KRA Commissioner General John Njiraini says the performance was attributable to a strong VAT performance as well as Pay As You Earn (PAYE) remittances targeting County payrolls/FILE
The Sh963.7 billion target was a revision of the original target of Sh973.5 billion that was undertaken due to lower economic growth forecasts and depressed imports trends.
The Sh963.8 billion collection is a 20.4 percent growth from the Sh800 billion that was collected in the 2012/2013 financial year.
KRA Commissioner General John Njiraini says the performance was attributable to a strong VAT performance as well as Pay As You Earn (PAYE) remittances targeting County payrolls.
“VAT contribution to total collection increased from 22.9 percent in 2012/2013 financial year to 24.2 percent in the year under review, Both PAYE and Corporation Taxes performed well with former buoyed by initiatives targeting country payrolls,” he said.
He said revenue collection was also boosted by a strong performance in the custom services and medium and small taxpayers that recorded an increase of 28.3 percent and 19.6 percent respectively.
The custom services collected Sh331.8 billion against a target of Sh326.2 billion while the medium and small taxpayer collected Sh197.3 billion against a target of Sh193.5 billion.
Large taxpayers collected Sh431 billion missing their target by Sh8.7 billion but growing by 15.3 percent from the previous year.
Total Domestic Taxes also missed their target by Sh4.9 billion to collect Sh628.3 billion against a target of Sh633.2 billion while road and transport collected Sh3.7 billion from Sh3 billion collected in 2012/2013 representing a 21.9 percent increase.
He however said the slowdown in government funds disbursement affected withholding taxes especially for contractors.
The Authority plans to include VAT charges on aid funded projects in its VAT interventions as well as taxpayer recruitment targeting key business outlets like shopping malls.
The Authority has also completed the implementation of all phases of the Excise Goods Management System for the Tobacco and Wines and Spirits industries.
The system includes production line technology that has been implemented in key tobacco and spirits factories. The technology track what has been happening at the production level giving KRA a presence in the factory.
“As we sit here we are able to watch what is happening, we can tell you how much factory X produced yesterday; this technology is tamper proof,” he stated.
The Authority has also implemented track and trace technology that helps detect fake stamps during field enforcement that he says will go a long way in tackling illicit trade especially in the Wines and Spirits sector.
He says more dividends are expected as full system enforcement will take place in 2014/2015 financial year as significant growth has been noted in the excise revenue owing to the system.
The Authority has also transferred road transport mandate to the National Transportation and Safety Authority.
Road transport regulatory functions including motor vehicle registration, ownership transfers and licensing are now under the National Transportation and Safety Authority.
Njiraini says the transfer included the release of 147 staff previously working for KRA.
He says KRA will provide revenue collection facilities on agency basis.
The target for the current financial year 2014/2015 is Sh1.12 trillion which represents a 16.4 percent growth compared to the Sh963.8 billion collected in 2013/2014.
