The Taxman has been on our case for a hot minute now, ever since they introduced digital taxes and it feels like they are constantly chasing us. Now it looks like they want to make us do it to ourselves so to speak. The KRA says it’s looking to involve the public in reporting tax cheats and its staff who abet tax evasion and bribery.

KRA To Fight Tax Evasion Online

The taxman has been relying on walk-ins or e-mails and telephone calls made through KRA’s Complaints and Information Centre for tips. However, this a technique which has had limited success partly because it requires informants to submit their personal details.

Now they want to make it anonymous by rolling out an online anonymous reporting system. Their aim is to recover economic activity to help the agency achieve a full-year goal of nearly KES 1.57 trillion.

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This means the taxman will have to collect KES 894.03 billion between January and June 2021 to meet the target. They note that the whistleblowing are “expected to accelerate within forecast rates”.

How It Will Work

Under this arrangement, a whistleblower gets a special code to identify them once they report a tax crime. The website will conceal the whistleblower’s identity.

The KRA notes that it is intensifying compliance enforcement efforts by driving the implementation of the new tax measures. This includes digital service tax, minimum alternative tax (and) voluntary disclosure programme.