The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) reported a collection of Ksh 2.17 trillion in the fiscal year ending June 30, 2023, reflecting a growth of 6.7% compared to the previous year’s collection of Ksh 2.031 trillion.
Despite a year-on-year increase in tax receipts of Ksh 135 billion, the taxman fell short of its revenue collection target of Ksh 2.2 trillion.
KRA’s Acting Commissioner General, Rispah Simiyu, attributed the revenue performance to the impact of various factors. These included a domestic economy contraction of 4.8%, primarily due to the drought experienced in the previous year and the ongoing disruptions in commodity supply chains caused by the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
“The revenue collection signifies a performance rate of 95.3pc against the target. This is the second year in a row that KRA has surpassed the two trillion mark,” said Simiyu.
In the reviewed period, domestic tax collection grew by 8.5% growth to Ksh 1.407 trillion, achieving a performance rate of 95% against the target of Ksh 1.481 trillion.
Additionally, customs revenue posted a 3.5% growth, totaling Ksh 754.1 billion, with a performance rate of 95.6%.
“Despite overall import values increasing by 15.3pc, customs taxes performance was in part affected by growth in exemptions and remissions, which grew by 39.7pc, driven by special exemptions accorded to rice, maize, sugar, and cooking oil,” Simiyu stated.
KRA noted that the special exemptions on the products which were part of the government’s strategies to mitigate against adverse effects of drought and to reduce the cost of living accounted for 24.8pc of exemptions accorded in the FY2022/2023.
Collection from excise on betting which was charged at the rate of 7.5pc in the last financial year grew 116.2pc to Ksh 6.6 billion against a target of Ksh 5.72 billion.
“The performance is attributed to the integration of the betting companies into the KRA tax system. The integration has streamlined tax remittance from the sector and scaled up revenue collection,” added Simiyu.
Domestic Value Added Tax (VAT) collection grew 11.3pc to Ksh 272.45 billion while corporation tax increased 9pc to Ksh 263.82 billion on account of increased remittance from among other sectors, finance and insurance, ICT, manufacturing, wholesale and retail trade, and energy. The sectors contributed 77.8pc of the corporation taxes, KRA said.
Pay As You Earn (P.A.Y.E): P.A.Y.E registered a growth of 7.2pc with a collection of Ksh 494.98 billion during the fiscal year.
The taxman says its efforts to expand the tax base during the period yielded additional revenue of Ksh 14.65 billion.
