Finally, the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) has eased the stress of filing annual tax returns for salaried workers. The taxman has integrated its systems, removing the need for employees to manually enter income details.
Workers will now only provide their national identification number, and the system will capture gross pay, taxes, and other income details. The model applies to employees whose only income is from salaries. It also covers those with tax-free income below Sh24,000 monthly, who must file nil returns.
Previously, employees had to key in incomes and benefits manually. Any errors or missed deadlines attracted a Sh2,000 fine and possible legal action. The new model simplifies compliance by preloading tax data into iTax, the electronic filing platform.
KRA Commissioner-General Humphrey Wattanga said the move is part of efforts to integrate data across government systems. “We want salaried workers and nil filers to stop struggling with manual entries. They will only validate prepopulated data,” he said.
The rollout was delayed by the introduction of the housing levy and the Social Health Insurance Fund. KRA says integration is now complete and will take effect from January.
Those who miss the June filing deadline still face a Sh2,000 penalty. However, KRA can waive fines caused by technical issues. This year, Wattanga extended the filing deadline by five days after iTax services slowed under heavy traffic.
To avoid future outages, KRA is modernising its systems by upgrading infrastructure and migrating platforms like iTax and customs management to the cloud.
