Following the conclusion of the public participation exercise on the Finance Bill 2025, the Departmental Committee on Finance and National Planning organised a session with Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) officials over some contentious proposals.

In the Saturday, June 7, 2025, session, KRA Deputy Commissioner Maurice Oray faced off with the Molo MP Kuria Kimani-led committee, where he was hard-pressed to elaborate on some of the controversial issues.

According to Kuria Kimani, the issues presented during the engagement with KRA officials prominently featured in the public hearing sessions across the country.

“We have just completed a very rigorous public participation exercise on the Finance Bill, 2025 and the Virtual Asset Service Providers Bill, 2025 where various issues were raised by stakeholders and members of the public, and which we’d like to bring to your attention,” Kuria Kimani explained.

Proposed gratuity gains tax

According to Kuria’s statement, most stakeholders sought clarification on whether the proposed gratuity gains tax relief covers only those under the ambit of public pension schemes.

He also noted that some stakeholders needed to understand measures to ensure entities do not pay salaries as gratuities to avoid taxation.

In response, Oray noted that the provision aims at levelling the field for all retirement benefits, including pension and gratuity, thus empowering employees to keep more of their hard-earned money for a secure future.

Tax uncertainties

According to the department, most people who showed up for the public participation exercises raised concerns over uncertainty in taxation.

They lamented what they termed as frequent changes to taxation policies in less than a year after enactment, without a proper analysis of their effect, thus making the tax regime unpredictable.

KRA snooping on people’s data

The department also questioned KRA on its intention under Clause 52, seeking to amend the Tax Procedures Act to grant data access to the Kenya Revenue Authority in a bid to enhance tax enforcement.

Turkana South MP John Ariko told KRA officials that most people had raised fears that the section was in breach of the constitution.

“While it is important to enhance tax compliance, this provision would be in breach of Article 31 of the Kenyan Constitution, which guarantees the right to privacy for all individuals, and could be open to abuse,” the MP stated.