Taxpayers must however apply for extension of the tax filing period 30 days before the deadline.
The changes contained in the Tax Procedures Act that take effect from July 1.
Filing of tax returns has emerged as one of the taxman’s favoured avenues to net tax cheats and grow the income tax segment as the agency struggles to meet collection targets.
Taxpayers will from next year be allowed to file their tax returns after the June 30 deadline in a raft of legal changes aimed boosting compliance.
Under the changes contained in the Tax Procedures Act that take effect from July 1, Kenyans must however apply for extension of the tax filing period 30 days before the deadline.
Similarly, businesses which file their returns monthly will be allowed to seek extension 15 days before the due date. The deadline for filing returns monthly is the 20th day following the month of deduction.
The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) Domestic Taxes Enforcement Division assistant manager, Jeremiah Kinywa, said decisions on the applications for extension will be made within five days to the due date.
“If the commissioner will not have responded to the applicants within the five days, the application will be deemed granted,” said Mr Kinywa.
Speaking during a public sensitisation forum on 2018/2019 Fiscal Budget at English Point Marina in Mombasa, Mr Kinywa, however, noted that if an applicant fails to file his return after the extended five days he will not be allowed to make another application.
“This means one can do the application only once.”
Section 25 (3) of the Tax Procedures Act (TAP) 2015 states that the commissioner may grant an application if he is satisfied that there is reasonable cause, and shall notify the applicant in writing of the extension of time.
Filing of tax returns has emerged as one of the taxman’s favoured avenues to net tax cheats and grow the income tax segment as the agency struggles to meet collection targets.
The law requires anyone with a Personal Identification Number (PIN) to file returns annually -- including a nil return. The process has become a nightmare to thousands of Kenyans with a majority scramble to file their returns on the last days.
In 2015, the penalty for failure to file returns was raised to Sh20,000 from Sh1,000, but the enhanced fines took effect last year. In 2016, the number of taxpayers registered on the KRA’s online platform -iTax- doubled to four million from July 2015’s figure of 1.6 million.
Most taxpayers wait until the last minute to file their returns as was seen on June 29, 2016, with 128,000 Kenyans registered on iTax filing returns on a single day. The taxman collected Sh1.365 trillion in the year ended June 2017, falling short of the targeted Sh1.44 trillion set by the Treasury.
KRA expects its collections as at the end of June 2018 to hit the Sh1.7 trillion mark.
