The Companies Office of Jamaica (COJ) is projecting 2022 to be a record-breaking year for the registration of business names and companies, based on current estimates.

Shellie Leon, Registrar of Companies and Acting COJ chief executive officer, has declared that current estimates put the office on track to surpass the 17,039 business names and 4,878 new companies recorded last year. Leon added that some 9,943 new business names and 3,277 companies have been added to the register since the start of the year.

Conceding that the month of August is always a slow period for registration, Leon is confident that last year’s record registrations will be surpassed by the end of this year. The acting CEO is encouraging persons looking to register business names and companies to “fully inform themselves as to what type of entity they want to register, whether a company or business”.

She informed that prior to registration, persons must educate themselves on what their responsibilities will be and ensure that they comply on a timely basis.

According to Leon, “this will save you money and it will mean that instead of you putting back your money into late fees and penalty, your money will go into growing your business.”

Once a decision has been made on the type of entity, persons are encouraged to register their business names and companies through the COJ online portal at www.orcjamaica.com.

COJ COVID-19 Compliance Relief Initiative

In the meantime, the COJ  has extended support under the COVID-19 Compliance Relief Initiative, which was developed to assist entities in being officially removed from the companies and business names registers. The initiative which started in May 2020 ended in March 2022.

However, after several persons expressed interest, it was relaunched on August 1, 2022, and will now run until January 31, 2023.

Leon told JIS News that due to overwhelming demand, it was decided to extend the support for another six months explaining that, “there are persons out there who indicated that they did not hear about it and that they need to utilise this facility.”

Under the initiative, the COJ will facilitate companies and businesses wishing to close by forgoing the usual document submissions and late fees, thereby reducing costs.

In fulfilling this mandate, the COJ is allowing persons to exit easily and economically, so that they may come back and start afresh.

The COJ acting CEO is encouraging persons to take advantage of this final opportunity.