Jersey moves GST penalties onto the civil penalty regime of the Revenue Administration Law from 1 January 2026

What changed in detail

The Finance (2026 Budget) (Jersey) Law was adopted by the States Assembly on 12 December 2025. His Majesty in Council approved and ratified it by Order of 1 April 2026. Under Article 54(3), the provisions below come into force on 1 January 2026.

Part 4 amends the Goods and Services Tax (Jersey) Law 2007:

• Article 27 deletes Articles 71 and 72, the “penalty tax” for dishonest conduct and the liability of partners and officers for it.
• Article 28 redirects GST Law Article 73(3) to a penalty notice under Part 4 of the Revenue Administration (Jersey) Law 2019.
• Article 29 removes the reference to Article 71 from Article 74(3).
• Article 30 removes the references to Article 71(4) from Article 78(3) and (4), and replaces Article 78(5): a GST assessment may be made at any time if it is needed because of a deliberate action or inaction by the taxable person.
• Article 31 deletes sub-paragraphs (o), (p) and (q) of Article 84(2), which dealt with appeal rights.

Part 5 amends the Revenue Administration (Jersey) Law 2019:

• Part 4 of that Law, until now civil penalties for inaccurate income tax returns, now covers “returns”, defined to include a GST return. “Tax” now means income tax or GST.
• A new Article 10A lets the Comptroller recover a penalty from a partner, director, manager, secretary or similar officer when a partnership, company or association is liable for a penalty on a GST return and the act was attributable to that person’s carelessness or deliberate action.
• Set-off of unpaid amounts against refunds is extended to GST.

What it means

Since 1 January 2026, an inaccurate GST return in Jersey has been penalised in the same way as an inaccurate income tax return. The Comptroller serves an administrative penalty notice instead of assessing “penalty tax” under the GST Law. That brings GST under the same carelessness and deliberate-action framework as income tax. Personal exposure for officers and partners is now tied to carelessness as well as deliberate conduct.

The Law was ratified in April 2026 but took effect from 1 January 2026, so it covers returns for 2026 periods from the start. The Proposed Budget 2027-2030 lists further technical GST measures, but none of them change these penalty rules. The regime remains in force in November 2026.