Banks intensify KRA PIN request

Commercial banks have intensified requests to existing account holders to supply their KRA personal identification numbers, popular as KRA pin, in a move by the taxman to seal revenue leakages and nab tax cheats.

In November last year, the Central Bank of Kenya directed all commercial banks in the country to seek a Kenya Revenue Authority pin certificate for any new account openings.

This followed a deal between the regulator and the taxman after the Finance Bill 2016 amended a section of the Tax Procedures Act (TPA).

However, Citizen Digital has now established that banks have begun requesting for these details from existing customers.

In one such notice, the bank is asking account holders to provide these details by the 21st of this month.

While this has been a requirement under the Know Your Customer policy, commercial banks in the country have never strictly implemented it.

Sources now indicate that the CBK and KRA are piling pressure on banks to comply. This as the taxman continues to face a daunting task in raising revenue to fund Kenya’s 3.074 trillion shillings budget.

This exposed by an over Ksh.100 billion shortfall in the 2017/18 financial year collection.