Sh5 million take home for reporting tax cheats
You will now walk home Kes 5 million richer if you report suspected tax cheats to the Kenya Revenue Authority.
This comes after the National Treasury CS Ukur Yattani proposed changes to the current KRA Act essentially more than doubling the amount that whistleblowers will get for if their report yields recovery of due taxes.
The current provision in the KRA Act is a Kes 2 million reward or five per cent of the recovered tax dues whichever is lower.
Further, the reward to whistleblowers for information leading to the identification of un-assessed taxes is set to go up to Sh500,000 from the current Sh100,000.
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At the moment, approximately 500 cases have been reported to the taxman since the avenue was opened.
“This will encourage receipt of voluntary information to KRA thereby bolstering tax compliance and revenue collection,” Mr Yatani noted in Parliament on Thursday as he presented the Kes 3.66 trillion spending plan for the financial year 2021/2022.
The taxman runs a portal, iWhistle, where people can report tax cheats anonymously.
To lodge a claim, one is advised to provide the financial records, bank statements, bank details, pin number, location of the business or offender as well as mobile contacts of the suspected violator.
“We have noted in our iTax system perennial non-compliant taxpayers; defaulters, payment returns without payment; non-filers; nil-filers; credit filers; stop filers and decliners. In addition, some merchants are not registered at all for tax purposes,” added Mr Yatani.
