The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) is preparing to retire its long-standing Excel-based tax return filing system in favor of a fully web-based platform. The change is part of a broader package of reforms introduced under the Finance Act, 2026, and was announced by KRA Chief Manager for Tax Policy Josephine Mugure at a town hall convened by the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Kenya (ICPAK). Alongside the new filing interface, KRA is introducing staggered submission deadlines and expanded auto-population of return data, changes designed to ease the congestion that has repeatedly slowed the iTax portal during peak filing periods.

How the Current Excel-Based System Works

Under the existing process, taxpayers must download an Excel return form from the iTax portal, enable macros, and complete their income details offline before uploading the finished file back to the system. The macros embedded in the workbook calculate tax liabilities, deductions, and applicable reliefs automatically, but the offline format has long created friction for filers. Compatibility problems are common, particularly for taxpayers using different versions of Microsoft Excel, alternative spreadsheet software, or devices where macros are disabled by default for security reasons. These technical hurdles, combined with a single annual filing deadline, have contributed to system slowdowns as millions of taxpayers rush to submit returns in the final weeks of the filing window.

VAT-registered taxpayers have also been experiencing challenges while filing the monthly VAT returns, having to deal with Macros and permission issues while importing CSV files used to declare sales and purchases. Non-resident taxpayers registered in the simplified framework using different versions of MS Office and Mac operating systems could not submit their monthly returns without intervention from KRA.

A New Web-Based Filing Platform

KRA says the Excel-based process will be replaced by an online system that allows taxpayers to complete and submit returns directly through a browser, without downloading any file. “The first thing is we are introducing web-based returns, and these returns we’re not going to require you to fill in the Excel anymore. It will be web-based,” Mugure said. The web-based platform is expected to remove the macro and compatibility issues tied to the current system and to give KRA more direct control over how the filing infrastructure performs during high-traffic periods.

Legal Basis: Finance Act 2026 Amendments

The overhaul rests on two sets of amendments introduced by the Finance Act, 2026. The first amends Section 52 of the Income Tax Act to stagger filing deadlines by taxpayer category rather than requiring all returns by a single date. The second amends Section 75 of the Tax Procedures Act to formally empower KRA to use data already held in its ICT systems to auto-populate sections of a taxpayer's return, giving legal footing to a practice the authority has been gradually expanding.

Auto-Populated Returns

Under the new framework, KRA will pre-fill portions of individual and corporate returns using information it already collects, including eTIMS invoices, PAYE records, withholding tax certificates, customs data from the iCMS system, and other third-party information reported to the authority. iTax has already begun pre-filling limited fields, such as mortgage interest and insurance relief captured through employer PAYE filings, ahead of the full rollout. Taxpayers will still be expected to review and confirm auto-populated figures against their own records, such as a P9 form from an employer, before submission.

New Staggered Filing Deadlines

The current system requires most individual taxpayers to file by the end of June, producing a surge of activity on iTax in the weeks before the deadline. Under the revised calendar, natural persons, including salaried employees whose income is taxed through PAYE, will be required to file by April 30 following the end of their year of income. Companies and other non-natural persons will retain a June 30 deadline. Taxpayers required to file nil returns, including unemployed individuals, students, inactive PIN holders, and those with no taxable income, will need to file earlier still, by January 31. “We have staggered returns in the Act so that the individual returns will be due by April, and natural persons by June. That makes traffic not coming at the same time,” Mugure said. The revised deadlines apply from the 2026 year of income, meaning the first returns filed under the new calendar will be due in 2027.

System Upgrades and Taxpayer Support

Mugure said KRA is not simply shifting congestion from June to April without addressing capacity. The authority is upgrading iTax's underlying infrastructure, with improvements targeted for completion ahead of the April 2027 deadline, and is expanding taxpayer support channels, including its Shuru virtual assistant and a WhatsApp service that allows some filings and queries to be handled without logging into iTax directly.

Implications for Taxpayers and Practitioners

For individual filers, the shift removes a long-standing source of frustration: macro-dependent spreadsheets that often behaved inconsistently across devices. For tax practitioners and accounting teams, the changes mean adjusting internal filing calendars to the new April and June split, and building in time to verify auto-populated figures rather than assuming pre-filled data is complete or correct.

Businesses that rely on PAYE, eTIMS, or customs data feeding into KRA's systems have a direct interest in ensuring that underlying data is accurate throughout the year, since errors upstream could now surface automatically in a taxpayer's pre-filled return. The reforms also reflect a broader regional trend of revenue authorities moving away from offline, template-based filing toward browser-based and pre-populated systems as a way of improving compliance rates and reducing administrative burden on both sides.