NAIROBI, Kenya, Feb 17 – Value Added Tax (VAT) collected by the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) in January this year exceeded the target by Sh4 billion, buoyed by improvements in remittances in key sectors.
Latest data shows that the taxman raised Sh34.6 billion in VAT last month, up from Sh30.6 billion during a similar period in 2024.
This was boosted by growth in critical sub-sectors, including beer, which contributed 10.5 percent to the country’s VAT basket, followed by soft drinks (115.6 percent), tobacco (9.5 percent), sugar (121.5 percent), and wines & spirits (12.9 percent).
“This positive revenue performance is attributed to several reforms, including the implementation of VAT Auto-Population of Returns, which has contributed to enhanced revenues,” KRA said in a statement.
“The auto-populated VAT return is a streamlined filing process where KRA pre-fills VAT returns with tax information from iTax, TIMS, eTIMS, and the customs business systems.”
“This process simplifies VAT return filing, improves compliance, and enhances the customer experience.”
It comes after KRA’s customs revenue surpassed the collection target by Sh8.12 billion to Sh82.6 billion in January 2025, boosted by reforms, including the establishment of the Centralized Release Operations.
The taxman initially expected to raise Sh74.44 billion. Customs are taxes imposed on imported goods.
By the end of Financial Year 2024/2025, KRA targets to collect Sh2.704 trillion.
