NAIROBI, Kenya, Apr 8 – The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) missed it third quarter tax collection target for the 2008/2009 financial year by four percent or Sh5.1 billion, a statement from the Authority showed.
The statement sent to newsrooms on Wednesday indicated that KRA collected Sh110.2 billion between January and March this year against a target of Sh115.3 billion.
“In the quarter under review, Domestic Taxes Department collected Sh66.6 billion against a target of Sh69.5 billion, while Customs Services Department collected Sh43 billion against a target of Sh 45.1 billion,” said the statement signed by KRA Commissioner General Michael Waweru.
He said revenue collection was constrained by the poor performance of key sectors such as agriculture, which had been negatively impacted by the post-election violence, failure of short rains and high oil prices.
The same, he added, was reflected in the nine months period to March which was characterised by high inflation, depreciating shilling and a declining stock market.
Mr Waweru however pointed out that despite this disappointment, KRA still managed to realise a revenue collection of Sh340.8 billion for the period between July 2008 and March 2009 which represented a 13.4 percent growth over a similar period in the 2007/08 year.
Going forward, the Commissioner said KRA is expected to collect Sh138.0 billion in the 4th quarter of 2008/09 which would bring the Authority’s total collection for the fiscal year to Sh492.9 billion.
He disclosed that they would roll out additional online services which would further enhance their capacity to collect taxes.
Plans are underway to roll out the Common Cash Receipting System (CCRS) which provides a common platform for payment of taxes he further revealed.
This measure would ultimately migrate all tax payments to commercial banks and decongest KRA offices considerably; Waweru explained adding that it would also provide a platform for the integration with banks’ systems.
“We also intend to operationalise the filing of monthly PAYE (Pay As You Earn), Corporation Tax and Individual Taxes. With the support of the government and taxpayers, the authority is optimistic of bridging past revenue shortfalls and ultimately exceeding the target for the financial year,” he said.
