- The focus now, according to the Kenya Revenue Authority is on those who intend to travel to the United States of America, Europe and other Western countries. The move has been occasioned by calls by US President Joe Biden who is alleged to have said that KRA should be keen on American firms and investors over money laundering and tax evasion as a condition for a trade deal between the two countries
As pressure continues to mount on President William Ruto and his administration to take a fresh look at the now infamous Finance Bill 2023, his administration is planning to minimise foreign travels by directors in private companies who are suspected of evading taxes.
The focus now, according to the Kenya Revenue Authority is on those who intend to travel to the United States of America, Europe and other Western countries. The move has been occasioned by calls by the US President Joe Biden who is alleged to have said that KRA should be keen on American firms and investors over money laundering and tax evasion as a condition for a trade deal between the two countries. The Biden administration has been pushing the Kenya Government to enforce an agreement signed in 2014 that requires Kenya to share information on tax evasion linked to US firms or investors involved in trading activities with America.
Records indicate that the tax agreement was signed in Washington on August 6, 2014, during the Barack Obama era. Based on that, KRA is now said to be targeting various American firms doing business in Kenya and the investigations department is expected to gather and share information such as income declarations, bank records and data on goods shipment.
It has however been discovered that the previous administration under President Uhuru Kenyatta has been reluctant in implementing the agreement. It is against such reluctance that the Kenya Kwanza administration is now said to be going for the US firms to ensure all taxes are paid.
It is also important to note that it was not only Uhuru who declined to implement the 2014 agreement, even Obama’s successor Donald Trump went slow in pushing for agreements signed by his predecessor.
The large American corporations in Kenya now targeted include Cummins, Dupre Investments, General Electrics, Coca-Cola, IBM, Ormat Technologies, Alternate Systems, Mars, Mastercard and Microsoft. Others are Everstrong Capital, Uber, Netflix, Google, Amazon, Uber, and YouTube.
Others are Price Water Coopers (PwC), IBM, Deloitte, Cigna, Corteva, Emerging Capital Partners and Nestle Kenya. Sources say KRA will soon knock at the doors of Chinese firms doing business in Kenya to see their tax records. It is estimated that 93 Chinese companies are doing major business in Kenya including sectors such as agriculture, construction, food processing, packaging and textile machinery.
Other areas are building materials, agriculture equipment, medical equipment, hardware and tools, electrical and new energy products and automobile and spare parts. Some of the Chinese firms include Huawei Technologies, Sinohydro Corporation, ZTE Kenya Limited, smartphone maker Tecno, Baus Optical, Erdmann Property Ltd and digital Pay-TV provider.
