About the Service Charge on your bill...

[Rob]

Thanks for the explanation Rob. Why do some restaurants (usually the higher end ones) add 15% GST in addition to the service charge. I always prefer the smaller restaurants that charge in JMD as they never include the service charge or GST. At small local restaurants I tip as I would in the US.

GCT, the General Consumption Tax, is paid to the government by all legal businesses selling over j$10,000,000 annually. To display the tax separate or include it in the price is up to the business, but needs to be paid nevertheless.

Businesses including it in the price have to back out the tax and pay it.

Many businesses don't hit the $10,000,000 threshold so are not required to collect or pay.

Small, family run type businesses have no reason for a service charge as it was designed to even out the wage discrepancy for larger businesses with large staffs, most of whom never receive a tip.

[Jamerican71]

I always tip whether I see service charge or not but now I have a question......How do we truly know if the workers are getting anything from that service charge?

[Bnewb]

I always tip whether I see service charge or not but now I have a question......How do we truly know if the workers are getting anything from that service charge?

I quoted Rob from his original post....

"The service charge is NOT anything the restaurant wants it to be. It is a line item on the business accounting and is shared among all hourly employees. That includes the servers, the cooks, the dishwashers, the groundskeepers, the maintenance folks, etc. It is illegal to have a service charge on the bill if it is not shared. The fine has been raised to discourage any misuse of these shared service charges to the employees."

This no different than any other country where tipping is accepted.

[Rob]

I always tip whether I see service charge or not but now I have a question......How do we truly know if the workers are getting anything from that service charge?

If the business has a service charge and doesn't distribute it correctly, the last I heard the fine PER OCCURRENCE is j$2,000,000.00.

This is considered tax fraud. The government doesn't like that.