The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) has collected Sh6.9 billion from a tax amnesty window between March 1 and April 16, 2025, pushing its cumulative nettings since January this year to Sh10.9 billion.
An estimated one million companies and individuals successfully applied for waiver of accumulated penalties and interest over the six weeks to April 16, 2025 as part of an ongoing tax amnesty programme scheduled to close on June 30, 2025.
Commissioner for Large and Medium Taxpayers Department Rispah Simiyu said on Wednesday that taxpayers who have benefitted from the tax forgiveness campaign have risen to 2.9 million from 1.9 million on February 28.
That helped the KRA grow the amount of principal taxes collected from successful applicants to Sh10.9 billion from Sh4 billion at the end of February — a 63.3 percent jump.
Taxpayers who had no principal arrears at the end of December 2023 automatically qualified to have the accumulated interests and fines waived under the programme which re-opened on December 27 last year, and will close on June 30, 2025.
Those with arrears on principal debts have the option of paying it off in lump sum or entering into a payment plan with the taxman upon application under the electronic tax system, iTax. The applicants are required to clear the principal debts by June 30 to have accumulated interest and fines written off.
“The Tax Amnesty Programme provides an opportunity for taxpayers to clean their tax records through offering a waiver on penalties, interest, and fines for tax debts accrued up to 31st December 2023,” Ms Simiyu wrote in a media statement on Wednesday.
“This initiative is part of KRA’s broader efforts to foster voluntary compliance and provide relief to taxpayers burdened by past debts.”
The KRA has written off Sh158 billion in accumulated interests, penalties, and fines since the programme started at the beginning of January.
Applying for amnesty, entering into a payment deal, and failing to settle the principal debts by June 2025 could prompt the KRA to institute enforcement measures to recover the amount owed.
Section 42 of the Tax Procedures Act empowers the KRA to deactivate PINs, issue travel bans, collect cash due from the taxpayer’s banker, and prosecute if the taxman has reasonable grounds that he will default.
The Ruto administration under the Finance Act 2023 initially offered the pardon on accrued penalties and interest which applied automatically for taxpayers who have cleared all the debts owed for the period ended December 2022, while those with arrears were required to apply.
Nearly 3.12 million taxpayers successfully applied for the first phase of the partial tax pardon programme which ran for 10 months through June 2024.
The KRA said it wrote off Sh507.7 billion in accumulated penalties and interest for taxpayers who paid principal arrears for the period up to December 2022.
Business groups and other stakeholders, however, lobbied the Treasury and the lawmakers to extend the programme to encourage more taxpayers to regularise their tax status and broaden the tax base, helping the KRA raise collections.
