Traders To Go To Jail For 3 Years On KRA's New Directive

Traders To Go To Jail For 3 Years On KRA’s New Directive

By Juma / Published June 28, 2022 | 9:40 am

KEY POINTS

This new directive by KRA is going to hit hard on small businesses. Businesses are already suffering from the high cost of living and doing business. Telling them to cough out 45,000 or 120,000 shillings for something they had not planned for is just retrogressive.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

KRA wants all traders to install upgraded electronic tax registers (ETRs) at their premises in the next one month, which will grant the taxman real-time access to invoices. The new ETR will cost between 45,000 and 120,000 shillings.

There is no doubt that Kenyan systems are made to kill and bury businesses with the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) being used as the bullet. Traders will pay 1 million shillings or be jailed for 3 years in the new KRA directive concerning ETR.

“If a VAT registered taxpayer does not comply within the specified period then we invoke section 53 of the VAT Act which says that you will either be fined Sh1 million or three years imprisonment or both if you don’t comply within the specified timeline,” said Hakamba Wangwe the chief manager in charge of Tax Invoice Management System (TIMS) operations ahead of the deadline.

“We are selling from 45,000 to 120,000 shillings for the ETRs and about 80,000 shillings for the billing software,” said Charles Mwaura the chief executive of Wisepower Technologies Ltd one of the KRA-approved suppliers. Can you imagine this madness?

If KRA is so into enhancing tax collection and transparency, why not give the traders their systems for free? This way, every business will have systems installed and will not have a reason to hide from the painful costs. Or, this being Kenya, someone has the “tender” and wants to make a killing.

About Juma

Juma is an enthusiastic journalist who believes that journalism has power to change the world either negatively or positively depending on how one uses it.(020) 528 0222 or Email: info@sokodirectory.com

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