This archive report was first published on 3 July 2020.
As of 29 May 2020, the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) had collected KSh1.33 trillion in tax revenues, falling short of the target for the financial year 2019/2020. The agency attributes the shortfall to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has led to a dusk-to-dawn curfew, restrictions on movement, and slow economic growth.
Despite the revenue shortfall, KRA has seen a significant increase in tax filings, with 4.4 million people filing taxes this year, compared to 3.6 million people who filed in 2019. The agency attributes the growth in tax filings to investment in the iTax system, which includes an auto-populated return for taxpayers with employment income as the only source of income, improving the user experience.
As part of efforts to boost revenue collection, the government has introduced a 1.5 percent digital tax on digital transactions, and a raft of tax measures aimed at raising additional revenues, including taxation on helicopter services and classification of items from exempt to standard rated.
The Court of Appeal has also restored KRA's power to snoop on taxpayers' Mpesa and bank accounts to smoke out tax cheats.
According to Treasury CS Ukur Yattani, tax revenue is estimated to reduce slightly to KSh1.621 trillion in FY 2020/21 compared to the target of KSh1.64 trillion in FY2019/20.
