Domestic Taxes Department Chief Manager Caroline Rotich confirmed that more than 17, 000 taxpayers have so far applied for tax amnesties and are expected to remit Sh10.5 billion.

“More than 17,000 taxpayers have applied for the tax amnesty which commenced on 1st September, 2023, and we expect the number to immensely grow as we continue to create awareness amongst taxpayers,” said Rotich.

KRA adds that it has identified 2.8 million taxpayers who have penalties as well as interest and qualify for the tax amnesty programme.

The programme will allow KRA to waive billions from taxpayers.

Qualified taxpayers will be entitled to an automatic waiver of the penalties and interest related to that period and will not be required to make an amnesty application.

The taxman has urged taxpayers who have pending objections and court cases to consider out-of-court settlements with the authority to allow them to benefit from the tax amnesty programme.

Currently, KRA runs an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) framework, which is an alternate means of resolving tax disputes outside the judicial process.

The recently implemented Finance Act of 2023 introduced tax amnesty, allowing taxpayers to apply for waivers of penalties and interest accrued until December 31, 2022.

Under this, taxpayers are only required to pay the principal amount of outstanding tax debts.

KRA anticipates collecting Sh51 billion from the debts accrued during the period.