KRA to host first tax stamp forum in Africa
The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) and Reconnaissance will co-host this year’s Tax Stamp Forum to be held in Africa for the first time. The event will be held in Nairobi from 7th to 9th May 2018.
The forum will broadly discuss the latest developments in tax stamp systems as well as best practices in developing and enforcing tax stamp programmes. The forum will also discuss the new tax stamp standard and the latest advancements in smartphone applications for use in verification of tax stamps and products.
The Tax Stamp Forum is a global event that focuses on strategic and practical solutions to protect government revenues and combat the illicit trade in goods. The choice of Kenya as the country to host this forum reaffirms its global reputation of embracing innovative and facilitative technologies in enhancing service delivery including tax compliance.
The forum will bring together government excise and customs agencies, investigators, law enforcers, regulators, manufacturers as well as distributors and security printers. Other supply chain specialists will also attend the event which will be characterized by a lively mix of speeches, panel discussions and interviews.
The implementation of the Tax Stamp programmes seeks to control the production and importation of excisable goods for revenue purposes. It is specifically meant to curb illegal production, under-declaration of imports, distribution of illicit products, smuggling and counterfeiting of goods. Globally, over 150 revenue agencies use tax stamps to collect valuable tax duties and excise payments, involving the worldwide production of some 140 billion stamps annually.
In 2016, KRA introduced enhancements to its excise stamp programme by introducing a smartphone application –Soma Label – as part of efforts to expand enforcement to the public and other law enforcement agencies. . Using the system, the authority has seized over 1,500,000 Products and prosecuted more than 609 offenders.
