Kenya Revenue authority headquarters in Nairobi. [Photo/Dealpoa]
Central Bank of Kenya has finally granted taxman the authority to access Kenyans' bank accounts.
In a directive given by CBK, all banks have been directed to ask for a Kenya Revenue Authority Personal Identification Number (KRA PIN) certificate before signing in a client.
“The directive has been there but they were not very strict but now you must have a PIN certificate to open an account,” a staff member at one of I&M Bank’s branches told Weekend Business.
The requirement has been existing as part of the Know Your Customer (KYC) requirement but banks have been taking it lightly and thus forcing the CBK to make it a mandatory option as a measure to curb tax fraud.
This comes after Kenya revenue Authority set up a database that provides a full glimpse of taxpayer’s profile which is also linked to third-parties such as banks and utility firms for easier determination of compliance.
The directive has however been criticized by the Telcos and lenders as an intrusion of customers privacy against the Kenyan constitution.
KRA Commissioner General John Njiraini has defended the move arguing that comparing return label from taxpayers transaction filings and bank balances will enable the taxman to detect suspicious tax activities thus curbing fraud.
The taxman also said that the continuous improvement of tax collection system is mending to meet the ever-increasing tax targets set by the National Treasury.
In 2013 KRA invented an online platform (iTax ) for paying taxes and later on August 2015, KRA made it necessary for taxpayers to file returns through the portal.
The taxman later took action by locking out those who did not migrate their profiles to the online platform by the end of last month.