KRA HAS THE DISCRETION TO TAXABLE INCOME
By Samuel Migele
High Court of Kenya discovered that Galaxy Tools Limited was li
able to pay Kshs 1, 698, 702.00 Valued Added Tax (VAT) and Kshs 3, 2
10, 651.00 for Corporation Tax with resultant interest and penalties.
KRA had demonstrated that there was loss of VAT in the “missing tr
aders” transactions. The tax dispute related to the credits for VAT in
put, which the Taxpayer had claimed pursuant to Section 17 of the
VAT Act.
The Authority’s position was that the Tribunal did not appreciate th
e provisions of the Tax Procedures Act and the VAT Act relating to th
e production of additional information and documents. In addition,
the High Court found that the Tribunal arrived at the wrong conclu
sion, after shifting the burden of proof to the KRA contrary to the pr
ovisions of the Tax Appeals Tribunal Act that laid the burden of pro
of on the taxpayer.
The Court observed that as a reasonable businessman, the Taxpayer
was expected to keep all the transactional details of the subject tra
nsactions. It is only then it would have satisfied the KRA and the Co
urt that it was innocent in the fraud perpetrated by the missing trad
ers whom the KRA had concluded were in the business of selling air
and invoices to colluding traders.
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