How to file your income tax returns on iTax in ten easy steps

 When iTax was introduced a few years back, I was very clueless about it and after lots of frustrations trying to understand how to do it, I ended up filing manual income tax returns.

 Still reeling from the frustrations of the previous year, last year I paid someone to do it for me, but this year, I was determined to do it myself and to do it way earlier than June, so I got a friend to walk me through in April (thanks, Peter!) and discovered that it was a very simple process.

They say that the best way to get a lesson to stick, is to teach someone what you've been taught, and I have found this to be true these last few days while showing people how to manoeuvre the iTax system, and in the process, I have also learnt a lot.

I'm writing this post to be able to share what I have learnt and also as a point of reference for the coming years (sometimes memory fails me). This is in reference to filing income tax returns for 2015 in 2016, but it applies whichever year you need to use this guide. So without further ado, let me take you through the process of filing your income tax returns on the iTax system, with a bias on employed, unemployed/students and Kenyans who live abroad. Then I'll handle the FAQs in another blog post. Here we go:

Please note that all Kenyans over 18 are supposed to have a KRA PIN and are supposed to file returns every year, whether they have a job or not (yes, even students must file (nil) returns.) If you fail to file returns, or file them late (after the 30th June deadline), you will be fined Sh10, 000 or 25% of the tax due, whichever figure is higher.

THINGS YOU NEED

If you are currently employed, you need:

• P9 form – get this from the payroll/accounts department of the employer whom you were working for in 2015. If you had more than one employer in 2015, get the P9 forms from all the employers you were working for in 2015. If you are jobless, but you were working last year, get this from your 2015 employer.

• KRA PIN number – find it on your pay slip or ask your payroll accountant to tell you or get it from KRA by sending a scanned copy of your national ID and requesting for your PIN number. You can reach KRA through their iTax centres around the country, through Huduma Centres around the country, on Facebook or via email callcentre@kra.go.ke or telephone (020) 4999 999, 0711099 999.

• iTax website https://itax.kra.go.ke/

If you are unemployed and were still unemployed in 2015, you need:

• KRA PIN number – find it on your pay slips from your former job or get it from KRA by sending them a scanned copy of your ID and requesting for your PIN number.

• iTax website https://itax.kra.go.ke/

If you were not living/working in Kenya in 2015, you need:

• KRA PIN number – find it on your pay slips from your former job in Kenya or get it from KRA by sending them a scanned copy of your national (Kenyan) ID and requesting for your PIN number.

• iTax website https://itax.kra.go.ke/

STEP 1

Go to the iTax website https://itax.kra.go.ke/  and log in (Enter your PIN number and click continue, enter your password, do the calculation and get the correct answer and enter it in the relevant space [security stamp] then click log in). If you can’t remember your password, click on “forgot password/unlock account” and check your email for the new password. 

STEP 2

Once you log in, this is the page you will get.

If you were unemployed for the entire 2015 (January to December) click on “returns” on the red menu bar (circled in yellow) and choose the fifth option “File NIL return”. Fill in the dates: from 01/01/2015 to 31/12/2015 and the other relevant info except “wife PIN” (unless you are also filing returns for your wife), then click submit. You are done. Wait for next year to file nil returns again if you still remain unemployed the whole of 2016. If you get a job, even for a few months, you’ll need to file returns next year.

If you were not living/working in Kenya for the entire 2015, also file nil returns, just like the people who were unemployed.

If you were employed in 2015, whether for a few months or the full year, click on returns on the red menu bar (circled in yellow) and choose the first option which is “file returns”

If you have already filed 2015 returns, but you need to change something, click on returns on the red menu bar (circled in yellow) and choose the third option which is “file amended return”.

 

STEP 3

KRA has already filled the first two options for you, so just click on the drop down arrow on the third option “tax obligation” and choose the relevant choice. For most people that is the first option “Income tax – resident individual”. Click next.

