KRA offices to remain open until Sunday

The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) offices will remain open until Sunday to enable more Kenyan file their income tax returns , ahead of the Sunday’s June 30 deadline set by the taxman.

The taxman Thursday said in a statement that the iTax Support Centres — which provide guidance to those making returns electronically — will open 7am to 9pm from today all the way up to Sunday.

Huduma Canters, which normally operate between 8am and 5pm, will from today operate from 6:00am-12:00 midnight to serve workers who were locked out by the initial eight-hour shift.

Customs offices supporting port operations will however open 24 hours to net tax cheats and grow the income tax segment as the KRA struggles to meet its collection targets.

“The offices comprises all Customs offices including Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) and iTax Service Centers countrywide to facilitate taxpayers to pay and file their 2018 and other prior annual tax returns,” the KRA said in a statement Thursday.

Nearly a third of Kenyans have not filed their tax returns seven days to Sunday’s June 30 deadline, exposing the 1.3 million non-compliant individuals and companies to fines.

Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) said Wednesday 2.7 million Kenyans had filed their tax returns by June 23 against a target of four million taxpayers.

Tax collection for the first nine months to March was short of the target by Sh95 billion, mainly due to reduced economic activity and drought that hit agriculture.

Kenya has been blamed for a small tax bracket that fails to capture the self-employed and those working in the informal sector.

Official data show that 2.9 million Kenyans worked in the formal sector last year compared to 14.8 million in the informal sector.

To nab the tax cheats, the KRA will review data from the platform that links the government payment system to the online tax register, dubbed the iTax, targeting those who make millions of shillings from trading with the State.