Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) on Wednesday said Kenyans are rushing to verify their tax compliance status following revelations that the taxman is training its guns on rich Kenyans displaying lavish lifestyles on social media but paying little or no taxes.
KRA on Wednesday said in a statement that they have recorded a steady rise in the number of individual taxpayers rushing to verify their tax compliance status since the report was published.
Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) on Wednesday said Kenyans are rushing to verify their tax compliance status following revelations that the taxman is training its guns on rich Kenyans displaying lavish lifestyles on social media but paying little or no taxes.
KRA on Wednesday said in a statement that they have recorded a steady rise in the number of individual taxpayers rushing to verify their tax compliance status since the report was published.
“The rise has been attributed to a media article attributed to KRA Commissioner General Githii Mburu published this week confirming that the authority actively utilizes technological solutions for tax compliance surveillance,” said KRA in a statement.
Business Daily on Monday reported that KRA has a team focused on smoking out tax cheats through social sites such as Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat.
The taxman wants socialites and individuals who display lavish lifestyles on the interwebs to pay their fair share of taxes as it races to bring more people into the tax bracket.
The Authority’s Deputy Marketing and Communications Commissioner Ms Grace Wandera said they are actively utilising technological solutions, including social media monitoring tools to ensure compliance.
“Within the confines of the law, we do apply social media scans among other technological tax compliance surveillance systems. This week, we have seen a more than 60 percent rise in the number of tax compliance certificates applications lodged on the online i-Tax platform,” Ms Wandera said.
Ms Wandera said the spike means most taxpayers are willing to comply and that KRA “is a very dynamic organisation that will continue providing tax facilitation services to boost compliance.”
Further, the taxman said continued compliance has seen the country surpass collection targets. In the month of October KRA collected Sh154.383 billion against a target of Sh142.285 billion, a 108.5 percent performance.