Income tax – rent income option is for landlords who are paying tax on rent collected.

STEP 4

Download the Excel spreadsheet by clicking on it, it will open as a ZIP file. Double-click on the Excel spreadsheet inside the ZIP file to open it. Keep your P9 form at hand because you will need to fill the information on it on the Excel spreadsheet.

STEP 5

First things first, click on “enable content” on the yellow line at the top of the Excel sheet, so you can be able to fill in the form.

At the bottom, you’ll notice that there are six Excel sheets and the first one is the one you are on right now. It is called “basic info”. Fill in all the relevant details and scroll down to fill in the rest of the details if you have a landlord and if you have a tenant and if you are an auditor (most people don’t need/choose not to fill these landlord/tenant/auditor details). 

Please note that for every field you choose yes, a new sheet will appear at the bottom of the Excel sheet requiring you to give more details. You can only fill in the parts that are white and not the charcoal gray parts. Be sure to fill in every field marked with a red asterisk (*). When you are done with the “basic info” sheet, move on to the next sheet titled “F_Employment Income”.

 Keep your P9 form at hand because you need it to fill the remaining Excel sheets. This is how a P9 form looks. It is not usually blank, it usually has the figures you need to fill in the KRA Individual Resident Return form on Excel.

STEP 6

Keep your P9 form close. You need it to fill in the gaps on this sheet titled “F_Employment Income”. Fill in the PIN and name of your employer from your P9 form. Under “gross pay” write the figure you find at the bottom of “COLUMN D” in your P9 form. Most people don’t have allowances and benefits, net value of housing or pension in excess of 300, 000, so fill in zero (0) in those boxes and move to the next sheet titled “Details of PAYE Deducted”

If you had more than one employer in 2015, you'll have more than one P9 form (get them from the respective former employers, payroll department). Include the details from each employer in separate rows (You can add as many rows as the number of employers you had in 2015 and fill in the relevant details using the relevant P9 forms). 

  Please note that when you are filling the Excel sheets, you cannot "cut and paste" you have to fill in manually.

STEP 7

You still need to use your P9 form, so keep it close. 

Open the sheet titled “Details of PAYE deducted”. This is the third sheet on the Excel spreadsheet.

• Fill in the name of employer from your P9 form and the employer’s PIN number still from the P9 form. 

• Fill in taxable salary from the total figure you get under COLUMN H of your P9 form. 

• Fill in Taxable pay on taxable salary from the total figure you get in COLUMN J of the P9 form.

• Fill in amount of tax deducted (PAYE) from the total figure you get on COLUMN L of the P9 form. 

Remember to include details for all employers in additional rows if you had more than one employer in 2015.

Skip the next two sheets i.e. Skip “Advance tax credits” and “IT payments credits” and go to the last sheet titled “Tax computation”.

NB: You only need to fill “Advance tax credits” if you have a commercial vehicle and you only need to fill “IT payments credits” if you paid tax in advance, which most people don’t do. 

STEP 8

Still use your P9 form. 

Open the last sheet titled “Tax computation”. 

You only need to fill two spaces: “defined/pension contribution” and “personal relief”. 

• For defined/pension contribution, fill in the figure you find under COLUMN e2 on your P9 form. 

• For personal relief, for most people it is 13, 944 (which is 1162 multiplied by 12 months), so fill in 13, 944.

• If you worked for less than 12 months in 2015, take the figure you find under “personal relief” COLUMN K on the P9 form and multiply it by the number of months you worked i.e 1162 multiplied by the number of months worked, then fill in the answer you get under “personal relief” on the Excel sheet.

Once you are done filling in the two fields, scroll down and click “validate”.

If there are errors, you will get an alert. At the bottom of the Excel sheet on your extreme left, click on the red tab with the title “errors”. It will show you the errors, click on each and give the correct information, then when you are done fixing all the errors, go back to the last sheet titled “tax computation” and click “validate” again. You will get a message asking you if you want to generate a document. Click “yes”. The document (ZIP file) generates automatically and is saved on your computer under My Documents.

