KRA starts collecting Nairobi rental properties data

Monumental revenue collection: KRA Commissioner-General James Mburu. [File, Standard]

The Kenya Revenue Authority will start collecting data on rental property in Nairobi and surrounding areas from tomorrow (October 19.)

In a statement, the authority says the move is part of its tax base expansion program, or simply put, to have more landlords paying taxes on rental income.

The authority has collected Sh2.031 trillion in revenue for the Financial Year 2021/22, representing a 21.7 per cent growth and the highest ever in its history.

It is also the first time in fourteen years that the authority has exceeded its original target in revenue collection.

"KRA recorded a monumental revenue collection of Sh2.031 trillion for the Financial Year 2021/2022 (July 2021- June 2022) compared to Sh1.669trn collected in the last financial year 2020/2021," Commissioner-General James Mburu said three months ago.

The KRA boss attributed the revenue growth to improved tax compliance from taxpayers who contributed to the collection of revenue surplus of Sh148.9 billion against the original target.

"The Authority registered an above-target stellar revenue performance after exceeding the fiscal year target as stated in the Budget Policy Statement. KRA surpassed the original target of Sh1.882 trillion and two other upward revenue target revisions of Sh1.911 trillion, which was later revised to Sh1.976 trillion."

This is also the first time the Authority has surpassed its original target in 14 years since FY 2007/08 after the previous target revisions were lowered.

The revenue growth of 21.7 per cent is also the highest in the history of KRA.

Domestic Taxes and Customs recorded Sh1.297 trillion against a target of Sh1.267trn. This translated to a performance rate of 102.4 per cent with a surplus collection of Sh30billion.

Corporation tax collection stood at Sh242b against a target of Sh218 billion.

This replicated a growth of 32.7 per cent over the last financial year. "This performance was driven by increased remittance from key sectors like finance and insurance, manufacturing, wholesale and retail trade, transport and storage sectors," Mburu said.

Pay as You Earn (P.A.YE) registered a collection of Sh461.81b against a target of Sh455 billion.

According to KRA, the performance was mainly driven by the gradual recovery of the job market emanating from economic recovery.