4.8m Kenyans risk losing KRA PINs

More than 4.8 million Kenyans are at risk of having their personal identification numbers (PINs) deactivated by the end of this month over failure to migrate to the iTax platform, Kenya Revenue Authority has warned.

KRA said those who will be deactivated will not be able to receive services such as eCitizen and NSSF, since iTax is linked to the system.

TAX RETURNS

ECitizen enables Kenyans to seek various services such certificate of good conduct and application of passport, among others.

The authority said currently, a total of 10.6 million Kenyans have PINs, but only 5.8 million taxpayers are registered on the iTax platform.

“KRA also notifies taxpayers whose PINs are on iTax but have not filed any returns in the last three months that they will be considered as not trading and their PINs rendered inactive.

“KRA further advised all taxpayers and the general public to use the ‘PIN Checker’ link on the iTax portal to verify details of their suppliers and confirm if their PINs are active,” the statement from Domestic Taxes Department said.

SERVICES
In compliance with the Tax Procedure Act, 2015, KRA made it mandatory for all taxpayers to use the iTax platform for PIN registration, filing of returns, payment and access of other tax-related services.

KRA said the exercise is meant to help enhance tax compliance and also clean the PIN database by deactivating those not in active businesses.

“The migration requires holders of PINs issued earlier under the old registration system to update their details on the iTax platform.

“Those who are unable to do this on their own will be facilitated and supported through the KRA call centre, service centres, Huduma Centres and Domestic Taxes stations.”

MANDATORY

The statement went on: “If deactivated, taxpayers will maintain the PINs initially allocated as the supporting documents used for PIN registration do not change…”

A tax PIN is a requirement in all business transactions.

Source: Daily Nation