KRA Commissioner General Humphrey Wattanga. Photo | courtesy.
Nearly 12 million Kenyans have filed nil income tax returns via the government’s eCitizen portal, surpassing the 2 million who used the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA)’s iTax system, according to fresh data from the tax agency.
The significant shift marks a turning point in taxpayer behaviour and signals growing confidence in the state’s revamped digital service delivery.
KRA introduced the option to file nil returns through eCitizen earlier this year, aiming to simplify the process and ease pressure on the ageing iTax platform, which has faced criticism over login hurdles and frequent password resets.
“eCitizen has reduced the friction,” said Patience Njau, KRA’s Deputy Commissioner for Taxpayer Services. “All you need is your national ID and a one-time password. This is far more convenient than the multi-step verification used on iTax.”
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According to Njau, the shift is already improving compliance rates and may help surpass last year’s filing compliance of 83 percent.
Besides nil returns, the eCitizen platform now allows Kenyans to generate compliance certificates, view tax statements, and make select income and VAT payments, especially benefiting individuals and small businesses.
“This is part of KRA’s broader plan to make eCitizen our primary customer-facing portal,” she added. “iTax will continue operating in the background as we work on its redesign.”
However, the growing reliance on eCitizen has raised governance concerns.
The portal, which hosts more than 5,000 government services, is run by a private contractor and stores vast amounts of personal data, a setup repeatedly flagged by the Auditor General for weak state oversight.
KRA insists that its services on eCitizen remain free. “The core goal is to make compliance easier, not costlier,” said Njau. “But we are equally aware of the need for data protection and accountability.”
