14/12/20

AFRICA: Kenya vows to implement global standards to curb tax evasion.

As published on newsghana.com.gh, Sunday 13 December, 2020.

Kenya on Friday committed to implementing international standards on transparency and exchange of information for tax purposes as part of a national effort to curb tax evasion and illicit financial flows.

Julius Muia, National Treasury Principal Secretary, assured global tax administration players that Kenya is on course to implement automatic exchange of information protocols on tax matters by September 2022.

“This commitment to the Global Forum and the implementation of the international standards of transparency and exchange of information is because Kenya appreciates the importance of international co-operation in addressing the challenges of tax evasion,” Muia said.

He was speaking at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes Plenary virtual meeting.

Muia noted that even as governments continue to grapple with the COVID-19 pandemic globally, multilateral cooperation on transparency and exchange of information for tax purposes is increasingly important to help them mobilize tax revenues and ensure that all taxpayers pay what is due.

“We shall have access to information that was previously not available to us, and this will enhance our capacity to address tax evasion and raise tax revenues for the benefit of our country,” he said in a statement issued in Nairobi.

Ahead of the 2022 ratification, Muia said the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) tax auditors and investigators who are handling multi-national audits and investigations are already utilizing the exchange of information tools to obtain information that was not being disclosed by some taxpayers.

This, he noted, will enhance the quality and accuracy of the tax audits and investigations that Kenya undertakes.

Kenya is among over 100 countries that are already exchanging information automatically and has made a voluntary commitment to commence information exchange by 2022 alongside Morocco and Georgia in 2023.

During the forum, delegates heard that new international standards on the automatic exchange of information for tax purposes have so far been satisfactorily implemented by countries worldwide, marking an important milestone in the global fight against tax evasion. Enditem