Jordan Income Tax Return 2026: 12 Checks Before the 30 April Deadline

Every Jordanian company with a taxable source of income files an annual income tax return, in a profit year or a loss year. Under Articles 17 and 18 of the Income Tax Law No. 34 of 2014, as amended, the return and the balance of tax are due by the end of the fourth month after the tax period ends. For a 31 December 2026 year-end, that is 30 April 2027.

Three details change the date you should actually plan for:

• 30 April 2027 is a Friday. Article 75 moves a deadline that falls on an official holiday to the next working day, but treat Thursday 29 April as your real cut-off.
• A company that closes its books on another date, after notifying the Income and Sales Tax Department (ISTD) in advance, counts the four months from its own year-end: a 30 June 2026 year-end files by 31 October 2026.
• If your gross business income passed JOD 1,000,000 in the previous tax period, Article 19 also requires two advance payments, each 40% of the tax computed on that half-year's financial statements, within 30 days of each half-year end. For 2026, the second one falls due on 30 January 2027.

ISTD asks taxpayers to file and pay electronically. Log in to ISTD e-services with your tax number as the username; if it is your first time, register through the New user link.

Attach your financial statements to the return. In April 2024, ISTD extended the deadline for companies' audited 2023 statements to 30 May, while returns, with preliminary statements attached, and the tax payment stayed due on 30 April. Do not build your plan on a repeat: watch ISTD announcements in April 2027 and aim to file with audited figures.

Article 11 of the Income Tax Law sets the tax on a company's taxable income by sector, and a second charge, the national contribution, sits on top of it. ISTD collects the contribution together with the tax, under the same rules on audit, assessment, appeals and late-payment fines. As of November 2026, the combined rates in the law published by ISTD are:

• Most companies, including trading, services, contracting and industry: 20% tax + 1% contribution = 21%.
• Basic telecommunications, insurance and reinsurance companies: 24% + 2% = 26%.
• Electricity generation and distribution companies: 24% + 3% = 27%.
• Financial intermediaries, financial companies and financial leasing: 24% + 4% = 28%.
• Basic materials mining companies: 24% + 7% = 31%.
• Banks: 35% + 3% = 38%.

Two points catch companies out. First, the reduction for industrial activity in Article 11(C) covered 2019 to 2023 only, stepping down from 25% of the tax due (50% for pharmaceuticals and clothing) in 2019 to 5% in 2023. The law gives no such reduction for 2026, so an industrial company works at 20% + 1% unless a separate incentive applies to it. Second, companies registered in development zones are taxed at 5% on qualifying transformational industry and 10% on other activities, and Aqaba has its own law, so confirm your status before you apply the general table.

A quick sense check in dinars: a trading company with JOD 100,000 of taxable income owes JOD 20,000 of income tax and JOD 1,000 of national contribution. The law rounds taxable income and tax down to the nearest dinar.

The law also says the contribution stops once public debt falls to the level the Public Debt Law allows, which is why every rate here is dated.

Article 23 requires books and statements prepared under international accounting standards and audited by a certified public accountant, so your return is only as good as the file behind it. Work through these 12 checks before you open the e-services form:

• Trial balance at 31 December 2026, with every bank, cash and loan account reconciled.
• Draft IFRS statements agreed with your auditor, and the audit timetable fixed.
• If you are registered for general sales tax, revenue in the income statement reconciled to the taxable, zero-rated and exempt sales in every 2026 sales tax return.
• Every 2026 sales invoice and credit note accepted by JoFotara, with nothing left unsent; our JoFotara e-invoicing guide shows how to check.
• Main local suppliers checked on ISTD's e-invoicing registration lookup, so you know which purchase invoices came through the national system.
• Salaries reconciled to payroll, income tax withheld and social security paid; the employer's social security share is allowable under Article 6.
• Withholding payable at zero: salary tax, and the 5% withheld from fees paid to resident doctors, lawyers, engineers, auditors, consultants and agents, remitted within 30 days of payment.
• Certificates for the tax your customers withheld from your fees, and bank statements showing tax withheld on deposit interest.
• Customs receipts for the 2% of import value paid on account of income tax.
• Receipts for any advance payments made in 2026 or January 2027.
• A fixed-asset register with 2026 additions, disposals and depreciation, keeping land out of depreciation.
• A schedule of tax losses brought forward, with the year each one arose.

