NAIROBI, Kenya – The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) has sought to reassure Kenyans that their personal and business data will remain secure as it adopts advanced digital systems to improve tax collection.
KRA Board Chair Ndiritu Muriithi said the tax agency’s growing use of data analytics and artificial intelligence is not meant to infringe on privacy but to make tax compliance simpler and fairer.
“It’s not that we are out to get you… we are not out to invade your privacy or look into your data,” said Muriithi. “Our goal is to ensure that everyone pays their fair share while reducing the cost of compliance.”
Muriithi was speaking at the Annual Tax Summit, which brought together policymakers, business leaders, and tax professionals to discuss reforms in the country’s revenue system.
He explained that the authority is exploring new technologies to automate tax remittances at the point of transaction — for instance, during mobile payments — to save time and reduce the cost of enforcement.
“When you pay by mobile, the restaurant owner currently has to reconcile and remit taxes manually. With digital integration, part of the transaction could go directly to KRA or other relevant bodies like Tourism,” he said.
The remarks come amid public concern over proposals to give KRA greater visibility into merchant transactions as part of a broader effort to seal revenue leaks and widen the tax base.
Call for a Friendlier Tax System
Other speakers at the summit urged the KRA to transform from a strict enforcement agency into a more service-oriented institution.
Deputy Head of Public Service Josphat Nanok said the authority must build “a fully integrated seamless system” that makes compliance almost effortless.
“We must move to a future where filing tax returns is as simple as sending mobile money,” Nanok said.
On her part, MSMEs Principal Secretary Susan Mang’eni called for simplified tax models for small businesses, saying most entrepreneurs struggle to calculate what they owe each week or month.
“We need to make it easy for small traders to determine what is tenable and what they should pay as tax,” she said.
KRA has also urged the National Treasury to allocate additional resources to speed up digitisation efforts as it targets to grow the number of active taxpayers beyond the current nine million.
