Some KRA PINs may be on their last legs as the taxman is out hunting.
The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) has urged Kenyans to feed their profiles on its iTax system by August 31st else their PINs (Personal Identification Numbers) will be deactivated.
A notice posted by KRA also added that active businesses that file nil or no returns would as well have their pins deactivated. This would spell doom for the businesses since if the KRA PINs is rendered inactive, it would mean that they are not compliant.
This would be a very costly affair because such businesses would miss out on opportunities to work with the government or companies that require a company to be tax compliant before doing business with it.
The taxman also noted this would also affect those who are in the iTax system and fail to file returns.
KRA further advised the public to use the PIN checker link available on the iTax portal to validate details of their suppliers and confirm whether the PINs are active.
Boosting Compliance
Last minute rush is an inherent part of the Kenyan culture. There is always that group of individuals who plead for a deadline extension.
Perhaps, KRA is among organizations that understand this culture very well. On several occasions, they have obliged to requests to extend the deadline.
The deadline for filing returns for 2016-2017 has already passed and KRA is not relenting on those who failed to file. Earlier this year, KRA increased the fine for those not filing returns from Ksh. 1,000 to Ksh. 20,000.
This time, the taxman has promised to effect the fines by August 31st.
The notice read in part, “…those who have not updated their KRA PINs on the iTax should do so by 31st August 2017 and commence filing immediately…,”
The notice by KRA suggests that there are a significant number of taxpayers who do not file taxes or have not submitted their profiles on the iTax system.
In June 2017, KRA revealed that about 2.4 million Kenyans did not file tax returns and that this number is half the number of Kenyans who have been issued with PINs.
If KRA nets a noncompliant taxpayer, he or she will be subjected to fines. Businesses will be fined Ksh. 20,000, Ksh. 5,000 for SMEs and Ksh. 10,000 for salaries employees. This is as stipulated in the Tax Procedure Act 2015.
The taxman hopes that these fines will motivate people to take the exercise seriously and file their returns.
This year, KRA collected Ksh. 1.365 trillion by June against a target of Ksh. 1.431trillion.
PAYE tax bands were increased earlier this year but KRA netted Ksh. 2.5 billion less when compared to last year’s amount.
It is such shortfall that has encouraged the taxman to come up with a strategy to boost compliance.
The decision to aims at nabbing tax cheats but, most importantly, to boost tax compliance in the country.
Those under who fall under any of the above categories should take necessary steps and avoid having their KRA PINs deactivated.
If the KRA can net silent billionaires, you will not be hard to find so play your part and it shall be well.
