Kenyans Will Soon Be Allowed to Apply for Extension in Filing Tax

Kenyan taxpayers will have a reason to smile in 2019 as they will be allowed to file tax returns after the usual June 30^th deadline.

This is according to the Kenya Revenue Authority’s (KRA) Tax Procedures Act the is set to come into effect as from 1^st July 2018.

With the option to file tax returns, the Act states that one will, however, be forced to apply for extension 30 days before the deadline.

The Act comes in as a relief not only to citizens but to businesses too who file their returns every month as they will be given a chance to seek a 15-day extension before the deadline.

KRA’s Domestic Taxes Enforcement Division assistant manager, Jeremiah Kinywa, said decisions on the applications for extension will be made within five days to the due date.

“If the commissioner will not have responded to the applicants within the five days, the application will be deemed granted,” said Mr. Kinywa.

However, if an applicant fails to file his return after the extended five days he will not be allowed to make another application since the application can only be done once.

Section 25 (3) of the Tax Procedures Act (TAP) 2015 states that the commissioner may grant an application if he is satisfied that there is reasonable cause, and shall notify the applicant in writing of the extension of time.

The penalty for late submission of an income tax return for an individual is 20,000 shillings as stipulated in the Tax Procedures Act 2015.

KRA encouraged taxpayers who may be encountering challenges in filing their returns to reach out through their national contact Centre for more assistance

Earlier this month, KRA reported that between 1^st January 2018 and 5^th June 2018, more than 1.3 million individual income tax returns for both resident and non-resident taxpayers had been filed on the iTax platform, which was applauded as a great improvement compared to 2017 where less than 400,000 tax returns had been filed between January and April.

KRA expects its collections as at the end of June 2018 to hit the 1.7 trillion-shilling mark.