How KRA Achieved the New Record in Tax Collection

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How KRA Achieved the New Record in Tax Collection
How KRA Achieved the New Record in Tax Collection

Africa-PressKenya. KRA reached a new record of Ksh1.669 trillion compared to Ksh1.607 trillion collected in the last financial year of 2019/20. KRA had set a revenue target in its 2021 Budget Policy Statement at Ksh1.652 trillion which KRA surpassed with a surplus of Ksh16.808 billion.

KRA data shows that 5.5 million Kenyans had filed their tax returns by June 30, the tax-filing deadline date, against 4.4 million who had filed their taxes last year, reflecting a 19 percent growth.

This data represents a revenue increase of 3.9 percent compared to the last financial year.

How did KRA do it? Well, the taxman has implemented and continue to implement various tax compliance enhancement initiatives to curb tax evasion and neglect, when it comes to filing. Such measures include effective taxpayer sensitization on the filing of returns, efficient taxpayer support services through the KRA Contact Centre, and Tax Service Offices across the country, as well as the extension of working staff hours to allow KRA to dispense tax services to Kenyans.

KRA has, for instance, enhanced the iTax system for a better user experience. Additionally, iTax has been enriched to include an auto-populated return for taxpayers with employment income as the sole source of income.

According to Commissioner-General Githii Mburu, the performance was also attributed to the TaxBase Expansion (TBE) initiative contained in the 7th Corporate Plan.

“Through this initiative, KRA recruited more taxpayers through the newly implemented taxes including Digital Services Tax, Minimum Tax, and voluntary Tax Disclosure among others. Over the 7th Corporate Plan period, active taxpayers increased from 3.94 million to 6.1 million” the Commissioner-General said.

KRA has also taken measures to sensitize Kenyans on late filing and payment of 2020 tax returns.

KRA heavily utilized its social media pages to constantly remind Kenyans of their duties to pay taxes and play their role as citizens, while reminding them of the ramifications of oblivion to honouring that responsibility.

KRA did not extend the deadline of filing returns, which means that those who file returns after the 30th June date will be met with certain penalties.

There are about 6.1 million taxpayers who are registered on iTax. KRA projects to increase the number of active taxpayers by 2 million, to 8.2 million by end of June 2023.

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