Taxpayers have less than a week to enjoy the amnesty that cushions defaulters from penalties and legal suits by up to 50 percent on interest and accrued penalties.
The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) having collected a total of Sh8.54 billion through the Voluntary Tax Declaration Programme (VTDP) says to enjoy the offer, taxpayers must sign up, declare and pay before December 31.
Under the programme, which became effective in January 2021 and runs to December 2023, defaulters who declare pending liability and pay within the first year shall enjoy 100 percent interest and penalty waiver.
Businesses and individuals that disclose and pay the pending tax liability within the second year of the programme will receive remission of 50 percent while payments that come in the third year will have 25 percent relief.
The taxman targeted Sh5 billion in the first year of the amnesty that hopes to entice Kenyans to disclose undeclared taxes for the period between 2015-2020.
The amnesty programme is one of the measures that have helped the taxman to hit its target in the Financial Year 2021/22.
By end of June, the KRA had collected Sh8.54 billion from defaulters and tax through the VTDP.
In November, the KRA reported it had rejected applications from at least 540 firms seeking waivers under the amnesty programme that has so far recovered Sh8.54 billion from defaulters and tax cheats.
The applications worth Sh287 million were rejected because the income declared was reportedly earned outside the qualifying period of July 1, 2015 to June 30, 2020 for the VTDP.
Some applicants also failed to disclose some material facts while others were under investigation for other crimes.
The KRA has a tax collection target of Sh2.14 trillion this financial year.
VTDP shall apply to tax liabilities including accrued individual income tax, corporate tax, pay as you earn, withholding income taxes, capital gains tax and the value added tax.
