KRA (the Kenya Revenue Authority) has today confirmed there’s a steady rise in the number of individual taxpayers rushing to verify their tax compliance. The Authority says the rise is attributed to a media article by the Commissioner General Githii Mburu which was published this week confirming that KRA uses technological solutions for tax compliance surveillance.
The Authority’s Deputy Commissioner Ms Wandera singled out praise to Kenyans on Twitter (KoT) among other online content creators who have actively conceptualised witty content on KRA engagements with taxpayers, saying such posts positively influence tax compliance awareness. This, she said, has led to a notable spike in tax compliance requests from the general public.
Ms Wandera explained that the adoption of technological solutions to complement traditional revenue collection tools is geared at enhanced compliance efforts that focus on ensuring taxpayers file returns and pay correct taxes.
“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% rise in the number of tax compliance certificates applications lodged on the online i-Tax platform,” Ms Wandera said.
As part of the KRA 8th Corporate Plan, the Authority is progressively adopting modern technologies to support revenue mobilisation strategies.
KRA has already adopted Blockchain, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and Data Mining contemporary technologies. Under the 8th corporate plan, it is expected that the exchequer revenue will rise from Kshs. 1.76 trillion in 2021/22 to Kshs. 2.5 trillion in 2023/24.
Ms Wandera added that, “The spike is commendable as it means Taxpayers are willing to comply, and KRA is at hand to provide the necessary support. KRA is a very dynamic organisation that will continue providing tax facilitation services to boost compliance.”
KRA says thanks to enhanced compliance efforts, last month they collected Kshs.154.383 Billion against a target of Kshs.142.285 Billion, recording an impressive 108.5% performance.
