The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) has been handed a major win in court following a tax row involving Botswanan retailer, Choppies Enterprises Limited.
According to a report by The Standard on Thursday, April 23, the High Court ruled against a petition by the retailer seeking to reverse a move by the taxman to freeze its accounts over the tax dispute.
KRA reportedly froze the accounts in a bid to recover Ksh173,388,416 owed in taxes.
The supermarket chain had filed the application under a Certificate of Urgency, seeking their accounts to be unfrozen.
KRA told the court that the move to freeze the accounts was due to the fact that the retailer was exiting the Kenyan market, and had been winding up operations.
The taxman presented before the court documents indicating that Choppies had sold its interests in the country; branches, assets and stocks to other retailers without informing KRA.
"They did not disclose how much was held in their accounts and that they would realise from the sales of the assets," KRA stated in their petition, noting that Choppies failed to inform of their financial positions.
The court directed that the retailer to provide security for taxes to be found due and payable to KRA based on the fact that they were winding up operations in the country.
Choppies and KRA were handed a 14-day timeline to establish an amicable settlement of the tax row.
The retailer took over Ukwala Supermarkets when it entered the country in January 2016.