 

STEP 9

To finish, go back to the iTax website and log in again https://itax.kra.go.ke/, click “returns” >> file return >> fill the required info. The required info is: Type of return, return period 01/01/2015 to 31/12/2015, and then click on browse >> My Documents >> select the ZIP file you see ending in _ITR. Click open to upload onto the iTax system. Agree to the terms and conditions, then scroll down and click “submit”

 

STEP 10

Check your email for a notification from KRA, it is sent almost immediately. If the figure in the attached acknowledgment receipt is negative, KRA owes you (they'll pay you when they feel like, like after five years. They'll deposit the cash directly into your bank account, which you already filled in their form). If the figure is positive, you owe KRA. Pay them without delay.

Congratulations! You are done! Let’s do this again next year.

Remember you can file your returns for 2016 as early as January 2017, you don't have to wait till June (the last minute!)

NB: IF YOU REALISE YOU MADE A MISTAKE AFTER YOU HAVE ALREADY FILED YOUR RETURNS, YOU CAN AMEND/MAKE CHANGES/EDIT  >>>:

If after you finish filing your returns, you realise you made a mistake, worry not, you can change it, but do so before the 30^th June deadline. 

To amend your return, repeat the same process, log in to iTax >> click on “returns” >> then “file amended return”.

 Select the tax obligation “Income tax – Resident individual”. 

On the next page that opens, select return period “from 01/01/2015 to 31/01/2015”.

On “type of form to download” select “Excel” then click on download. You will be asked if you want to download the form for amendment, say OK. The Excel file you had filled in will download. Double click on it to open it. 

Click on “enable content” on the yellow line you see at the top. Then click on “amendment” at the bottom left of the page. You’ll get the Excel sheets with all the information you had already filled in; all you need to do is to change whatever you are changing, then go to the last sheet titled “Tax Computation” and click “validate”.

If there are errors, fix them and click “validate” again. Once you validate, you will be asked if you want to download a document (just like in STEP 8), say yes/OK and the document will automatically save in your computer on My Documents. 

Go back to the open amendment page on iTax and click on browse >> My Documents >> and select the new ZIP file (check on the time stamp on the right of the ZIP file to make sure it is the latest i.e. the amended form). Click “open” to upload, then click “submit”. You’re done amending.

 And that's it! You're done amending.

The things we do for beauty!

"Do you have any metal in your body?" 

I looked up at the beautician, startled.

"...You know, like a coil, tooth filling ...," she prompted as I continued to stare at her blankly.

I pondered her question for a few seconds, doing an inventory of my dentist and hospital visits to trace if I had ever had any metal inserted in my body.

"No!" I shook my head vigorously, and satisfied, she went back into the dim inner room, where she had been tinkling with equipment for a good 40 minutes since I walked in.

I wanted to run out of the salon and never come back. Surely any treatment that couldn't be done on someone who had a tooth filling could not be healthy for anyone! What if I had some metal in my body that I did not know about? What if some enzymes had reacted with neutrons to form copper or iron in my body? What if I got electrocuted... what if ... what if ...

The beautician was back again, ushering me into the inner room where the facial would be done. I had a mani-pedi done here a month ago, and though I wasn't happy about how it was done, I was eager to try the facial which one of attendants had sung endlessly about -- the one where a machine, and not the beautician's hands, did everything. That is what I was now here for, and that is what I was now facing with trepidation. If the beautician whipped out a consent form waiving any responsibility if anything happened to me, I would be so out of here.

The treatment room was lit with a dim bluish light, with clinically white walls and an imposing machine that looked like one of those machines that are found in a hospital's ICU complete with regular beeps as if monitoring vital signs and a dental light, in one corner, and the bare essentials (cleanser, scrub, mask, etc) on a shelf in the opposite corner. The room was as cold as a hospital theatre, but I dutifully undressed and wrapped myself in the huge and cosy pearl white towel lying on the bed. I was ready for whatever would be.

