Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) surpassed its monthly collections target in April by Kshs 6.47 billion shillings after netting Kshs 176.66 billion.
This represents a performance rate of 103.8%, on the April collection target of Kshs 170.19 billion.
KRA registered 23.9% revenue growth compared to Kshs 144.06 billion collected in April 2020.
This was the fifth consecutive month that KRA posted an above target performance.
KRA Commissioner General Githii Mburu attributes the revenue performance to the sustained implementation of compliance efforts, revenue enhancement initiatives and improved service delivery to taxpayers, which has led to improved voluntary compliance.
“Additionally, the remarkable performance is also attributed to enhanced active surveillance and enforcement, which has been supported by KRA’s investment in technology. This includes integrated scanners, which have improved levels of compliance at the border points by plugging revenue leakage points,” noted a statement from KRA signed by the Commissioner General.
The taxman says April marked the fifth month in a row that Customs & Border Control (C&BC) Department recorded excellent performance, after achieving a performance rate of 112.1% with a revenue collection of Kshs 53.99 billion.
The performance by the Customs & Border Control department is attributed to the growing number of imports in Kenya.
Domestic Taxes registered a performance rate of 100.2% after collecting Kshs 122.236 billion. KRA says this was mainly powered Corporation Tax, which registered a performance rate of 116.9% to Kshs 39.95 billion.
PAYE registered a performance of 98.5% with a collection of Kshs 36.951 billion.
Mburu says KRA is positive on revenue performance following the projected expansion of the economy by above 6.0% over the medium term, compared to the estimated economic growth of 0.6% in 2020.
To shore up collections, he says KRA is implementing a number of revenue enhancement measures such as tax base expansion, enhancement of debt recovery programme, implementation of post clearance audits, comprehensive audit of all exemptions, enhanced scanning and intelligence led verification of cargo at the ports of entry and reaching out to taxpayers with tax disputes to embrace Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) for faster resolution.
In addition, the Commissioner General says KRA has intensified the fight against tax evasion to ensure that no revenue is lost.