Nairobi, February 9- The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) has reinstated the Nil Returns filing option after temporarily suspending it during an upgrade of the iTax system, a move that had created confusion among many taxpayers. The feature is back with tighter verification controls aimed at improving compliance and reducing misuse.
KRA said the earlier suspension allowed it to strengthen system checks after discovering hundreds of thousands of cases where individuals filed nil returns despite having recorded income and withholding tax entries. The authority noted this pointed to widespread incorrect filing.
Under the updated system, tax returns will now be prefilled using data from sources such as eTIMS, withholding tax certificates, and import records. Taxpayers will be required to review and confirm the details or seek corrections from KRA, with mismatches potentially triggering audits.
The restored nil returns option mainly applies to the current tax year, while other tax categories and past-year filings continue under the existing process.