Checks 8 to 10 are credits that reduce the balance you pay, so a missing receipt costs real money. In Odoo, the tax report in the Jordan localization splits sales into taxable, zero-rated and exempt, which turns check 3 into a quick review. For the full closing calendar, see our year-end closing checklist for Jordan.

Taxable income starts from accounting profit, adjusted for the items the law treats differently. The adjustments that come up most in Jordanian returns:

• Income tax itself, and fines due under the Income Tax Law, are never deductible (Article 7).
• Provisions and reserves are added back unless the law names them. A doubtful-debt provision is allowed only if your statements follow international standards and are audited. A bad debt is deductible once the amount was included in income, and taxable again if collected later (Article 6).
• Depreciation follows the regulation's rates, not your accounting policy, and land is never depreciated, so book depreciation above those rates is added back.
• Expenses linked to exempt income, or income taxed at a final rate, are not deductible.
• Interest paid to related parties is deductible only up to a 3:1 ratio of debt to paid-in capital or average equity, whichever is greater.
• Donations to Cabinet-approved religious, charitable, scientific and similar bodies are capped at 25% of taxable income; donations to government bodies and municipalities are deductible in full (Article 10).
• A tax loss can be carried forward for up to five years from becoming final (Article 8).

A worked example for a trading LLC at 20% + 1%:

• Accounting profit before tax: JOD 180,000
• Add a general provision the law does not name: + 6,000
• Add tax delay fines booked as an expense: + 1,200
• Add book depreciation above the regulation rates: + 3,000
• Deduct a tax loss brought forward from an earlier year: − 10,200
• Taxable income: JOD 180,000
• Income tax at 20%: 36,000; national contribution at 1%: 1,800
• Less the 2% paid at customs on JOD 230,000 of imports: − 4,600
• Balance to pay by 29 April 2027: JOD 33,200

Keep these workings with your return; an ISTD auditor will ask for them first.

Filing late costs twice under the Income Tax Law: a fine on the return and a weekly charge on the tax.

• Late return: a fine of up to JOD 300 for a company, or JOD 1,000 for public and private shareholding companies (Article 63).
• Late payment: 0.4% of the unpaid tax for every week or part of a week, never more than the tax itself (Article 36). On the JOD 33,200 balance above, that is about JOD 133 a week.
• No return at all: ISTD can issue a presumptive assessment, then, if you still have not filed 30 days after being notified, an administrative assessment from its own sources (Articles 30 and 31).
• Understatement: an additional tax of JOD 200 to 500 when the return understates the tax due, or overstates your credits, by 25% or more, doubled for a repeat (Article 64).

Filing and paying on time also helps later: if an audit then finds a difference of JOD 5,000 or less, its delay fine runs only from the date you are notified of the audit decision. If you cannot pay in full, ISTD's Director may allow instalments for justified reasons, at an extra 9% a year (Article 37).

Found a mistake after filing? Article 27 lets you amend the return within two years of filing, up or down, paying any tax and delay fine due, unless an audit notice or acceptance decision has been issued or ISTD found the error first. Returns outside the annual audit sample are deemed accepted (Article 28); keep your records for at least four years (Article 23).

Your next step: book the stock count and audit timetable this week, then give each of the 12 checks an owner and a date. If your books still live in spreadsheets, METCH, an official Odoo partner serving Jordan, can set up Odoo with the Jordan localization, JoFotara and payroll, so your return for 2027 starts from reconciled figures. Start your Odoo project.