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Kenya

Kenya Revenue Authority Tax Disputes to be conducted Online

NAIROBI, Kenya, Apr 16 – Kenya Revenue Authority tax disputes will now be resolved online under the Alternative Dispute Resolutions sessions, a move that the authority has taken to avoid human contact in the wake of COVID 19.

Deputy Commissioner for Tax Dispute Resolution Rispah Simiyu in a statement said that taxpayers with disputes can still have a fair hearing without physical attendance through the online sessions that will protect them from contracting and spreading coronavirus disease.

“To safeguard taxpayers during the COVID-19 pandemic, Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) has continued establishing measures to support taxpayer access to all essential services online. To this end, KRA has introduced online Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) sessions,” Simiyu said.

She further urged the affected to embrace the available means of online communication as an alternative means where they can still be heard and get solutions on their cases.

“KRA can now connect with taxpayers and their agents from the comfort of their offices or homes through video and teleconferencing technology applications such as Zoom, Skype or Google hangouts to ensure business continuity,” she added.

According to the tax collector, ADR is cost effective, presents an opportunity for faster resolution of tax disputes, improves compliance and preserves the relationship between the disputants.

KRA says that during the 2019/2020 financial year, the ADR system received 502 cases where 237 of them earned the tax collector revenue worth Sh8 billion.

The online sessions will bring together the taxpayer, the assessing Commissioner and a facilitator who chairs the session as would happen in a face to face ADR session.

The move comes at a time when many businesses and corporations have adopted the use of teleconferencing with applications such as Skype and Zoom to interact with their employees who are working from home.

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Further, supermarkets like Naivas, Tuskys have adopted online shopping, a process where consumers directly buy goods or services from a seller in real-time, without an intermediary service, over the Internet.

Kenya has so far confirmed 225 coronavirus infections with 10 deaths and 53 recoveries.Kenya had reported 12 new cases raising the total infections to 225 cases. So far, 9,630 samples have been tested with 53 recoveries and 10 deaths.

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