Charge of Income Tax

(1) Income tax shall, subject to this Act, be payable at the rate or rates specified hereafter in sections 21 and 22 of this Act, for the year of assessment commencing on 15th January, 1999 and for each subsequent year of assessment upon the chargeable income of any person accruing in or derived from Belize, whether received in Belize or not in respect of– (a) in the case of a person other than an employed person, the gains or profits from any trade, business, profession or vocation, for whatever period of time such trade, business, profession or vocation may have been carried on or exercised; (b) in the case of an employed person, gains or profits from any employment, including the estimated annual value of any quarters or board or residence or of any other allowance granted in respect of employment whether in money or otherwise, but not including– (i) payment for any passage to or from Belize for the purpose of leave granted in respect of the employment, up to a 14 maximum of one month’s basic salary; or (ii) any allowance granted for the purchase of uniform or the value of any uniform supplied by the employer; (c) any pension, charge or annuity. (2) Repealed by Act 3 of 2001. (3) The gains and profits from any employment exercised in the country shall be deemed to be derived from the country whether the gains or profits from such employment are received in the country or not. (4) Where a loan is made to a director or a shareholder or to a relative of a shareholder of a company, the amount thereof shall be included in computing the income of the person to whom the loan was made unless– (a) the loan was made in the ordinary course of the lender’s business and the lending of money was part of its ordinary business; (b) bona fide arrangements were made at the time the loan was made for the repayment thereof within a reasonable time; or (c) the loan was repaid within one year from the end of the taxation year of the lender in which it was made and it is established, by subsequent events or otherwise, that the repayment was not made as a part of a series of loans and repayments. (5) For the purpose of this section15 “relative”, in relation to an individual, means the husband, wife, brother or sister or any lineal ascendant or descendant of that individual. (6) Commencing from the first day of the basis year 2020, and for each subsequent year, no income tax shall be payable upon the chargeable income of a company, other than a company engaged in petroleum operations.