In 2023, through the Finance Act, the government introduced the Tax Amnesty Program which waives accrued penalties for taxpayers.
The deadline was scheduled for June 2024 and taxpayers have been urged to take advantage of the open window.
Per the guidelines from the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA), the amnesty applies to any person with penalties but has no principal taxes owing for periods up to December 31, 2022.
It also applies to those who have principal tax accrued up to December 31, 2022 and have paid outstanding principal tax debt by June 30, 2024.
"All taxpayers who do not have principal tax due for periods up to December 31 2022 but have penalties and interest due shall qualify for the tax amnesty. The amnesty under this category shall be automatic and taxpayers will not be required to apply," read part of the guidelines.
Additionally, all taxpayers with tax liabilities that are under any dispute process will qualify for the amnesty as long as they meet the conditions of the amnesty.
However, KRA outlines that there are some exclusions from the program, this includes interest and penalties imposed under Section 85 of the Tax Procedures Act 2015.
"If the Commissioner has applied a tax avoidance provision in assessing a taxpayer, the taxpayer is liable for a tax avoidance penalty equal to double the
amount of the tax that would have been avoided but for the application of the tax avoidance provision" reads part of the Act.
Also, those with penalties and interest relating to tax debts accrued for the periods after December 31, 2022, shall not qualify for the amnesty.
How to Apply on iTax
This is a six-step process which begins with the applicant logging into iTax.
The next step is proceeding to the Debt and Enforcement tab and selecting the iTax Amnesty Application.
Under section A select the respective tax obligations and the amnesty details for the specific obligation will be populated.
If undisputed click 'add all' for all obligations and move on to section B.
Section B proposes the number of instalments and instalment frequency. The system will then compute the amount per instalment. Click to agree with the terms and conditions and then click again to submit in order to complete the process.
The iTax system will then generate an amnesty application acknowledgement with amnesty and payment plan details.
In the fifth step, you will be required to generate the payment slip for the respective tax obligation and tax period through iTax and proceed to pay through a bank transfer or the consolidated Paybill number 222222.
Finally, once the payment is received, the iTax system will vacate respective penalties and interest accrued for the period and an amnesty certificate will be issued.
