Kenyan Banks Begin Demanding for KRA PIN Certificate from Account Holders

Kenyan Banks Begin Demanding for KRA PINCertificate from Account Holders

Commercial banks are now making it mandatory for Kenyans opening accounts to supply their Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) Personal Identification Number (PIN).

The lenders have also requested existing account holders to provide their pins in the latest move by the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) to seal revenue leakages and nab tax cheats.

Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) in November, 2017 ordered all commercial banks in the country to ensure that they demand Kenya Revenue Authority pin certificate for any new account openings.

This came after a deal between CBK and KRA after the Finance Bill 2016 made changes to a section of the Tax Procedures Act (TPA).

Local banks have begun asking for these details from existing customers and those opening new accounts. A notice by one of the local banks asked account holders to surrender these details by July 21st .

In the past, commercial banks in the country have not been strictly implementing the KRA pin requirement for account holders despite being under the “know your customer policy.”

CBK and KRA are mounting pressure on banks to comply with the requirement as the taxman continues to face an uphill task in raising revenue to fund kenya’s 3.074 trillion shillings budget. In the 2017/18 financial year collection, KRA fell short of its target by Sh100 billion.