Looks like the Kenya Revenue Authority is coming for blood…and money!
The Kenyan taxman body has revealed that they will crack down on social media users flaunting flamboyant lifestyles but paying no taxes, in KRA’s bid to nub tax cheats.
According to KRA commissioner general Githii Mburu, the tax body has deployed officers to spend time on the socials like Instagram, Facebook and Snapchat to crack down on those showing off luxury cars, high-end parties and living lavishly, to ensure that their tax payments are commensurate with the image they portray.
“In the social media, we have some people posting some nice things. You would see some posting nice houses, cars, taking their families to nice places and so on. Here, we are not sleeping, when we see those, we see taxes. We have our officers looking, they have gadgets. They key in very quickly (the number plate) to check. We are working exceptionally hard,” says Mburu, in an interview with a local publication.
Besides from clamping down on people’s social media, the tax body will also dig through various databases to trap possible tax cheats through various monetary records like motor vehicle registration records, Kenya Power, water bills and import records, et al.
Mr. Mburu adds that wealthy individuals who indulge in upper echelon spending while keeping their sources of income in utter obscurity will also be among those flagged down. Those caught, he says, risk travel bans, collection of their dues from suppliers and banks, and ultimately prosecution, in what will be the biggest crackdown by the taxman yet.
This new crackdown, according to Mburu, will be in KRA’s quest to back Kenya’s commitment to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to recover unpaid taxes from high net-worth individuals, to raise the national revenues.
