•The voluntary tax disclosure programme brought in Sh5.9 billion in collections from 6,690 applications.
•KRA also surpassed both its exchequer revenue and overall revenue targets in the last five months (From August to December).
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Kenya Revenue Authority collected Sh976.7 billion in the first half of the 2021/22 financial year, it has announced.
This is against a target of Sh929.1 billion.
The voluntary tax disclosure programme brought in Sh5.9 billion in collections from 6,690 applications.
"Patriotic taxpayers keen on facilitating national development allowed KRA to collect a surplus of 47.532 billion," Commissioner-General Githii Mburu said in a statement on Friday.
KRA also surpassed both its exchequer revenue and overall revenue targets in the last five months (From August to December).
Specifically, KRA surpassed both the overall and exchequer targets in December 2021 by Sh10.152 billion and Sh8.257billion respectively.
During the first half of the Financial Year, customs revenue sustained its excellent performance after collecting Sh355.8 billion against a target of Sh322.7 billion, the taxman says, reflecting a revenue surplus of Sh33 billion.
The Customs revenue recorded growth of 19.5 per cent in the period under review.
KRA attributes customs revenue performance to 25.4 per cent growth in trade taxes and 9.6 per cent growth in petroleum taxes.
Trade taxes registered Sh233.2 billion against a target of Sh208.4 billion, registering a surplus of Sh24.6billion while petroleum taxes amounted to Sh122.6billion against a target of Sh 114.326 billion, posting a surplus of Sh8.3billion.
Domestic taxes performance improved, with a 30.8 per cent growth compared to a similar period last year.
The domestic revenue collection was at Sh618.3 billion against a target of Sh603.9 billion.
This translates to a surplus of Sh14.442 billion and a performance rate of 102.4 per cent.
Pay As You Earn (P.A.YE) registered a performance rate of 105.7 per cent in the first half after a collection of Sh221.328 billion against a target of Sh209.3billion, resulting in a surplus of Sh11.989billion.
"The performance was mainly driven by gradual growth in employment and the emanating economic recovery," Mburu said.
The Value Added Tax (VAT) collections amounted to Sh121 billion against a target of Sh119.543 billion, resulting in a surplus of Sh1.501 billion and recording a growth of 40.2 per cent.
"The good performance was primarily attributable to enhanced compliance efforts by the authority and economic recovery," the taxman notes.
During the period under review, corporation tax collection stood at Sh107.4 billion which is a growth of 17.3 per cent over the half-year.
This performance was driven by increased remittance from, Agriculture, Manufacturing, Financial, Wholesale & Retail and Transport sectors, according to KRA.
The excellent revenue performance has been enhanced by the sustained implementation of key strategies as enshrined in KRA’s 8th Corporate Plan, Mburu noted.
Some of the strategies include extensive use of data and intelligence to unearth unpaid taxes, use of technology to simplify tax processes, taxpayer engagements and education, customer support programmes.
This, Mburu said has led to improved voluntary compliance and tax base expansion which is aimed at onboarding taxpayers previously not paying taxes.