As the deadly Covid19 continues to sweep across the country, the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) has announced the kick-off of a unified payroll with the National Social and Security Fund (NSSF).
The announcement means going forward, there is going to be a joint declaration of Pay As You Earn (PAYE) and the NSSF deductions. The move comes as thousands of businesses are opting to close down to avoid further losses occasioned by Covid19.
The taxman is also in the process to pilot a unified payroll with selected employers before a full roll-out which it says will be happening “soon.”
In what KRA says is a move to ease the way of doing business in Kenya, when fully implemented, the system will allow the taxman to incorporate a joint declaration of National Social and Security Fund (NSSF), National Hospital and Insurance Fund (NHIF), and National Industrial Training Authority (NITA) levy through KRA’s iTax system.
Starting the month of April, employers in both large and medium tax category will file their PAYE and NSSF deductions through a unified payroll available on KRA’s iTax system.
Every employer in Kenya is supposed to deduct Pay As You Earn (PAYE), National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) and National Social and Security Fund (NSSF) from each of their employees’ salaries and have them remitted.
Most employees, however, prefer having health insurance than NHIF which has been accused of inconsistencies in helping its members as well as massive corruption that has been thriving for years.
Kenya Revenue Authority has missed its tax targets on several occasions and with the ongoing spread of Coronavirus, more off-the-target collection are prone to be realized.
President Uhuru Kenyatta reduced the Value Added Tax (VAT) for Kenyans by 2 percent from 16 percent to 14 percent in what many have described as too little too late to remedy the current situation.