Taxpayer data (FOI)

Request

Taxpayers

Please could I have a breakdown of the taxpayers in Jersey with the following information over the last 20 years:

A

Total population. 

B

Number of people registered as working. 

C

Number of people working paying income tax. 

D

Number of people registered to work paying income tax, split by the income tax rate;

Response

A

Information is publicly available on www.gov.je and www.opendata.gov.je therefore Article 23 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 has been applied.  

Census in Jersey (www.gov.je)

Total population, annual change, natural growth, net migration per year  (www.opendata.gov.je)

B

Information on the number of people specifically registered as working, is not held. Article 3 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 therefore applies.

The labour market report provides information on total employment and total number of jobs filled. It does not provide information on the number of people working, as some people fulfil multiple jobs. It may however provide useful insights into the labour market.

Labour market report (www.opendata.gov.je)

C and D

Please see attached table.

Taxpayers information table

Count of taxpayers rounded to nearest 100. Some columns may not sum due to rounding.

This data is taken from the position at 19 December 2021, and numbers may be expected to change over time as assessments are reviewed and additional assessments are made.

This includes all complete tax returns, including default assessments (which are made when a tax return has not been received) for Jersey-resident taxpayers with a positive tax liability.

A ‘taxpayer’ is defined as:

• single individuals
• married couples / civil partnerships that have not opted for separate assessments (counted as one Individual Taxpayer)
• married couples / civil partners that have opted for separate assessments (counted as two Individual Taxpayers).

These figures exclude the High Value Resident (HVR) population as they are subject to different rates of tax above certain income thresholds.

In order to determine the effective rate of tax for a taxpayer who has income which has been taxed at another entity (e.g. a partnership or shareholder distributions), the relevant income and tax has been included for that taxpayer. 

No data is shown for a band greater than 20%, as no taxpayer will pay an annual rate of tax higher than 20%. An individual may have an ITIS effective rate higher than 20% either because they have voluntarily increased their rate, or because they have arrears of income tax.

Article applied

Article 3 - Meaning of “information held by a public authority”

For the purposes of this Law, information is held by a public authority if –

(a) it is held by the authority, otherwise than on behalf of another person; or

(b) it is held by another person on behalf of the authority.

Article 23 - Information accessible to applicant by other means

Information is absolutely exempt information if it is reasonably available to the applicant, otherwise than under this Law, whether or not free of charge.

A scheduled public authority that refuses an application for information on this ground must make reasonable efforts to inform the applicant where the applicant may obtain the information.