KRA Commissioner General Githii Mburu. FILE PHOTO | NMG
Summary
- KRA data show that 5.5 million Kenyans had filed their tax returns by June 30 deadline against 4.4 million who had done so at the same time last year.
- The taxman is racing to bring more people into the tax bracket and curb tax cheating and evasion in the quest to meet targets in an economy where the Covid-19 pandemic has battered collections.
The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) netted about 1.1 million potential taxpayers when filing of returns closed Wednesday midnight, boosting the taxman’s quest to widen its revenue base.
KRA data show that 5.5 million Kenyans had filed their tax returns by June 30 deadline against 4.4 million who had done so at the same time last year.
The taxman is racing to bring more people into the tax bracket and curb tax cheating and evasion in the quest to meet targets in an economy where the Covid-19 pandemic has battered collections.
“More than 5.5 million taxpayers filed their tax returns for the year 2020 as the filing period officially closed at midnight on Wednesday 30th June 2021,” KRA’s Commissioner General Githii Mburu said in a statement yesterday.
“This means that 1.1 million more taxpayers turned out to file their returns this year compared to the 4.4 million who filed their returns last year, reflecting a 19 percent growth.”
KRA was targeting 5.5 million taxpayers to file their returns, signaling that about 100 percent of workers and businesses filed their returns.
The taxman on Wednesday said that they net more taxpayers mainly on enhanced taxpayer sensitisation and the measures they had put in place to help taxpayers with the filing process.
Under the Tax Procedures Act of 2015, the KRA has powers to order employers to deduct the penalties and tax dues from workers’ salary. Companies, on the other hand, face a penalty of Sh20,000 or five percent of the tax payable in the year the return is meant to capture, or whichever is higher.
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