KRA ANNOUNCES REMOVAL OF MANUAL TAX FILING BY EMPLOYED KENYANS

The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) has announced that employed Kenyans will no longer be required to manually file annual tax returns.
Speaking in a media interview on Tuesday, August 26, 2025, KRA Commissioner General Humphrey Watanga explained that this development has been made possible through the integration of the Authority’s internal systems.
“Data is increasingly becoming our greatest asset. We aim to integrate various internal data systems to create a unified framework, rather than siloed systems. We are also integrating with external agencies such as the Business Registration Service and Citizen Registration Services, enabling us to pre-populate data,” said Watanga.
The change, which takes effect in January next year, will also support a tax relief targeting employees whose sole source of income is their salary, as well as individuals earning KSh 24,000 or less per month who usually file nil returns.
According to KRA, unlike in the past, where workers were required to manually input information from their P9 forms, which provided all the income and tax deduction details needed for filing, employees will now only need to enter their national identification numbers into the system.
The platform will then automatically populate the required annual income data, including gross pay and taxes deducted.
This transition is part of KRA’s ongoing integration of internal tax systems with external government data sets to simplify compliance for both individuals and companies.
The integration will allow KRA to pre-populate income and taxation data directly into the iTax portal, which is the Authority’s electronic income tax filing system.
“Our digitization strategy is guided by international best practices, including frameworks developed by the OECD. As signatories to the automatic exchange of information, we have also acquired systems that allow us to participate in this global exchange, further strengthening compliance,” added the KRA boss.