The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) and the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) have teamed up to crack down on tax evaders in the country, Business Daily reported on Monday, September 30.
In this bespoke partnership, the DCI has offered 50 police officers to KRA to help out with the investigations.
KRA officials made a decisive move to go after Kenyans they had identified to have failed to pay taxes despite owning property worth billions.
In what promises to be the biggest crackdown on tax evaders, KRA has estimated about Sh250 billion in taxes owed could be recovered.
The taxman lined up 100 officials who investigated sources of income and expenditures for rich people and major companies.
The team analysed a group of companies that were doing business with the government and counties confirming that there were tax cheats.
“We already have established and it is in our record [Sh250 billion]. Whenever we profile a company or an individual taxpayer, we look at what they are earning, their sources of incomes and everything else vis-a-vis what they have declared,” KRA Commissioner-General Githii Mburu told National Assembly's Public Accounts Committee (PAC).
Mburu also assured that these companies had been notified and profiled accordingly pending thorough investigations.
This followed a directive from President Uhuru Kenyatta who ordered that individuals with lifestyles not marching what they declared in taxes.
“There are those who are already in the tax base but don’t pay correct taxes. We have those who have payroll numbers but they don’t declare income from their properties like rent,” Mburu revealed.
A recent report by AfrAsia recorded that there were 356 billionaires in the country suggesting that these individuals had assets above Sh1 billion.
KRA reported that it missed its revenue collection target by Sh92.1 billion due to reduced economic activity and job cuts.
