The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) missed its quarter-one target of Sh665.9 billion, but collected an 8.4% increase in revenue in 2023 compared to 2022.
Failure to meet the objective was caused by the public sector’s low (Pay as You Earn) PAYE, a major fall of 20.7 percent in instalments in the Information and Communication Technology industry, and an unfriendly environment.
KRA Commissioner General Humphrey Wattanga attributed this growth to various strategies, including real-time collection of taxes, which saw withholding tax and excise duty from betting and gaming companies grow by 67% compared to the previous financial year.
“The allocated Recurrent Funding plus our expected AIA in the year total to Sh28.117 billion which is insufficient to support even the current operations, i.e., staff costs, existing contracted services and other revenue operational costs up to the end of the financial year,” said the KRA.
The taxman claims that the tax amnesty increased collection, with Sh3.4 billion collected since September 1, 2023.
KRA further claims that the improved results are due to the deployment of eTims, with VAT monthly average collection now reaching at Sh26 billion, up from Sh21 billion last year.
The taxman hopes to collect Sh312 billion by the conclusion of the fiscal year 2023/2024.