The beautician came in and dove straight in. She slathered a cold gel on my face and rolled a pumice ball over it, just like a radiologist doing an ultrasound would, but only this time it was on my face, neck, chest and shoulders. A few minutes later, a brush foamed all around my face, chest and shoulders and every time it tickled the base of my neck, I stifled the urge to let out bubbles of laughter. And so it went on for a while: wipe, pumice, brush, tickle, stifle ... pumice, brush, tickle, stifle ... For a moment the glare of the dental light above my closed eyes, and the bleeping of the machine, went off and I heard the beautician shuffle out of the room, fumble with the mains before coming back to the pumice, brush, tickle, stifle rhythm for a few more minutes.

She wiped my face, and put on the steamers for a while.

"Is it too hot?"

"Only on this side," I answered, pointing to my left cheek.

After steaming, she massaged a cool gel on my face and used what felt like a suction pipe all over my face.

"Smooch! Smooch!" It sucked, and I couldn't help but smile.

Another wipe of the face and an "Usiogope (Don't be afraid)"

I twitched, "Kwa nini?" (Why?)

"Utasikia kama shock ..." (It will feel somewhat like mild electrocution)

Uh-oh! This was the dreadful part, right?

I could hear the buzz of a live electric current and felt welders' sparks meet my skin as if through a live wire. She was burning the acne but there was no pain. She burnt, and burnt, and burnt, until my fears were burnt away. Then she put the "welding machine" away and sprayed my face with a cool mist, then more steam, then squeezed a few stubborn blackheads with a blackhead remover.

She then used a stick to apply a sweet sticky gel on my face, something I recognised a few seconds later as a mask. And as it dried, she ironed my chest with a hot iron, only pausing to ask if it was too hot.

She then peeled off the dried mask, wiped my face with a warm cloth, and asked if I would use their night cream (I said no, I would use my own moisturiser at home). She then told me to sit up as she ironed my back with that hot iron, which I later learnt was a massager, and told me that for best results, I should go for three more facial treatments; one every fortnight and my face would thank me forever. I laughed, told her that my budget would never allow it, but promised to be back in a month.

As I dressed up, I thought of paying the full amount, contrary to what I had negotiated with the attendant; she had shaved off Sh500 from my bill after I haggled for a lower price at the beginning, but I now felt willing to pay the full amount.The experience was worth it. I paid my bill, sticking to the discounted price lest I jinx future bargains, and walked home smiling from ear to ear.

Now a few weeks later, there's an odd pimple here and there, many old scars and a yearning to try something new, something natural. The next regimen to heal my face begins soon. :)

An open letter to Strathmore University on their handling of the emergency drill

1st December, 2015

Dear Strathmore University leaders,

I have looked for your official email addresses all night to no avail. It is now morning and I have no more time left to sacrifice in that pursuit, so allow me to say my piece to you here.

First of all, I applaud your efforts at trying to boost disaster preparedness in the Strathmore fraternity. Given the realities of terror in this country and in the world at large, it is very important that we all know how to respond in the case of a terror attack and any other (unpredictable) emergency situation.

Unfortunately, few institutions have taken up the challenge to prepare their charges for such situations and the few who have, like yourself, must be commended for that. But first a few definitions: A drill is a TEST that happens after adequate TRAINING. Training is teaching. I am alive to the fact that not all students and staff will be trained, and there might be untrained visitors during the drill, however, it would be expected that most of your students and staff have been trained several times on how to respond to various emergencies, bearing in mind that different emergencies may call for a different response. For example, you might respond to fire a little differently than to an armed attacker or to a flood. Once you are satisfied that you have met the standards of adequate training, you can then proceed to test at random through drills.

