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The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) has confirmed a steady rise in the number of individual taxpayers rushing to verify their tax compliance status this week.
The rise has been attributed to a media article attributed to KRA Commissioner General Githii Mburu published this week confirming that the authority actively utilizes technological solutions for tax compliance surveillance.
Speaking when she confirmed the notable spike in tax compliance requests, KRA Deputy Commissioner in charge of Marketing and Communications Ms Grace Wandera said KRA is actively utilizing technological solutions, including social media monitoring tools. She explained that the adoption of technological solutions to complement traditional revenue collection tools is geared at enhanced compliance efforts that focus on ensuring taxpayers file returns and pay correct taxes.
As part of the KRA 8th Corporate Plan, the Authority, Ms Wandera said, is progressively adopting modern technologies to support revenue mobilization strategies. KRA has already adopted Block chain, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and Data Mining contemporary technologies.
Under the 8th corporate plan, it is expected that the exchequer revenue will rise from Kshs. 1.76 trillion in 2021/22 to Kshs. 2.5 trillion in 2023/24. She singled out to praise Kenyans on Twitter (KoT) among other online content creators who have actively conceptualized witty content on KRA engagements with taxpayers, saying such posts; positively influence tax compliance awareness.
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“Within the confines of the law, we do apply social media scans among other technological tax compliance surveillance systems. This week, we have seen a more than 60% rise in the number of tax compliance certificates applications lodged on the online i-Tax platform,” Ms Wandera said.
“The spike is commendable as it means Taxpayers are willing to comply, and KRA is at hand to provide the necessary support. KRA is a very dynamic organization that will continue providing tax facilitation services to boost compliance, “she added.
As part of KRA’s commitment to accelerate revenue collections and plug revenue losses, the Authority is rolling out its 8th Corporate Plan, whose theme is Revenue mobilization through tax simplification, technology-driven compliance and tax base expansion. Last month, KRA collected Kshs.154.383 Billion against a target of Kshs.142.285 Billion, recording an impressive 108.5% performance.