By Staff reporter
Thousands of teachers who failed to migrate to the Kenya Revenue Authority’s (KRA) Itax portal have had their Personal Identification Numbers (PINs) suspended and are unable to conduct crucial transactions.
Consequently, the affected teachers may be penalised for their failure to file their monthly KRA returns for lack of the PINs.
The tax collector insists that the concerned educators would only enjoy a waiver of penalties with accompanying interest if they provide appropriate justifications.
Those who failed to transfer their PIN certificate details to KRA Itax portal are now required to reactivate their details as a matter of urgency to avoid further consequences.
This will enable them access some critical public services, which they were denied in the past after their details were deactivated.
Itax is KRA’s online tax payment portal that requires employees and other Kenyans to migrate their profiles, a move aimed at nabbing tax cheats and improve the country’s revenue collection.
Following the failure to migrate, millions of Kenyans, teachers included, had their PINs deactivated and subsequently blocked from accessing some services.
A number of transactions require proof of an active PIN certificate failure to which one is not allowed to carry them out.
They include registration of land titles, approval of development plans, registration, transfer and licensing of motor vehicles, and registration of business names and companies.
Others are payment of deposits for power connections as well as opening accounts with financial institutions.
However, in a communication by the Teacher Service Commission (TSC) teachers are provided with forms to file their details in order to have their details reactivated.
The reminder sent to County TSC Directors requires them to advise teachers whose PIN certificates were deactivated to fill the form provided and send to the required officer.
In October last year, TSC Chief Executive Officer, Nancy Macharia urged teachers to be compliant with the taxman’s requirements.
The circular, No 23/2017, Ref No TSC/Adm/192A/Vol.1x/25 by the TSC boss dated October 3, 2017 seen by Education News requires teachers to fill the necessary forms. The circular read in part: “Pursuant to the tax procedure Act 2015, the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) made it mandatory for all taxpayers to use the Itax platform with effect from 1st August 2015 for PIN registration, filing of returns, payments and access to other tax-related services.”
It further stated that those were not able to meet the deadline are expected to follow some procedure to reactivate their PINs.
To start off, a teacher is supposed to use the PIN checker on the KRA website to check status of their PIN.
One’s PIN is either valid or suspended, which can lead one to establish the reason for the deactivation by contacting the taxpayer through the contacts provided.
One can also visit the nearest KRA station or service centers offices for further details. A teacher can then fill the reactivation forms as provided.
Non-compliance details are then forwarded through the email address provided.
It is, however, a teachers’ right to discuss this decision and also apply for waiver of penalties and interest, which should be supported by justification.
