KRA moves services closer to taxpayers

The Kenya Revenue Authority is putting measures in place to enable taxpayers to access services at their places of operation.

Commissioner George Obel said the taxman is working to ensure taxpayers are served without necessarily having to visit KRA offices.

The measures, Obel said, include partnering with other actors, including agents who have been working with banks, to make its services more accessible and effective.

“They will be available and provide services within the taxpayers’ ecosystem,” he said.

The commissioner said the agents are already being trained. He spoke during a training forum for taxpayers from Kakamega county at Golf Hotel.

Obel said the training programme was launched by the authority to educate taxpayers on their obligations and where and how they can access KRA services.

KRA commissioner Nancy Rotich and director Leonard Shimaka attended the session.

He said most services are web-based and can be accessed through government online platforms such as eCitizen, so they are not station-dependent and can be accessed from anywhere.

“We are currently training our taxpayers so they can know where and how to access our services from the comfort of their business premises or at home,” he said.

Shimaka said the authority will conduct investigations into complaints by sugar cane farmers that money is being deducted from their cane proceeds as tax.

He said the complaint about deductions by millers in the name of taxes came to the authority’s attention for the first time during the forum in Kakamega.

“We are going to carry out investigations through our respective departments to establish whether the said money is remitted and in which manner within the next two weeks,” he said.

“We cannot declare whether there is theft or not until the true facts have been established,” he said.

He said the report of the investigations will outline a matrix on the action plan to be taken.