40pc taxpayers file returns ahead of June 30 deadline
A Kenya Revenue Authority staff assists a taxpayer file her tax returns at the iTax Support Centre in Nairobi Railways on June 30, 2020. PHOTO | DENNIS ONSONGO | NMG
About 41 percent of Kenyans targeted by the taxman have filed returns ahead of the June 30 deadline, data from the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) says.
Latest KRA shows that more than 2.87 million taxpayers had filed returns by June 7 against a target of 7.1 million taxpayers.
This is less compared with 3.07million people who filed within a similar time last year. KRA says it has been processing more than 200,000 filings daily.
The taxman estimates that daily filing will increase as the deadline nears. It has also extended working hours at the physical and online filling points ahead of the June 30 deadline.
The taxman extended its working hours at Service centres to weekends and 6:30 pm on weekdays starting June 2 to June 30 to help taxpayers beat the last-minute deadline.
The centres, which normally operate between 8 am and 5 pm, are now working from 7 am to 6:30 pm to serve workers who were locked out by the initial eight-hour shift.
The centres will also open on Saturday from 9 am to 1 pm in the race to have more workers and business owners file their income tax returns, which have emerged as an avenue to net tax cheats and grow the income tax segment.
The contact centres will also operate from 6 am to 12 pm Monday to Friday while on Saturday and Sunday, they will operate between 9 am and 4 pm from June 20-June 30.
“Huduma Centres will however operate from 8 am to 5 pm Monday to Friday and remain closed on Saturdays,” said the taxman in a notice to taxpayers.
Through the filings, the taxman can net cheats as the agency race against time to meet collection targets.
KRA collected nearly Sh1.46 trillion between July 2021 and April 2022, which is higher than the Sh1.42 trillion target on a prorated target.
The tax receipts in the 10 months were Sh265.64 billion or 22.31 percent higher than Sh1.19 trillion the KRA collected in a similar period in the prior year. The over-performance in tax receipts this fiscal year has largely benefited from the full re-opening of the economy after coronavirus infections fell.
