The directors of a multi-million company in Nanyuki fled after the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) raided their premises over tax evasion and fraud.
On Monday, April 26, KRA disclosed that the managers of Mount Kenya Breweries could not be traced. This was two weeks after the taxman shut down the company in Nanyuki, Laikipia County.
The authority accused the firm of tax fraud, failing to file tax returns and using fake stamps.
"Directors and chairman have not surrendered to the authority. They were suspended under Section 20 of the Excise Duty Act No 24 of 2015," KRA stated.
Among penalties stipulated in the section include doubling excise duty payable on goods manufactured by the firm, and doubling the amount of excise duty payable in respect of the importation of excisable goods requiring an excise stamp.
KRA is further contemplating revoking the license of the firm after analysing the revenue loss accrued from the fake documents and stamps seized at the company.
"Investigations are still ongoing and the intention is to suspend the license, establish the extent of revenue loss, prosecute the company and directors of tax evasion as soon as investigation is complete," KRA warned.
The agency is seeking to raise Ksh1.57 trillion for the financial year 2020/21, with the money channelled to the next financial year.
In November 2020, the authority announced new measures to curb tax fraud and seal loopholes that contributed to revenue loss. These were leveraging on information technology to improve revenue collection through the use of third party data and automation of processes to improve Value Added Tax collection (VAT), comprehensive audit of exemptions to identify multiple uses of single exemption.
Other measures include making relevant tax demand and integrating of government systems to allow for third-party data matching to improve service delivery.
The taxman recently narrowed down on 1,309 companies and wealthy individuals who were accused of tax fraud and who owed it Ksh259 billion. This was after President Uhuru Kenyatta ordered investigations into the business people and their firms.
"We lose money every year and the entities mentioned have been earmarked for further investigations and legal action for non-compliance. To mitigate against these crimes, tax authorities and government agencies dealing in financial investigations have heightened efforts to outsmart the tax cheats," KRA Commissioner General Githii Mburu Mburu declared.
It is estimated that tax evasion in the alcoholic sector costs KRA approximately Ksh10 billion loss in revenue collection annually.
