Industry players urged to take advantage of public participation on the Finance Bill to help their firms negotiate for reduced taxes/Courtesy of NTA
NAIROBI, Kenya, Feb 12 – A tax lobby group has asked Kenyans to actively participate in the budget-making process and implementation which will reduce the tax burden facing many businesses.
National Taxpayers Association Chief Executive Officer Irene Otieno says the responsibility has been left to specific individuals who require an extra hand even as KRA intensifies its revenue collection to meet its target.
“Over the years, citizens have really taken a back seat, but we have seen few individuals fight for the reduction of taxes in different arenas,” Otieno said.
Otieno added that KRA is now targeting the informal sector where she advised the experts in this industry to take advantage of opportunities such as public participation on the finance bill that will help their firms negotiate for reduced taxes.
“ We have noticed because of the shortfalls KRA has been experienced in the recent years so they are no reaching out to the informal sector and when there chances to share your thoughts the taxpayers can attend the forums to ask for some taxes to be reduced,” NTA boss Irene Otieno said.
In 2019, KRA missed its revenue target by Sh100 billion as the National Treasury had projected a collection of 1.605 trillion.
This has seen KRA introduce new tax measures with the aim of widening its tax base and catch tax cheats.
Some of the measures the country has witnessed at the beginning of 2020 include the reintroduction of the turnover tax where businesses whose income does not exceed Sh5 million will pay 3 percent on gross sales.
It is targeting to raise Sh25 million the close of the 2019/20 financial year on June 30.
The government further retained the presumptive tax where small businesses pay 15 percent of the trade license fee they are charged by counties.
The tax collector is also targeting thousands of Kenyans who have never filed tax returns despite being registered.
Other tax measures introduced include income tax and value-added tax on goods sold online.
