The Clerk of the National Assembly has called for views on the Kenya Revenue Authority (Amendment) Bill 2024, sponsored by Majority Leader Kimani Ichung’wah.
The Bill was read for the first time on August 15, 2024, and committed to the Committee on Finance and National Planning for consideration.
Clause 4 of the Bill seeks to amend section 15A of the KRA Act to give the Cabinet Secretary the power to waive penalties payable by an appointed agent who fails to transfer funds collected if the failure was inadvertent or the person has been put under receivership or statutory management.
The amendment recognises that agents may be unable to remit the funds for various reasons, not deliberate.
Therefore, the amendment allows the Cabinet Secretary to waive the penalty in the cases of system downtime, non-compliance that is not deliberate, receivership or statutory management, and force majeure (unforeseeable circumstances that prevent someone from fulfilling a contract).
The Bill also makes amendments to Section 5 of the Kenya Revenue Authority Act (Cap. 469) to provide a legal framework for the Kenya School of Revenue Administration to collaborate with other institutions of higher learning to provide programmes in revenue administration, develop curricula and assess or examine students, and award qualifications.
Additionally, the Bill seeks to amend the Act to empower the Commissioner-General to appoint Deputy Commissioners.
The public has until September 9, 2024, to submit views to the Office of the Clerk.