In a bid to curb tax cheating in the country, Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) has unveiled a new high-tech system that will start getting real-time data on business deals which include motor vehicle purchases and property deals.
According to a report by Business Daily, KRA is working closely with other agencies such as Kenya Power, National Construction Authority (NCA), the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) among others to access data on Kenyans’ spending patterns.
“KRA is undertaking system integrations with relevant institutions to facilitate faster access to data,” KRA commissioner in charge of domestic taxes, Elizabeth Meyo, was quoted by Business Daily.
KRA had, in August this year, revealed that it had prosecuted 222 individuals last year but the figure was expected to go up in 2019 in a step that is also targeting to help the taxman boost its revenue collection.
“Last year we took to court 222 individuals, this year we have shifted our focus completely, we want to prosecute 600 individuals.
“We have shifted focus in 2019 and have watertight cases targeting up to 600 individuals, these are cases which are properly investigated and we are sure that we will get over 94 per cent success rate,” KRA said then.
The agency recovered Sh12.6 billion from 210 tax evasion cases won while 222 suspects were persecuted at the law courts leading to the recovery of taxes amounting to Sh12.9 billion.
The taxman will now directly review all deals such as vehicle purchases, construction contracts and register of landlords seeking electricity bill meters for their premises in a bid to curb massive tax leakage, which if tapped could yield billions of shillings.
The new measures are part of KRA plans to boost its revenue collection which it reported at Sh1.58 trillion against the National Treasury target of Sh1.8 trillion in the financial year 2018/19.