During training the trainees should be made aware that drills are random to mimic the randomness of a real emergency. However, if the numerous reports from your students on social media are anything to go by, then they either did not receive adequate training before the test (drill) or received no training at all prior to the test. In your own press statement after the drill, you wrote and I quote with capitals for emphasis: "In preparation for this (drill) TEAMS of SECURITY MARSHALLS comprising of staff, students and emergency response teams WERE TRAINED on evacuation, assembly points and exit points."

Anyone with an inkling of information on security drills will tell you that security marshalls form a fraction of the population in which the drill will take place. If only a (small) fraction know what to do in an emergency, how then do you later go on to claim that "The simulation was aimed at TESTING the preparedness of the university community and emergency team in the event of an attack."?

The emergency team passed with flying colors, obviously so, as they had already been trained (great applause from your press statement), but what of the larger university community who took the test without prior training? You may disagree with me, but their response was disastrous. One person dead during a DRILL is one too many. Thirty-one people injured to the point of hospitalisation during a DRILL are just too many. It beats the purpose of testing for disaster preparedness when you already know that majority of your students and staff are ill-equipped to handle a terror attack.

As if a life lost and tens injured and hospitalised was not bad (saddening) enough, in your press statement you appeared to shrug it all off: "Some students and staff panicked and got injured ... situation is under control ... normal operations have resumed ... the university will cater for medical expenses for injuries incurred during the drill ... counselling will be provided for the affected ..."

Normal operations resumed for whom? Did you not see the trauma your students poured out on social media, the only "safe" space they could turn to in their hour of need? Are those the same people for whom normal operations had resumed. Will paying Esther Midemba's mortuary, funeral and burial costs bring her back to life because "normal operations have resumed"?

But you already washed your hands off this matter. To you it was a successful drill, and like any other successful drill, there was collateral damage -- nothing significant, just a negligible number; mere statistics. But let me remind you that one life lost during a drill is ONE TOO MANY. Thirty-one people injured to the point of hospitalisation are just too many. Thirty-two is not just a number. These are precious humans and the least you could give them in this time of pain, trauma and loss is some sensitivity, some empathy, some dignity.

You may be too proud to admit that things went awry (I mean tragic) but could you please be humble enough to be sensitive to Esther's memory (may her soul rest in peace). A little sensitivity even to the injured would go a long way, but it appears you are more interested in thumping your chest and asserting that all is well. Could you stop for a moment to empathise with the pain, the tears, the trauma, the loss of all those affected? Or are they just collateral damage in an otherwise very successful drill? Are they mere statistics, a negligible fraction of the Strathmore population? Or are they humans who matter and who got hurt in a process that was meant to be for their own good?

Remember they see you as the genesis of their pain, their trauma, their loss. Please, get an expert to help you with the messaging for crisis communication to avoid inflicting any more pain. One person traumatised is one too many. It'd be better for you to remain silent than for you to communicate apathy, indifference, nonchalance.

 The 31+1 who are visibly injured (one dead) are human and deserve dignity, please. And you can be sure there are many others invisibly (invisible to you) affected by the events of yesterday. We cannot undo the past, we can only learn from it. I know right now you are more focused on "intensive assessment of the key lessons learnt" so you can produce a report for the authorities. One more thing to check off your checklist before you put all this behind you and move on with your lives and repeat another drill some time in the future to test the "key lessons learnt" from previous drill. Spit, rinse, repeat.

But pause, take a few moments to reflect on the happenings of yesterday. You don't have to be quick to respond. Aside from learning that the Strathmore fraternity is or is not adequately prepared to respond to attacks, have you learnt anything about seeing your students and staff as more than just a number, as humans who deserve to be treated not with the terror you want to prepare them to respond to effectively, but with humanity and dignity? Strathmore is known for excellence, for going beyond the superficial to develop the whole (wo)man. Please, live up to the Strathmore we know. You can do better. Do better.

 PS - don't forget empathy. Empathy. Empathy. Thirty-two is not just a number.

Your eternal admirer