The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) has extended the deadline for businesses to acquire the new internet-enabled tax registers (ETRs) for the second time amid a supply hitch that has delayed the migration.
The taxman has now given traders up to end of November to acquire the ETRs, easing fears by manufacturers and traders who risked missing out on the deadline that had been set for Friday this week.
The extension of the deadline comes amid lack of stocks from accredited suppliers that first forced KRA to extend the deadline to July 31 to end of this month. The new automated registers will help KRA receive sales and invoice data daily in the latest push to curb tax evasion and boost revenue collections.
“KRA further advises that an administrative decision has been taken to provide additional time until November 2022, to allow the taxpayers complete this process,” KRA says in the notice.
The new registers will be linked to KRA’s systems through the internet, allowing the taxman to scrutinise all deals in the trader’s point of sale.
The ETR will be an upgrade from the manual registers that store data on sales for scrutiny by the taxman after 30 days.
The manual registers are however prone to manipulation and opened a loophole for evasion of duties to the KRA.
Manufacturers and traders who fail to upgrade to ETRs at their businesses premises risk a fine of Sh1 million or a jail term of three years.
Businesses with an annual turnover of at least Sh5 million are under the law required to have ETRs as the KRA seeks to seal revenue leakages from the big taxpayers in a bid to meet its target of Sh2.07 trillion.
Migration to the new ETRs is the latest technology-based shift by the taxman coming months after the KRA staff will start wearing body cameras in the fight against tax evasion and bribery.
The body cameras will be mainly worn by staff in the domestic tax department, customs and border control.
