PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad — Landlords in Trinidad and Tobago will pay a new surcharge on their gross rental income from 1 January 2026, under the Finance Bill 2025 passed in early December 2025.
The “landlord business surcharge” is set at 2.5 per cent of gross rent where a landlord’s rental income for the quarter is TT$20,000 or less, and 3.5 per cent above that, according to a tax alert from PwC Trinidad and Tobago. Landlords must also pay a one-time TT$2,500 fee to register their premises with the Board of Inland Revenue, which the Trinidad Guardian reported was expected to raise about TT$70 million. PwC said the registration deadline was 31 March 2026.
Finance Minister Davendranath Tancoo told Newsday on 7 December that the surcharge was not a revival of the property tax, because it is levied on rent actually received rather than on an assumed rental value. Sally Singh, president of the Association of Real Estate Agents, pointed out that it applies to gross rather than net income. Opposition MP Brian Manning said the measure could leave people homeless.
What it means
Analysis: Because the charge is on gross rather than net income, it takes a bigger bite out of the returns of small landlords with high maintenance or mortgage costs. Some of the cost is likely to be passed on to tenants, and some landlords may stay informal to avoid registration.
Editor’s note: This article was added to the Jamaica Homes News archive on 30 September 2026. It reports events from December 2025 and is dated to when they were reported.
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