This archive report was first published on 14 January 2020.
Published on January 14th, 2020, the Kenya Revenue Authority's (KRA) Tax Appeals Tribunal has made significant strides in resolving long-running tax disputes, securing a substantial Sh11 billion in the process.
The tribunal, which has been actively hearing appeals since its inception, has cleared 23 disputes on December 17th and 18th last year. According to KRA, the tribunal has heard a total of 112 appeals, with judgements expected to be delivered soon for disputed tax amounts totaling Sh53.6 billion.
The resolved disputes spanned various economic sectors, including manufacturing, insurance, banking, construction, betting, agriculture, packaging, and storage. The disputes primarily centered around withholding income tax, tax on winnings from lotteries and betting, customs under-declaration on values of imports, as well as corporation tax and Pay As You Earn (PAYE).
As part of its efforts to increase revenue collection, the KRA is also targeting another Sh15 billion by charging 600 suspected tax cheats by June this year. This will largely be achieved through plea bargains in exchange for amnesty.
Notably, high-profile individuals such as billionaire businessman Humphrey Kariuki and Keroche Breweries boss Tabitha Karanja have been under scrutiny by the KRA. Humphrey Kariuki faces nine counts of tax evasion amounting to Sh41 billion, while Tabitha and Joseph Karanja are wanted over Keroche's tax evasion of Sh14 billion.
Edward Karanja, KRA's head of tax investigations, stated that the authority has a 94% success rate in these cases and aims to publicize all its cases.
