KRA misses quarter one target

Humphrey Wattanga Mulongo taking the Oath of Office as the new Commissioner General of Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) at the Supreme Court building on Thursday, August 24, 2023. [Collins Kweyu, Standard]

The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) has missed the quarter-one target of Sh665.9 billion after recording a deficit of Sh79 billion.

KRA, however, said that it has collected Sh45.3 billion more in 2023 compared 2022. This represents an 8.4 per cent growth from Sh541.6 billion to Sh586.9 billion.

“The revenue collection is attributed to the implementation of various strategies implemented by KRA including; the real-time collection of taxes that have seen withholding tax and excise duty from betting and gaming companies grow by 67 per cent compared to financial year,” says KRA Commissioner General Humphrey Wattanga.

The taxman says that tax amnesty enhanced collection which saw them collect Sh3.4 billion since September 1, 2023.

It also says that the good performance can be attributed to the implementation of eTims with VAT monthly average collection now standing at Sh26 billion compared to Sh21 billion last year. The taxman aims to collect Sh312 billion by the end of the 2023/2024 Financial Year.

Failure to hit the target has been caused by poor (Pay as You Earn) PAYE by the public sector, a significant decline of 20.7 per cent in instalments in the Information Communication Technology sector, and an unfavourable environment.

“The allocated Recurrent Funding plus our expected AIA in the year total to Sh28.117 billion which is insufficient to support even the current operations, i.e., staff costs, existing contracted services and other revenue operational costs up to the end of the financial year,” said KRA.

KRA’s second quarter 2023/24 Financial Year target is Sh684.5 billion which will require a 28.8 per cent growth in revenue collection.