KRA headquarters : [Photo: Mpasho]
City landlords’ tax payments will be monitored by a board geo-mapping technology, brought by the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA).
A block management system which uses a geographic information system (GIS) is on the way, which will outline buildings across the metropolises.
“We are investing in block management and geo-mapping systems to map out all these urban areas like Nairobi and Mombasa and get to know where these landlords are and who is paying what tax and who is not paying what tax,” Paul Matuku, KRA’s Commissioner for Legal Services and Board Co-ordination said.
“It is a work in progress in that area (rental income tax) and we will bring all of them (landlords) under the tax net,” he added.
This exercise will also involve accessing landlords’ bank records on rental income and utility transactions with utility companies such as Kenya Power.
In this accord, city estates will be classified under blocks of flats to separate tax-compliant landlords from the defiant ones and those not in its tax net, as well as detecting new buildings.
This follows an announcement of a scan on Kenyans through social media to ensure their tax returns match their image.
“On social media, we have some people posting 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,” KRA Commissioner-General Githii Mburu said in November.
In a move to bring more people into the tax bracket and curb tax cheating and evasion, the authority said its officers would be on the lookout for users posting photos of high-end cars, throwing lavish parties, and showing off glamorous lifestyles.