- The producer of Sparkler Vodka revealed that it voluntarily stopped production to clear its name with the tax agency
- The brewer is a member of Alcohol Beverages Association of Kenya (Abak)
Mount Kenya Breweries is working closely with the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) to clear pending tax arrears before reopening its Nanyuki plant.
In a media statement released over the weekend, the producer of Sparkler Vodka revealed that it voluntarily stopped production to clear its name with the tax agency and promised to be back in business very soon.
''We take matters compliance and quality with uttermost keenest. As a responsible company, we decided to close operations early this month to pave the wave for regulatory and tax compliance checks. Normal production will resume shortly,’’ the firm said.
It added that its leadership is at hand to respond to any inquiry refuting claims that directors are on the run.
''Our aim as a company has been to constantly improve the standards and quality of service in order to achieve mutual business benefits that accrue from understanding, anticipating and responding to individual customers’ needs,’’ the company said.
KRA has upped surveillance and alternative tax dispute resolution mechanism to improve its collection targets. The revenue agency has surpassed monthly collection targets since December last year.
The taxman has in recent times changed tact, adopting softer collection methods like tax dispute resolution compared to its past hardline approach that led to resistance and high numbers of tax cheats.
Late last year, the tax agency said that its Alternative resolving 118 cases in the first three months of the year compared to 59 same time last year.
In a statement, the tax agency’s legal department said the average time taken to resolve tax disputes equally dropped to 23 days from an average of 60 in 2019.
The Tax Procedures Act provides that disputes under the ADR framework should be resolved within 90 days.
Last year, the division collected Sh25.8 billion from 652 disputes it had with taxpayers in and out of court.