About three million Kenyans had not filed their tax returns four days before the June 30 deadline, exposing them to penalties by the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA).
The KRA data shows about six million people had filed their returns by June 26 against nine million active taxpayers on its database.
The six million figure is 20 percent more compared to a similar period last year.
Failure to meet the tax filing deadline is an offence which attracts an Sh2,000 fine or five percent of the individual's tax bill, whichever is higher. Companies pay Sh10,000 penalty or five percent of the tax payable in the year the return captures or whichever is higher.
“Six million taxpayers had filed their returns by June 26th. All taxpayers whose accounting period ends in December are required to file their returns by 30th of June every year,” said the taxman in a statement Thursday.
The KRA has been processing more than 100,000 filings daily, it reported on Thursday. Annually, the daily numbers are known to rise as the deadline approaches.
To allow more taxpayers to file their returns within the timelines, the taxman extended its working hours in all service centres countrywide and some Huduma Centres.
Filing returns has emerged as one of the taxman’s preferred ways to net tax cheats and grow the income tax segments amid struggles to meet collection targets.
The law requires anyone with a KRA personal identification number to file returns irrespective of employment status.
The taxman has failed to meet revenue targets in recent years on tax defaulters and a small tax base that does not include the majority of the self-employed and those working in the informal sector.
KRA recorded its highest shortfall in tax collections from employees in the first nine months of the current financial year which ends on June 30, despite introducing two tax bands targeting top earners.
A quarterly report published by the National Treasury shows that the KRA missed its pay-as-you-earn (PAYE) target by Sh72.3 billion in the period to March this year.
The taxman had a target of collecting Sh463.3 billion from salaries in the period ending March, but only raised Sh390.96 billion, which means it missed its target by 15.6 percent, the highest shortfall according to available data.
In the Finance Act 2023, the Income Tax Act was amended to introduce two individual tax bands.
The Act introduced a new tax band of 32.5 percent for a monthly income of between Sh500,000 and Sh800,000 and 35 percent for income above 800,000.
