit union, through CUNA) that their families do not know to claim.

• Ask at the AGM or counter what last year's dividend was and whether your voluntary shares are earning it.
• Before taking a bank, retailer or micro-loan, price the same amount against your shares as security.
• Check whether your credit union's loan-protection cover clears an outstanding loan on death or disability, so the family is not chased for it.