Jordan Sales Tax and Income Tax Rates

Jordan's sales tax and income tax at a glance

Jordan taxes businesses through General Sales Tax (GST) at a standard 16%, similar in effect to a VAT, and corporate income tax at rates that vary sharply by sector, from 20% for most companies up to 35% for banks. As of September 2026, both are administered by the Income and Sales Tax Department (ISTD) in Amman.

This guide sets out the GST rate, thresholds and what is zero-rated or exempt, the sector-by-sector corporate income tax rates and the surtax stacked on top of them, filing deadlines and penalties, and the different tax world inside the Aqaba Special Economic Zone. Our guide on Jordan's JoFotara e-invoicing system covers how invoices are actually issued and validated; this guide stays with the rates and the numbers.

GST: rate, thresholds and who must register

The standard General Sales Tax rate is 16%, applied similarly to a VAT on sales of goods and services and on imports, including imports from free zones into the domestic market. A separate Special Sales Tax of 24% applies to certain telecom and digital services, a materially higher rate a business should not confuse with the standard 16%.

Registration thresholds differ by what a business sells: JOD 30,000 a year for suppliers of services and JOD 75,000 a year for suppliers of goods, measured over any trailing or forward-looking 12-month period. Both thresholds are administered by the ISTD, the same department that runs JoFotara and collects corporate income tax.

The two thresholds work independently of the corporate income tax sector tiers described later in this guide. A small consultancy earning JOD 32,000 a year in fees crosses the JOD 30,000 services threshold and must register for GST, even though it also sits in the ordinary 20% corporate tax tier; a hardware retailer selling JOD 60,000 a year of goods stays under the JOD 75,000 threshold and is not required to register at all, whatever tier its corporate profits fall into.

Zero-rated and exempt supplies

Jordan zero-rates exports of goods and services outside the country, sales to free zone areas, sales into the Aqaba Special Economic Zone (ASEZ) and sales to designated development areas. A zero-rated sale still lets the seller recover input GST on its own purchases, unlike an exempt one.

A defined list of goods and services is exempt outright, including bread, water sold in containers under 5 litres, tea, sugar, gold, money, electricity, air transport, education, sewage and waste disposal, public health services, and the activities of religious and social organisations. A business selling a mix of standard-rated, zero-rated and exempt items needs to track each category separately, since only the zero-rated and standard-rated sales support a full input GST recovery.

Corporate income tax: the sector tiers

Jordan's Income Tax Law No. 34 of 2014, as amended by Law No. 38 of 2018, taxes companies at three tiers depending on sector, rather than one flat corporate rate. Banks sit at the top at 35%. A second tier of 24% covers telecommunications, insurance and reinsurance, financial intermediation including currency exchange and finance-leasing, electricity generation and distribution, and mining of raw materials. Every other company, the large majority of Jordanian businesses, is taxed at 20%.

Some secondary sources cite a lower 14% rate for industrial and hotel companies, which does not appear in the current three-tier table above; this looks like a legacy or incentive-linked rate rather than the general-law rate in force today, so confirm any claimed 14% treatment directly with the ISTD or a licensed tax adviser before relying on it.

• 35%: banks
• 24%: telecommunications, insurance/reinsurance, financial intermediation (incl. currency exchange, finance-leasing), electricity generation/distribution, mining of raw materials
• 20%: all other companies

The National Contribution Tax: a surtax on top of CIT

A National Contribution Tax stacks on top of the corporate income tax rates above, at a rate that also varies by sector: 3% for banks and for electricity generation and distribution companies, 7% for mining of raw materials, 4% for financial intermediation, brokerage, currency exchange and finance-leasing companies, 2% for major telecommunications, insurance and reinsurance companies, and 1% for all other companies. There are no governorate or local income taxes in Jordan to add on top of these two national charges.

• Banks: 3% surtax on top of 35% CIT
• Electricity generation/distribution: 3% surtax on top of 24% CIT
• Mining of raw materials: 7% surtax on top of 24% CIT
• Financial intermediation, brokerage, currency exchange, finance-leasing: 4% surtax on top of 24% CIT
• Major telecom, insurance, reinsurance: 2% surtax on top of 24% CIT
• All other companies: 1% surtax on top of 20% CIT

A worked example: three sectors, three tax bills

A general trading company earns taxable profit of JOD 500,000 for the year. At the standard 20% rate, its corporate income tax is JOD 100,000; the National Contribution Tax adds 1% of the same profit, JOD 5,000, for a total tax bill of JOD 105,000.

