KRA links counties to iTax to resolve disputes

Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) has linked county governments’ payment systems to its own automated tax platform iTax to speed up tax dispute resolution.

KRA’s Deputy Commissioner Risper Simiyu said linking county governments’ Integrated Financial Management Information Systems (IFMIS) to the iTax platform would automate remittance of suppliers’ withheld taxes.

Counties are tax withholding agents but lack of this linkage had left contractors and the taxman at war as counties delayed in wiring 6 per cent of taxes owed by their business partners, she said.

She explained that linking counties’ Ifmis to iTax will fast-track tax dispute resolution and lower litigation costs.

Arbitration

KRA launched alternative dispute resolution (ADR) mechanism in 2015 with hope of unlocking about Sh35 billion held up in dispute pitting the taxman against medium and large business entities.

By the end of May this year, the taxman had cleared 191 tax disputes, unlocking nearly Sh8 billion in the process. “We have been able to make very good headway in revenue collection, but in the course of that it has generated a number of disputes between the commissioner and taxpayers,” said Ms Simiyu.

“A number of these have been locked in the courts and tax arbitration tribunals. With this new initiative we want to fast-track the resolution of these cases.”