A new regulation by the government has been enforced by various banks that requires financial institutions to reveal their customer information and financial statements to KRA to curb tax evasion.
According to the new regulations, Kenya Revenue Authority will go through customer bank accounts in a bid to promote transparency and curb tax cheats who evade their responsibility to pay taxes to the government.
The Common Reporting Standard (CRS) regulations which were ratified under the Tax Procedures Act 2023. The regulations require financial institutions to collect and report information relating to their customer’s account details.
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Kenyans took to social media to express their concerns claiming to have received their banks communication regarding the CRS regulation that are said to take effect immediately.
“Under the CRS, tax authorities require financial institutions to collect and report information relating to their customers’ tax statuses. We are therefore required by law to review all our customers and establish their tax residency through customer information provided or self-declaration.”
The banks asked that their customers provide any additional information where necessary if they reach out for clear forwarding to KRA.
“We may therefore reach out to you for any additional information as required by law where the information currently provided is not sufficient to establish your tax residency.”
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The individual accounts will be categorised into two; low and high-value accounts. Lower-value accounts are accounts that have an amount that does not exceed Ksh160 million (1 million US dollars) while high-value accounts exceed the said threshold.
Banks will be required to provide the following details for low-value account holders including the residence:
- status, address, telephone numbers, email address and beneficiaries.