Dozens of landlords lined up at the Ministry of Finance’s Inland Revenue Division (IRD) in Port of Spain yesterday in a last-minute rush to complete the registration process for the Landlord Business Surcharge tax.
Today is the deadline to register.
People queued outside the IRD building throughout the morning.
One woman, who completed her registration, said the line was long but was “moving quickly”.
However, she described the process as archaic.
“They have limited seating inside. It is about 20 people that could sit inside, so they are taking in people in batches. The system is a bit archaic. People are literally skipping chairs going down. That is how they are counting who is in what order, which could have simply been a number system,” she said.
She said the line to the cashier was “very long” but believed the crowd outside also included people conducting various transactions at the division, not only registering for the surcharge.
Asked why she waited until the eve of the deadline, she said she had no choice and wanted to avoid what she expected would be a “nightmare (today)”.
Another woman described the process as inconvenient, saying she had already paid property tax last year and was now required to pay the $2,500 registration fee.
She said she had initially visited the office but had to return yesterday after discovering she was missing one of the required documents.
She added that she paid $800 in property tax.
Another man said he chose to register yesterday because of his busy work schedule.
One man remarked that it was not typical to see long lines outside the IRD and believed the large turnout was due to people conducting regular transactions alongside those registering for the surcharge.
The registration deadline for the Landlord Business Surcharge was extended from May 30 to June 30.
The surcharge took effect in January 2026 following its announcement in the 2026 national budget.
Introduced under the Finance Act, 2025, as part of the Government’s 2026 budget measures, the levy applies to gross quarterly rental income collected by residential and commercial landlords. It imposes a 2.5% surcharge on quarterly rental income of up to $20,000 and 3.5% on income above that threshold.
