The government through the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) is set to start pursuing wealth tax cheats following pressure from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Starting this July, the National Treasury will launch a crackdown that will target wealthy personalities “business tycoons or moguls” who evade paying taxes in a move that will see tax cheats lose their KRA PIN numbers, have their assets frozen and get travel bans.
According to a report that appeared in a local daily, the taxman has already identified individuals and firms that owe the government up to Sh. 260 billion in unpaid dues.
“IMF discloses that rich self-employed professionals like doctors, real estate investors, and lawyers, as well as wealthy individuals, will be in the crosshairs of the taxman. The tax cheats risk travel bans, collection of duty directly from their suppliers and bankers, and prosecution in what promises to be the biggest crackdown yet on high net-worth persons,” a report on these developments that appeared in the Monday edition of the Business Daily said.
This move will come as Kenya seeks to align itself with IMF conditions in order to benefit from a set of multi-billion loans.
“By June 2021, developing and implementing risk-based compliance strategies for two to three non-compliant sectors including professionals, high net worth individuals, real estate sector,” the IMF s
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