The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) has come up with a special team of tax collectors that will help pursue wealthy tax evaders. The special unit will comprise of specially trained experts in auditing, law and risk analysis.This came after taking note on an increase in imports of luxury commodities and presence multi-million-shilling investments in real property.
Top 1,000 individual taxpayers owning choppers and private planes are being watched because the prices of these items are way much high with regard to their officially declared annual income, thus the attribution that these individuals earn more than what they have declared.
Kenyans earning an annual income of KES 44 million are classified as high net-worth individuals. However, only 100 individuals are registered at the KRA as earning such. KRA’s income tax department, the average annual declared income is KES 77 million for the top 100 registered High Net-Worth Individuals (HNWI), while that for the top 1,000 individual taxpayers is KES 14 million, but given the luxurious transactions and property owned, the taxman feels there is more undeclared wealth around.
The Business Daily reports that KRA will rely on automation of data to monitor resources and expenditure. It will also deploy the use of Double Taxation Agreements (DTAs) and Tax Information and Exchange Agreements (TIEAs), with the overseas tax collectors as most wealthy people have been noted to keep their wealth abroad.
The KRA is gunning to gather a minimum of KES 1.2 trillion per annum by 2015