There are many things that you can do on Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) iTax portal that will save you time and money which you could have spent visiting KRA offices for assistance. Being a regular user of the iTax portal, I must applaud the team at KRA for making all their online services user friendly.

While many Kenyan business persons and individuals are still coming into terms with different tax rates levied on goods and services, its our hope that the laws governing tax collection in Kenya will prevail.

Among the many taxes levied in Kenya include Value Added Tax(VAT) for businesses, Income Tax, Pay As You Earn Tax, Turn Over Tax and Digital Service Tax (DST). You can learn more about various taxes here.

In this blogpost, I will share with you top 10 on demand services that you can easily access on the KRA iTax portal.

To access the iTax portal go to www.itax.kra.go.ke.

#1 New PIN Registration

Every Kenyan Adult is eligible to apply for a KRA PIN. Today, most institutions like bank, land registry and Attorney General will require people seeking their services to submit a copy of their PIN number in order to be assisted.

You can apply for a personal and Business PIN number on iTax Portal. You will be required to submit a copy of your national ID for processing of your Personal PIN application. For business PIN applications, you need to apply with a copy of your company registration certificate, copies of director(s) national ID’s and a stamped letter of resolution signed by director(s) requesting for a PIN.

Click on new PIN registration link to proceed. Follow the screen prompts to complete your application.

#2 PIN Checker

In many Kenyan government institutions today, they require citizens to give out their KRA PIN number in order to be assisted. The PIN Checker allows anyone to confirm whether a KRA PIN is genuine. A genuine PIN is generated by the KRA – Domestic Taxes Department System and is in Active status. The Information provided by the PIN Checker is limited to basic details of the taxpayer.

Click on the link under PIN checker and enter the PIN number you want to verify. Solve the security stamp question and click consult. It will bring up the tax payers PIN information.

#3 TCC/Exemption/Excise License Checker

This is a verification option to confirm validity of a Tax Compliance Certificate, Exemption Certificate or Excise License. Clicking the link on iTax site will take you to a page where you will be required to select the type of certificate you want to verify then enter the certificate or license number.

Solve the security stamp and click verify. The system will generate and display PIN, name of the holder and certificate or license status.

#4 Withholding Tax Certificate (WHT) Checker

When you do business with government or a company and they withhold a portion of the tax you charged them, you will be issued with a Withholding Tax certificate by KRA the moment the company files returns. The withholding certificate checker helps one verify the certificate at hand.

To Check if a certificate is valid, Click on WHT checker and then select the type of obligation, withholder PIN, payee PIN, withholding certificate number and date of the certificate to verify.

#5 E-Amendment

If you changed your phone number, physical address or e-mail address from the one(s) that you used while applying for your KRA PIN, e-Amendments link will help you request for changes. Click on it and follow the screen prompts to make the changes. It’s good to provide your active contact details in order to be assisted each time you contact KRA.

When an amendment requests is approved, you will be issued with a new PIN certificate to reflect the changes.

#6 e-Cancellation

e-Cancellation option allows taxpayers to apply for removal of a tax obligation from their PIN. They can also apply for cancellation of their PIN all together. You will need to have a valid reason for your decision accompanied by supporting documents in order for your request to be granted.

#7 e-Domance

e-Domance is a feature where a taxpayer applies for their PIN or Tax obligation to be made dormant for a given period of time. It is mainly targeting Kenyans who plan to travel abroad to study or work.

One can also use the feature to pause a business Tax obligation in case they want to take a break from their operations for a given period of time.

#8 e-Return

e-Return is a popular feature that is used by many Kenyan business people every month to file VAT returns. It is also used by individuals to file their annual Income tax.

Just click on it and follow to the screen prompts to file your returns. If you are new to filling returns, contact KRA help centre for guide on how to do it.

#9 Payment Registration

Before making any tax payment, you have to first generate a Tax invoice. That’s the purpose of the payment registration feature. When a Tax invoice is generated, you will use the invoice number to make the tax payment through Mpesa.

Your payment will be reflected on the iTax portal once it’s processed. This usually takes minutes when payment is made through Mpesa mobile gateway.

#10 Tax Compliance Certificate

This document is mostly required on special occasions to confirm that you are a loyal taxpayer and have not defaulted from paying your taxes on time. You can request for a tax compliance certificate on the iTax portal by hovering your mouse to certificates and selecting ‘Apply for Tax Compliance Certificate.‘ You will be take to a page where you just need to give a reason for your request and click on submit.

Bonus

Agent Checker

With continued sensitization on the importance of being Tax compliant going on across the country, more and more fraudulent persons posing as KRA staff are threatening the existence of businesses in various towns and cities across Kenya.

In order to stay safe from the fraudsters, it’s necessary to verify Identities of anyone posing as KRA staff. Good news is, you can verify it here.

The link will open a page where you will be required to enter the staff ID and your phone number and then click search.

Conclusion

These are 10 among the many services that you can access on the KRA iTax portal online. Learning to do most of the things related to your tax PIN is very important. You can outsource the ones linked to your business to a professional tax consultant.

The knowledge you gain from using the iTax portal will help avoid any unnecessary penalties originating from late filing of your returns.

What service do you use most on iTax portal? Please let me know your thoughts in the comments sections below.

And if you need help with screencast video production services you can request a free quote here.

Until next time, bye bye and take care.

Follow me on twitter @cheptiony.