KRA waives Sh200b in penalties under amnesty programme

Taxpayers are required to make full payment of the principal taxes and apply for amnesty by June 30 this year.  [Kibata Kihu, Standard]

Kenya Revenue Authority has said it has waived more than Sh200 billion in tax penalties for 227,000 Kenyans under the Tax Amnesty Programme that was introduced by the Finance Act, 2023. 

The Act introduced the amnesty programme that allows taxpayers to apply for a waiver of penalties and interest accrued for periods up to December 31, 2022.

The taxpayers are required to make full payment of the principal taxes and apply for amnesty by June 30 this year. 

It is one of the few measures introduced by the Act that offered relief for taxpayers, with many other clauses having been contested as making life more difficult for Kenyans through the introduction of additional taxes. 

“KRA is pleased to report that so far as of February 20, 227,071 taxpayers have benefited from waiver of penalties and interest amounting to Sh209 billion under the ongoing Tax Amnesty Programme having paid a total of Sh14.5 billion in principal taxes,” the taxman said in a statement yesterday. 

“KRA reminds taxpayers with outstanding principal taxes to take advantage of the amnesty programme. Further, taxpayers who have not filed their returns for the amnesty period are urged to file the returns in order to benefit from the Tax Amnesty Programme.”

For taxpayers who have not paid the principal tax to December 31, 2022, they can make an application to KRA for amnesty on penalties on the unpaid tax but provide a plan to clear the outstanding taxes.

KRA also advised taxpayers that have challenged tax demands in court to speed up their resolution to be able to apply for amnesty before the June 30 deadline. 

“We also encourage taxpayers with ongoing tax disputes to expedite resolution of their cases within the amnesty period by considering out-of-court settlements through the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) framework,” said KRA. 

“This will enable them to take advantage of the ongoing tax amnesty, noting that the provisions of the waiver of penalties and interest and on abandonment of taxes, were repealed by the Finance Act, 2023.”