15 May 2012 in National Assembly:
On 15th March, 2012, the Chair directed the Minister for Finance to issue a Ministerial Statement in relation to the receipts of revenue for the financial years 2007/2008 and 2008/2009 as only the accounts for the financial years 2008 and 2009 were already receiving attention by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).
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15 May 2012 in National Assembly:
Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I beg to, first of all, tell this august House that revenue collection and accounting is a process, and that it involves various stakeholders. The taxpayer pays his or her taxes due directly to the tax collector or indirectly into the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) collection accounts in the banks appointed by the KRA. On receiving the tax revenue payments, the revenue collector remits the same to the appointed receiver of that revenue, who subsequently remits the same to the Exchequer Account.
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15 May 2012 in National Assembly:
The KRA is legally appointed collector of Income Tax, Customs Duty, Excise Duty and Value Added Tax (VAT). Collectors of other revenues, who largely include Ministry Departments, are appointed by respective receivers of revenue, who are in turn appointed by the Treasury.
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15 May 2012 in National Assembly:
Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, from the above description, you appreciate that the process of collecting and accounting for revenue involves parties who are independent of each other, and who maintain their own separate sets of books of accounts. Indeed, the revenue records maintained by these parties often show different revenue positions and, therefore, require reconciliation – in some cases, on monthly basis and in other cases even on a daily basis. Let me underscore the fact that variances are usually explained by the timing differences when revenues are received and then ultimately remitted to the Exchequer. For instance, when a ...
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15 May 2012 in National Assembly:
Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, as I explained, the balance differences will always be there. They will be there this year and they will be there next year. Why? Basically because of timing differences. As I said, if you look at the whole scenario where you as an individual, for example, if you pay to the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) as a collector it recognizes that tax immediately. But if you pay to the bank on behalf of the KRA, there is a difference of one or two days before the money is actually reflected in the KRA account. It is ...
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15 May 2012 in National Assembly:
Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, let me explain so that the hon. Member can understand the timing differences.
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15 May 2012 in National Assembly:
Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir. Let me begin from the beginning. As I said, differences in balances will always be there. They were there last year, they will be there this year and they will be there next year, basically, because of timing differences. I was giving you the example when you pay your taxes. If you pay them directly to the KRA it is recognized immediately but if you pay to a collector, it takes some time. There are other collectors who take more time before this is recognized. Ultimately, the total taxes will find their way into ...
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15 May 2012 in National Assembly:
Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I think they do not want to hear the answer
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15 May 2012 in National Assembly:
Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, depending on when you ask for the books of account, there will be these timing differences. I assure you that they will be there and that is why there is reconciliation. In this particular case, since the figures were being audited, what we reported to Parliament were the unaudited accounts. Coming to the specific accounts - and I thank Mr. Mbadi - they are three. In fact, I mentioned them but the calculation is wrong. There were three that were satisfied by the Auditor-General. If you look at the reasons for non-certification, you will see that ...
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15 May 2012 in National Assembly:
Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, beginning with the last question by the Member for Lari, it is not our intention to have the accounts qualified. In fact, to the contrary we would like the accounts not to be qualified by the Auditor-General. Coming to the other issue raised by Mr. Ogindo, the funds that are to be remitted to the county governments will be based on the last year’s audited accounts for every year. That is what the Constitution says. Those are the figures that have been used by the Treasury and the Commission on Revenue Allocation (CRA). Coming to the ...
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