This archive report was first published on 1 July 2020.
NAIROBI, KENYA - July 1, 2020
Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) has reported a significant increase in the number of taxpayers who filed their returns for the 2019 period, with 4.4 million individuals beating the June 30 deadline.
This represents a 25% increase from the previous year's 3.6 million, according to a news release by KRA.
Those who failed to file their returns on time will face penalties of Sh2000 or 5% of tax due, whichever is higher, for individual taxpayers, while non-individual taxpayers will face penalties of Sh20,000 or 5% of tax due, whichever is higher.
Despite the increased number of taxpayers, KRA service centers did not experience long queues during the last days of filing, a testament to the efficiency of the iTax platform.
As part of its efforts to enhance the user experience, KRA has progressively improved the iTax system, including the auto-population of returns for taxpayers with employment income as their only source of income.
“Kenyans are urged to file returns early, beginning January of every calendar year, to avoid last-minute rush that comes around the June 30 deadline,” said KRA.
Just like tax payment, filing of tax returns is an important tax compliance tenet, which is put into an account in the measure of a taxpayer’s compliance.
