Seizures of personal items at JKIA up in war on tax dodgers

The number of personal effects seized from Kenyans re-entering the country via the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) continues to climb sharply as the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) steps its purge on tax evasion.

A review of the latest auction lists of items impounded by the taxman at the airport shows growing dominance by personal effects such as clothing, footwear, handbags, paintings, human hair extensions and wigs, and earrings—testimony to the high failure rate to comply with the reporting requirements.

For instance, personal items confiscated from individuals account for more than 70 percent of the number of impounded items marked for auction at KRA’s warehouses at JKIA on May 31.

“Pursuant to the provisions of section 42 of the East African Community Customs Management Act, 2004, notice is given that unless the under-mentioned goods are entered and removed from the customs warehouse, within thirty (30) days from the date of this notice, they will be sold by public auction on May,31 2022,” Bernard Kibiti, chief manager at the Nairobi Customs Station said on Friday.

Public notice

“Interested buyers may view the goods at the Customs Warehouse, JKIA, on 26th May, 2022 and 27th May, 2022, during office hours,” the public notice added.

The seizures show that some travellers are not familiar with regulations on items to be brought into the country.

The taxman in 2016 set maximum duty collected on personal effects at Sh50,000 in a bid to speed up clearance of passengers at international airports and listed the items to be subjected to customs taxes at the arrival and departure terminals.

Under the guidelines, all the taxable items attract levies at rates determined by the value of money paid at a foreign country rather than factors such as quality, size or weight, the guidelines state.

The rules came in the wake of complaints lodged by passengers arriving at JKIA from Dubai and China, who said they were always subjected to extortionist rates unlike their counterparts from America and Europe.

Currently, passengers leaving Kenya must fill in a Temporary Importation Form-P45 to declare items being shipped overseas for repair, and the accompanying tools, and show the receipt on return as a declaration.

Commercial purposes

Also, items bought and carried for business promotional and commercial purposes must be declared at departure for tax purposes on return.

Electronics such as phones, video recorders and projectors bought while on a trip to Kenya and currency exceeding Sh1.15 million ($10,000) must also be declared at customs before departure.