Thousands in last minute rush to beat tax returns deadline

Thousands of taxpayers thronged KRA offices on Thursday to file their tax returns in a last minute rush to beat the June 30 deadline.

A spot check at Times Tower, the GPO and City Square Huduma Centres revealed long queues of people who were waiting to file their returns amid claims that services on the online portal were down.

"If you are here for services to do with KRA, we cannot help you because our systems are down," a female attendant at the City Square Huduma Centre told a group of taxpayers who had turned up for the filing.

"If you need help on KRA, go to railways centre or Times Tower, huko system zao zinafanya (systems there are working)," the lady said.

An almost similar response met tax payers who had sought to file their returns in cyber cafes.

"Tuko na net but site ya KRA haifanyi. (We have network but the KRA portal is unresponsive)," an attendant at a cyber café on Tom Mboya Street told a customer who had sought to know if he could file his returns.

The tax agency on Tuesday said that at least 1.2 million taxpayers had filed their returns through the online platform.

Kenyans have been filing their returns in 37 Huduma centres situated across the country.

Failure to file returns on or before the due date attracts a default penalty of Sh10,000 up from the previous penalty of Sh1,000.