The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) has netted Sh20.8 billion from the ongoing tax amnesty programme that ends in June.
The taxman said in a statement the amount has come on the back of more than 500,000 Kenyans registering for the programme in the race to regularise their tax compliance status.
The KRA said on Thursday Sh28.7 billion has been self-declared as unpaid taxes, meaning about Sh7.9 billion is yet to be remitted by those who are seeking to benefit from the 10-month programme that started on September 1, 2023.
The Sh20.8 billion that KRA has so far netted, with just about two months left, translates to 41.6 percent of the Sh50 billion that it is targeting from the programme. The KRA said earlier it had identified 2.8 million taxpayers with penalties and interest who qualify for the amnesty programme.
The Finance Act 2023 introduced the tax amnesty programme to allow taxpayers to benefit from a waiver on penalties and interest accrued for periods up to December 31, 2022, upon full payment of their respective principal taxes by June 30, 2024.
“Taxpayers who had defaulted on filing and paying their taxes have so far benefited from Sh244.7 billion in waiver of penalties and interests. The KRA encourages more taxpayers to take advantage of the programme,” said the KRA in the statement.
The taxman requires those seeking amnesty to accompany their applications with a payment proposal for the outstanding principal taxes.
The tax amnesty programme aims to enhance compliance and revenue mobilisation, while giving taxpayers with tax disputes a leeway to benefit from the existing alternative tax dispute resolution framework, according to the KRA.
Kenya’s tax receipts for nine months of the current financial year ending June trail the target by more than Sh960 billion.
The Treasury data shows KRA collected about Sh1.54 trillion in the review period through March 2024, being 61.5 percent of the Sh2.5 trillion tax revenue target for the financial year 2023/24.
This means KRA needs to net Sh960.76 billion in the remaining period of the fiscal year to hit the targeted Sh2.5 trillion, translating to a monthly average of Sh320.25 billion.
The latest collection is the lowest nine-month performance since the Treasury started publishing the monthly exchequer data under the Public Finance Management Act 2013.
