Understanding KRA — What You're Actually Working With

KRA's Role and Reach

The Kenya Revenue Authority was established in 1995 under Cap 469 to collect revenue on behalf of the government. It handles income tax, VAT, excise duty, and customs. For practitioners, the two main areas are income tax (Personal Identification Number, returns, compliance) and VAT (for businesses above the registration threshold). Most clients you will work with need help with income tax — PIN registration, nil returns, and compliance certificates.

The iTax Transition

KRA moved from its old paper-based and early digital systems to iTax progressively from 2014. All taxpayers are now on iTax. The old manual PIN certificates are still valid, but everything is managed via itax.kra.go.ke. A client with a PIN from 2010 still has that same PIN — but they may have never logged into iTax or even know what iTax is. Part of your job is helping clients who have a PIN but cannot access their account.

Tax Types You Need to Know

• •Individual Income Tax (IT): for employees and the self-employed
• •PAYE: Pay As You Earn — deducted by employers, filed monthly by the 9th
• •VAT: 16% on taxable supplies above KSh 5 million/year turnover — most small clients don't reach this
• •Corporate Tax: for registered companies — not usually what individual practitioners handle
• •Excise Duty and Customs: for manufacturers and importers — specialist territory

The Fiscal Year

For individuals and most businesses, the tax year in Kenya runs from 1 January to 31 December. The annual return is due by 30 June of the following year. For companies, the tax year can be different — based on their financial year — but this is rarely your concern as a practitioner handling individual clients.