The Kenya Revenue Authority has recorded an 11.1 per cent growth in revenue collection for the financial year 2023-24.
The Authority said it has recorded an 11.1 per cent growth from 6.4 per cent in the previous financial year.
This is after KRA collected Sh2.407 trillion compared to Sh2.166 trillion in the previous financial year.
The Authority said the growth translates to a performance rate of 95.5 per cent against the target.
KRA said the year under review was characterised by multiple economic shocks.
The factors included the depreciation of the Kenya Shilling against the US Dollar, rising bank lending rates and international conflicts that disrupted supply chains, among others.
According to the Authority, these factors affected revenue mobilisation efforts.
"KRA collects revenue on behalf of other government agencies, mainly at the ports of entry. These include Road Maintenance Levy, Air Passenger Service Charge, Aviation Revenue, Petroleum Development Fund, Petroleum Regulatory Levy, and Housing Levy, amongst others," the statement reads.
According to them, during the financial year ending June 30, 2024, KRA collected agency revenues amounting to Sh184.036 billion, reflecting a growth of 34.9 per cent compared to the last financial year.
KRA added that during the financial year, Domestic Taxes registered a revenue growth of 14.4 per cent after collecting Sh1.611 trillion against a target of Sh1.677 trillion.
This translates to a performance rate of 96.1 per cent.
Customs Revenue recorded a performance rate of 94.6 per cent with a collection of Sh791.368 billion. This translates to a revenue growth of 4.9 per cent compared to the same period in FY 2022-023.
"Despite overall import values increasing by 11.7 per cent, oil and non-oil taxes performance were partly affected by growth in exemption and remissions, which grew by 23.8 per cent, driven by special exemptions accorded to some food commodities," the statement read.
"These products account for 40.8 per cent of exemptions accorded in the FY 2022-23."
KRA said the special exemptions were part of the government’s strategies to mitigate against adverse effects of drought and reduce the cost of living.
The Authority further stated that there was low consumption of petroleum products in the country, especially diesel and petrol, which was in part exacerbated by high retail prices for the better part of the year.
KRA said the domestic VAT collection stood at Sh314.157 billion against a target of Sh307.823 billion, reflecting a growth of 15.3 per cent compared to the previous year.
The Authority said Pay As You Earn (P.A.YE) registered a growth of 9.7 per cent after collecting Sh543.186 billion.
The performance was mainly driven by remittances from private firms and the public sector, which grew by 13.4 per cent and 3.7 per cent.
The tax head recorded a growth of 8.1 per cent in FY 2023/24, with a collection of Sh73.624 billion, which translates to a performance rate of 99.6 per cent.
KRA said the performance is attributed to the growth in revenue from manufacturers of soft drinks 12.2 per cent, bottled Water 9.7 per cent, beer 16.2 per cent and Tobacco 1.9 per cent.
"Despite the challenging economic environment, taxpayers exhibited resilience and voluntarily paid their taxes to support the country’s economic transformation" KRA said.
As of June 30, 2024, a total of 8,046,029 tax returns were filed, against a target of 7,187,932.
This represents a growth of 26 per cent compared to the 6,385,523 tax returns filed last year.
