KRA gets gadgets to monitor Kenyans on social media and on the road

Kenya Revenue Authority has started cracking down on Kenyans who display their fabulous lifestyle online.

KRA Commissioner General Githii Mburu told Business Daily that there are officers monitoring social media for Kenyas who post images of their houses, cars and other flamboyant activities.

"In the social media, we have some people posting some nice things. You would see some posting nice houses, cars, taking their families to nice places and so on. Here, we are not sleeping, when we see those, we see taxes.

"We have our officers looking, they have gadgets. The key in very quickly (the number plate) to check. We are working exceptionally hard," Mburu disclosed.

KRA Commissioner General James Mburu Pulse Live Kenya

With the increase in the number of high-end cars on the road, KRA is keen to make sure that every Kenyan gives to Caesar what belongs to Caesar.

The next time you are overtaking, you could be passing a KRA officer running a search on your number plate.

KRA is also using electricity and water bills, import data, vehicle registration details as well as documents from Kenya Civil Aviation Authority to track down tax cheats.

"We know you can build a house from loans. But that loan must be repaid from somewhere. We are following all those applying for meters," the KRA boss explained.

"We have access to IFMIS and we want to see anyone being paid by the government; is he or that business paying taxes? We are also able to work with other third parties like Kenya Power," he added.

These measures have contributed to the success of KRA in terms of meeting its revenue targets for the first time in more than 10 years.

Between July and October 2021, KRA has collected Sh631 billion which is Sh27 billion more than it had targeted.