Senior Economic Advisor Moses Kuria has come out to clarify his recent sentiments about the government’s intention to onboard all businesses using mobile money pay bills to the tax register.

In his latest statement, the former Cabinet Secretary on Thursday made it clear that the government’s plan to link traders to the tax register would include all payment service providers including banks.

Kuria dismissed claims by a section of media outlets claiming that the new model would only affect businesses using mobile money paybills to conduct their transactions.

“My attention has been drawn to media reports that my comments on Virtual ETRs at the KRA Summit yesterday were directed at mobile money paybills only,” the senior economic advisor clarified.

“This is erroneous as I meant all Payment Service Providers including Telcos and Banks. It's an industry issue,” the former CS added.

Moses Kuria while insisting on the matter, further revealed the government’s plan to block the Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) activation of cell phones imported into the country with no requisite record showing the payment of applicable taxes. 

"Just like we will automatically block from activating on any network any mobile phone imported into the country with no record of having paid applicable taxes. Be guided accordingly," Moses Kuria announced.

Moses Kuria's clarification comes against the backdrop of his recent comments where he allegedly disclosed the government's plan to enhance revenue collection through the linkage of mobile money playbills to virtual Electronic Tax Registers (ETRs).

Speaking during the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) Summit 2024 in Nairobi on October 9, the senior economic advisor revealed that the new system would help the taxman collect more revenue from informal businesses. 

"By Christmas 2024, all paybills will function as virtual ETRs. This will ensure that no business can evade tax, regardless of size. I know there is going to be some noise, but I also want you to tell me where we agree that someone will not pay taxes. Maybe I missed that point," Kuria noted.

As part of the broader effort by the government to widen the tax bracket, the integration of virtual tax registers would be accorded similar treatment to the electronic tax invoice system (eTIMS), making it easier to track transactions made by a trader.

However, the latest announcement has attracted mixed reactions from Kenyans particularly the informal traders who have come out to question the government on the efficiency of the new tax model.