UPDATE Tuesday, June 8: The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) system was restored to normalcy. All Services are now available both externally and internally.
Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) on Monday, June 7, issued an advisory to all Kenyans announcing that the iTax system was unavailable.
The authority explained that the outage had been caused by a system hitch and was no longer available externally but could only be accessed internally.
"The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) informs all Stakeholders of an outage experienced by KRA systems. This has been occasioned by challenges with the service provider's infrastructure affecting their Domain Name System (DNS).
"All KRA online services including iTax, iCMS among others are unavailable externally despite being available internally," read the statement in part.
The authority dispatched its technical team to try and restore the system but from 6 p.m. to the time of publishing, it was not yet back.
This comes even as the deadline to file tax returns, scheduled for June 30, fast approaches.
Kenyans are known for waiting out till the last day to file returns resulting in long queues and intermittent collapse of the system. The entire process has been made digital.
In an earlier statement, the authority had warned that those who fail to meet the June 30 deadline will not apply for jobs, open bank accounts, or register pieces of land.
The authority also vowed to de-register their Personal Identification Numbers (PINs).
“The Commissioner of Domestic Taxes shall de-registered PINs of those who fail to file their tax return by June 30 and remove them from the KRA system.
“We also encourage taxpayers to take advantage of the Voluntary Tax Disclosure Programme and pay their outstanding liability to avoid penalties," read the notice in part.
The filing exercise commenced on Jan 1, 2021.
