The Kenya Revenue Authority’s (KRA) Customs and Border Control has surpassed its Monthly target as Customs taxes reached a historic monthly performance of Sh82.554 billion in January 2025.
KRA Customs kicked off the second half of the 2024/2025 financial year on an upward trajectory after surpassing its January target of Sh74.439 billion by collecting a surplus of Sh8.116 billion, reflecting a performance rate of 110.9%.
KRA Commissioner, Customs and Border Control, Dr. Lilian Nyawanda, speaking to JULISHA.CO.KE on Friday, January 7, attributed the Upsurge to reforms she has initiated in the Taxman's Customs.
The performance, represents a 27.0% growth compared to the 4.8% growth recorded in the first half of the financial year 2024/2025 (July-December 2024) period.
“This positive revenue performance is attributed to reforms within Customs, including the establishment of the Centralised Release Operations.
Under this new process, release officers are stationed at a centralised location and allocated customs declarations randomly for release.
This approach has significantly resulted in a more objective release process of managing risks and improving revenue mobilisation efforts,” said Dr. Nyawanda.
She explained that another key factor that contributed to the strong revenue performance was the growth in non-petroleum taxes of 11.6%, compared to January 2024.
Petroleum taxes had a strong performance, registering a growth of 55.9% against the same period last year.
According to Dr. Nyawanda, this growth in petroleum taxes was largely driven by a 6.6% increase in overall oil volumes, with a significant growth in petrol (89.7%) and diesel (65.0%) resulting in above-target performance across various tax heads, including VAT oil, excise duty oils, and fuel levies, among others.
“These results reflect the ongoing commitment by KRA to improve revenue mobilisation efforts and ensure that revenue targets are consistently met, contributing to the growth and stability of the nation’s economy,” said Dr. Nyawanda.
The Taxman, is implementing strategic measures to ensure that there is sustainable revenue collection by modernising its operations, a move which will see them meet revenue targets.
KRA Commissioner General Humphrey Wattanga said that they have established a strong foundation for sustainable revenue collection as shown by their consistent growth trajectory.
“Our revenue collection has revealed remarkable resilience, growing from Sh1.58 trillion in the Financial Year (FY) 2018/2019 to Sh2.407 trillion in FY 2023/2024, which marks a significant 11.1% growth rate,” said Wattanga.
He highlighted that they have implemented several strategic initiatives to ensure that they maintain a steady momentum in revenue collection, which include leveraging disruptive technology to deliver tools that enable market-customised solutions.
According to Wattanga, these solutions have highly simplified tax processes, facilitated trade, and enhanced voluntary compliance.
“KRA has developed and launched ‘GAVA Connect’, an innovative Application Programming Interface (API) platform designed to empower Information Technology (IT) developers and young Kenyan techies to create homegrown solutions that address local needs,” he said.
The Commissioner General disclosed that these solutions will enable businesses and taxpayers to seamlessly and securely integrate with KRA’s key processes, fostering tax simplification and driving voluntary compliance.
He added that they are also implementing the ‘tax-at-source technology’ that enables KRA to integrate with other systems, allowing for an almost real-time collection of information and revenue directly at the source.
Wattanga said that some of the initiatives under this programme that KRA has implemented include the Electronic Tax Invoice Management System (eTIMS), which has minimised Value Added Tax (VAT) fraud and increased tax revenue.
The programme has also enabled KRA to integrate Betting and Gaming Companies into the KRA tax system, giving KRA real-time access to companies in the gaming and betting sector.
This saw the sector register a revenue growth rate of 26.2% after KRA collected Sh24.269 billion in FY 2023/24 compared to Sh19.224 billion in the previous year from excise on betting services, Withholding Tax (WHT) on winnings from betting and gaming, and betting tax.
“We also have programmes that are aimed at streamlining trade facilitation processes and enhancing customer support programmes. The adoption of Pre-Arrival Cargo Processing, integration with the Kenya Trade Network Agency (KenTrade) Trade Facilitation Platform, enhanced customs systems, and exchange of information have also improved trade facilitation,” he said.