The Kenya Revenue Authority could soon be taxing all transactions you make on your mobile money account, the tax man has announced.
Speaking while releasing the KRA’s third quarter revenue performance Commissioner General John Njiraini said they were considering taxing the transactions to increase their revenue base. This would effectively see an increase in the transaction cost of money on the available mobile money transfer platforms in the operators’ bid to maintain their profit margins.
The cost of sending money through Safaricom‘s M-PESA ranges between Shs 3 to Shs 100 for amounts ranging from Shs 10 to Shs 70, 000. The cost of withdrawal is between Shs 10 and Shs 300 for amounts up to Shs 70,0000.
Many Kenyans now depend on mobile money transfer for running daily business and the tax man will make a great catch should he charge both sending and withdrawals.
Njiraini made the remarks in the wake of the fall in collection of excise duty on airtime due to fall in tariffs during the ‘price war’ in the mobile telephony sector.