Ruto's Govt Hunts Down Nairobi Landlords To Increase Tax Base

The government will start plans to register landlords in Nairobi County in an effort by the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) to meet its Ksh3 trillion collection target by December.

A public notice seen by Viral Tea revealed that the taxman will begin a data collection exercise on rental properties within the city and the Metropolitan areas to assist the government finance its 2023/24 budget.

The exercise which will start on Wednesday, October 19 will see President William Ruto's administration target the real estate sector as one of the finance avenues it aims to exploit.

The drive will also target landlords in areas such as Syokimau in Machakos County as well as satellite towns such as Ruiru, Juja and Thika in Kiambu County as well as Rongai and Ngong in Kajiado County.

Tenants were advised to verify the identity of the KRA officers set to carry out the exercise through a USSD short code or through online means, including its mobile phone app.

"KRA officers conducting the exercise will identify themselves using KRA staff identification cards which can be verified by dialling the USSD code *572#, through the KRA M-service App or using KRA Thibitisha, which is hosted on the KRA website, www.kra.go.ke," the commissioner stated. 

Landlords targeted for the exercise were advised to cooperate with government officials by availing all the relevant documents. 

Government regulations indicate that landlords are expected to pay rental income tax totalling 10 per cent of the gross rent tenants pay.

KRA is facing an uphill task to collect Ksh3 trillion by December this year, a target set by the Kenya Kwanza government. This would beat its own record of Ksh2.031 trillion collected for the 2021/2022 Financial Year concluded on Thursday, June 30, compared to Ksh1.669 trillion collected last year, the highest since it was founded.

The new government is seeking more avenues to raise funds without increasing taxes on commodities. Notably, that was one of the hot topics during its campaign drive in the run-up to the August 9 polls.

"The president and I sat with the taxman for seven hours, and we parted at midnight to agree on how we'll collect more revenue. We want to collect about Ksh3 trillion by end of the year to fund our current and development budget," Deputy President Gachagua stated.

The Head of State promised to cut down on excessive borrowing in a bid for the country to finance itself.

During his inaugural speech in Parliament, President Ruto instructed the Treasury to cut down former President Uhuru Kenyatta's last budget by Ksh300 billion, specifically reducing expenditure on unnecessary items that were budgeted for.

Outgoing Treasury CS, Ukur Yatani. /FILE