A telecommunications company with the same JOD 500,000 taxable profit pays corporate income tax at 24%, JOD 120,000, plus a 2% National Contribution Tax of JOD 10,000, a total of JOD 130,000. A bank with identical taxable profit pays 35% CIT, JOD 175,000, plus a 3% surtax of JOD 15,000, a total of JOD 190,000, almost double the trading company's combined bill on the same underlying profit.

• Trading company: 500,000 x 20% = 100,000 CIT + 500,000 x 1% = 5,000 surtax = 105,000 total
• Telecom company: 500,000 x 24% = 120,000 CIT + 500,000 x 2% = 10,000 surtax = 130,000 total
• Bank: 500,000 x 35% = 175,000 CIT + 500,000 x 3% = 15,000 surtax = 190,000 total

Foreign branch income and bank-deposit income

Jordanian resident corporations are generally not taxed on their worldwide income; the tax base is Jordan-sourced. Two specific flows carry their own fixed 10% rate instead of the sector tiers above: income a Jordanian resident company earns from Jordanian bank deposits or funds, and the entire net income of a foreign branch of a Jordanian resident corporation.

That flat 10% branch rate applies to the whole of the branch's net income, not to a sector-tiered slice of it, which makes it materially different from applying the 20%, 24% or 35% domestic rates to the same profit.

Filing deadlines, advance payments and late-payment penalties

The annual corporate income tax return is due, with any tax balance, before the end of the 4th month following the end of the tax period. GST returns run on a different, faster rhythm: filed bi-monthly, covering two-month periods, with the return and payment due within 30 days of the end of each period.

A company with gross business income above JOD 1,000,000 in the prior year must also make two advance payments against its accrued income tax during the year, each due within 30 days of the end of the first and second half of the tax period respectively. A single late-payment fine structure applies across both GST and corporate income tax: 0.4% of the tax due for every week of delay, or part of a week.

The Aqaba Special Economic Zone: a different tax world

The Aqaba Special Economic Zone (ASEZ), governed by the Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority (ASEZA), offers a reduced corporate income tax rate of 5% on qualifying in-zone profits, against the standard 20% rate that applies to most companies elsewhere in Jordan. A company earning JOD 300,000 of qualifying in-zone profit pays JOD 15,000 in corporate tax inside ASEZ, against JOD 60,000 it would owe at the standard 20% rate outside the zone, a difference of JOD 45,000 on the same profit.

GST treatment inside ASEZ is its own regime too: most goods and services are exempt from GST on final consumption within the zone, but a selective 7% GST rate applies to certain specified consumer and industrial products and services under Regulation No. 54 of 2005, as amended. ASEZ also carries full customs-duty exemption on most goods entering the zone, and sales into ASEZ from the rest of Jordan are zero-rated for GST, mirroring the export treatment described earlier.

• ASEZ corporate income tax: 5% on qualifying in-zone profit, versus 20% standard
• Worked example: 300,000 profit x 5% = 15,000 in ASEZ, versus 300,000 x 20% = 60,000 outside it
• ASEZ GST: most goods/services exempt on final consumption in-zone; selective 7% on specified items
• Sales from the rest of Jordan into ASEZ: zero-rated for GST

Accounting standards and registering a business

Jordan adopted IAS/IFRS in full, without modification, through the 1997 Company Law and the 2002 Securities Law. Companies whose securities trade in a public market must prepare their financial statements under IFRS as issued by the IASB, under Article 14 of the Jordan Securities Commission's Instructions of Issuing Companies Disclosure, Accounting and Auditing Standards. The tax year is the calendar year by default; a taxpayer wanting a different financial year-end needs prior approval from the Director General of the Income Tax Department.

Companies register at the Companies Control Department, under the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Supply, typically completing in 1 to 2 days once documents and approvals are in order, and separately register with the ISTD for a Tax Identification Number. Companies are also regulated for accounting and disclosure purposes by the Jordan Securities Commission where they are publicly listed, on the Amman Stock Exchange or through the Securities Depository Center.

Jordan tax compliance in Skyline Nexus ERP

Automated filing of Jordan's corporate income tax return, National Contribution Tax and GST return is being rolled out market by market: tell us your country and we will confirm your go-live date. What is already live is the tax engine every Jordanian business needs regardless of which return it ultimately files.

Jordan's 16% standard GST rate, the 24% Special Sales Tax on telecom and digital services, and zero-rated or exempt categories are each set up as a Tax Rate, so every sale and purchase line carries the correct treatment, and the Tax Report and VAT Return in Reports are computed from the same underlying sales and purchase documents. A business running both a mainland operation and an Aqaba entity can use multi-branch business locations, each with its own invoice numbering scheme, and the chart of accounts carries both English and Arabic account names, shown automatically when the interface language is Arabic.