The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) has set its sights on more than one million property owners who have collected rent without declaring it for taxation, launching a sweeping digital crackdown to close systemic revenue gaps. According to parliamentary filings submitted to the Departmental Committee on Finance and National Planning, the tax authority is deploying sophisticated automated infrastructure to trace undeclared rental income across the country.
At the center of this enforcement push is the Electronic Rental Income Tax System (eRITS), which was introduced in April 2025. The platform serves as a centralized fusion engine designed to cross-reference property registration data directly against tenant records, official rental declarations, and geolocation mapping.
KRA officials told lawmakers that the digital architecture bridges the persistent gap between the actual market value of properties and the figures owners report on their tax returns. The system also establishes tighter operational oversight over Revenue Service Assistants, the field-based personnel responsible for data collection and compliance checks.
Digital Tracking and eCitizen Integration
The eRITS platform links property owners directly to the KRA database by integrating with the eCitizen portal. By matching property registration data with tenant records and rental declarations, the automated engine identifies landlords operating outside the tax net.
Furthermore, KRA officials outlined plans to incorporate geolocation mapping into the national tax collection framework. This ensures that physical properties match up with digital tax accounts.
For resident landlords earning between Ksh288,000 and Ksh15 million annually, the tax rate stands at 7.5 percent of gross rental income, a levy treated as a final tax that took effect in January 2024. The eRITS platform simplifies this process by calculating dues automatically based on gross earnings submitted by property owners.
Under the system parameters, landlords file monthly returns with a strict deadline set on or before the 20th day of the following month. The platform’s automated computation engine does not allow deductions for expenses or losses, requiring payment strictly on gross collections.
Revenue Targets and Broader Enforcement Context
The aggressive push against property owners comes as the tax authority faces mounting pressure to meet national collection goals. Government estimates indicate that illicit trade, counterfeiting, and tax evasion cost the public treasury approximately Ksh153 billion in lost revenue annually, with untaxed rental income accounting for roughly 65 percent of those deficits.
To address these shortfalls, the National Treasury has established an ordinary tax revenue target of Ksh2.98 trillion for the 2026/2027 financial year, contributing to a broader projected government revenue envelope of Ksh3.63 trillion.
The strategy was reinforced during discussions led by Kenya Revenue Authority Commissioner General Adan Mohamed at a meeting at the Treasury Buildings in Nairobi.
As the digital sweep expands, the KRA intends to use the integrated data streams from eRITS to target non-compliant property owners and boost rental income collection.
