Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) has collected Sh43.9 billion out of the Sh50 billion it targeted under the tax amnesty program.
The amount is from 1,064,667 taxpayers who heeded the amnesty call that closed on 30th June 2024.
Under the programme, KRA forgave and cancelled penalties and interest charges amounting to Sh507.7 billion.
This means the 3,115,393 taxpayers who benefitted are exempted from the additional charges.
The amnesty, designed to waive penalties and interest on unpaid taxes, provides relief to individuals and businesses handing them a clean start with the taxman.
The waivers include those that were offered automatically after taxpayers filed their returns, declared and paid their principal taxes.
KRA's domestic taxes commissioner Risper Simiyu, in a statement said, the programme which ran between September 1, 2023 and June 30, 2024 was most successful in the month of June 2024 when taxman recorded the highest collection of Sh15.1 billion.
“The Finance Act, 2023 introduced the tax amnesty programme which allowed taxpayers to apply for amnesty of penalties and interests on tax debt for periods up to 31st December 2022,” said Simiyu.
This followed the repeal of the provisions on abandonment and waivers of penalties and interest.
Under the amnesty programme, taxpayers were only required to pay the principal tax amount of their outstanding tax debt.
Last month, Simuyu said that as at December 2022, the total tax debt portfolio (on iTax) amounted to Sh1.42 trillion.
This, she said, comprised principal tax amounting to Sh892, 203,694,787 and penalties and interest of Sh525, 113,476,311.
As at May 31 2024, over 1 million taxpayers had benefited from the tax amnesty program with KRA collecting Sh. 26.9 billion.
Last year, President William Ruto noted that the waiver was intended to alleviate financial burdens by assisting taxpayers facing financial challenges relating to unpaid taxes.
As at the end of April, KRA said it had netted Sh20.8 billion from the programme, which translated, to 41.6 per cent of the Sh50 billion target.
Earlier, the taxman had identified 2.8 million taxpayers with penalties and interest and who qualified for the programme.
The collections from the amnesty have been crucial in augmenting KRA's revenues, supporting its efforts to meet increased fiscal targets.
