Over 4.4 million Kenyans file tax returns, non-compliant to face consequences

NAIROBI, KENYA: More Kenyans filed their taxes for the 2019 period compared to the previous year.

In a news release by the Kenya Revenue Authority the number of those who managed to beat the June 30 deadline increased by 25 per cent to 4.4 million compared to last year’s 3.6 million.

The penalty for late filing of annual returns for Income Tax Individual is Sh2000 or 5 per cent of tax due whichever is higher, while Income Tax for Non-Individual is Sh20,000 or 5 per cent of tax due whichever is higher.

Similar to last year, Kenya Revenue Authority service centers did not experience long ques during the last days of filing, an improvement that the taxman attributed to the efficiency of the iTax platform.

KRA has progressively enhanced the iTax system for better user experience. For instance, iTax has been enhanced to include an auto-populated return for taxpayers with employment income as the only source of income.

Taxpayers in this category, whose annual tax returns constitute the bulk of all annual tax returns, are only required to fill in annual pension and tax relief details in the respective fields provided to complete the return process.

“Kenyans are urged to file returns early, beginning January of every calendar year, to avoid last-minute rush that comes around the June 30 deadline. Just like tax payment, filing of tax returns is an important tax compliance tenet, which is put into an account in the measure of a taxpayer’s compliance.”